Monday, July 30, 2012

Harvest is Coming, Harvest is Coming!

It Takes a Wine Village to make every bottle of inspired J, especially during harvest.  We are so appreciative of our adoring J Fans that we want to share the hard-working J Harvest Team Members that bring your favorite bottles of J to your table for sharing with family and friends.

J Team Member: Juan
Position at J: Lab Technician
Years working on the J Team: 9 Years
Favorite J Wine: J Vineyards Barrel 16 Pinot Noir

Juan’s inspiration is family, Juan says, “We have a great team in winemaking, everyone is always smiling, respectful, and in a good mood, probably because J is like a family, I feel at home as if my team members are my immediate family members, I always look forward to working with them.”

Juan is a very quick learner, which is why he has advanced so quickly in the past 9 years at J, Juan says, “I know all the machines in production so I am able to assist in the cellar working with the tanks, the bottling line, and utilize all lab equipment.  My team members know I am on the quiet side but they appreciate that my daily work accomplishments speaks louder than words.”

Juan became interested in the wine business as his parents worked in wineries and vineyards and they would share their stories with Juan each day, “My mom worked at J and would bring home J wines to share, I became intrigued as I never knew how wine was made.  Once she knew I had an interest in not only the process for making wine but J Winery in particular, she advised me of a new entry level position on the bottling line that I would be a great fit for, it was a great beginning position to learn the process of winemaking.” 

After a year, Juan’s skillful talents were noticed and they hired him as a full time permanent employee on the bottling line.  Shortly after, a new opportunity within the winery opened up in the lab.  Juan says, “I assisted in the lab sampling grapes after they were picked during harvest, since I picked up this skill quite quickly and efficiently they transitioned me into the lab full time and I have been there ever since.  I love the science of winemaking and learned the aspects of making quality wines.”

Juan is very active outside of work as well, “I have a home gym where I spend a good amount of time running on the treadmill as I train daily for my passion which is soccer.  I am on a premier soccer league in Santa Rosa playing the “forward position”, my treadmill workout keeps me in shape to run fast and be flexible.  Because I am small, lean, and fast, and able to make a lot of soccer goals, my soccer team members gave me the cool nickname “Pitufo”; in English it means “Smurf”.”

When Juan is not running on his treadmill at home or on the soccer field making goals, he has another driving passion.   Juan says, “I love my car, a 2011 Cadillac CTS, this car is “my baby”, I take great care and pride in my car as it is a reflection of my driven efforts for excellent quality.”

Juan’s favorite part of the day at J is the morning as that is when he analyzes sparkling bottles from the bottling, “I acquire 5 random dosed sparkling bottles and I test and taste each bottle in the lab to be sure the sugar levels and pressure in the bottle are of accurate quality.  This is a very important part of my job as we produce only the highest quality of sparkling wines and it is my job to be sure we uphold that assurance to our consumers.”

Juan feels very fortunate to bring his curiosity of understanding how wine is made to a reality in his job at J Vineyards & Winery, Juan says, “I now have the opportunity to be a more integral part of the winemaking team and assist in the blending process for our varietal and sparkling wines. I submit my own blends to the winemaking team, and we taste the blends so they can be integrated as a new vintage of J wine. I feel very proud that I am so appreciated by my team and they trust my ability to assist in creating a variety of J wine blends.”

Juan’s great teamwork and collaboration at J Vineyards & Winery is above all spectacular, in his every day work he takes an idea or dream created from curiosity and brings it to life. His passion for all of his creative ingenuity at J is appreciated by everyone, and the consumer achieves the best reward, 100% quality J wines. Thank you Juan, your curiosity continues to make J Vineyards & Winery a reality for everyone to enjoy.

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