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:
Tracy
Position at J:
Production Forklift Operator
Years working
on the J Team: 15 Years
Favorite J
Wines: J Vintage Brut Magnum &
J Vineyards Nicole’s Pinot Noir
Tracy tends to
have an inspiring outlook on life, that includes his life at J Vineyards &
Winery, Tracy says, “the dedication that my team members have at J for their
job makes me want to always put out my best effort”.
Tracy is a
very unique individual and he is known around the winery as the favor guy, “I
am always ready to start my day at J with my best foot forward by making my
team members laugh, seems to pass the day by on a happy note. And I am always happy to lend a hand; even
though I am very busy since I am the main forklift driver for the winery, if
someone else needs a favor with other work duties around the winery I am always
ready to lend a hand.”
Tracy landed
his job at J Vineyards & Winery by accepting a temporary job that his
friend advised him about, Tracy says, “I held a temporary job for two years
before being offered a permanent position in the production department working
on the bottling line. When I became a
full time permanent J employee I was so fortunate to have another J team member
take me under his wings and be a mentor to me, he trained and developed my
career by teaching me the aspect of forklift driving, disgorger the sparkling
wines, and learning the operation of the bottling machine. My most impressive task was learning the
operations of the riddling machines, this is very important for J’s sparkling
wine production as I need to keep the riddling bins operating on a timely and efficient manner as this is an imperative process
for making sparkling wine, after all, sparkling is J’s legacy. I have advanced my career over the past 15
years at J Vineyards & Winery and have kept a steady pace of continuing to
learn all aspects of production”.
Tracy is not
only very active with his team members at work, he also has a couple of hobbies
that keep him bonded with his family, Tracy says, “my family and I have a strong
bonding relationship when it comes to bowling.
I have been bowling since I was five years old and started on a league
in Santa Rosa, CA. I am currently, and
have been for many years now, on an adult bowling team in Windsor, CA. Since a lot of my family members bowl, it makes
for a favorite family activity for us. So
far, I have bowled 11 out of 12 strikes about seven times; I am still looking
for my perfect game.”
Just like
bowling, another family and friend activity is fishing, Tracy says, “fishing is
a very strong passion for me, my father took me before I could even walk and I
have not lost my grip on my fishing pole since.
My family and friends plan all of our camping vacations around fishing, a
favorite time is from July to early November during the fall run when the
salmons return at the Klamath River. Unfortunately,
this time frame is during the winery’s harvest, which is a very busy time at J,
but I do find time to enjoy this family and friend outing in the small windows
of opportunity that arise during harvest.
In addition, if there are a few hours of opportunity before the day ends,
I love to fish in the Russian River, which is right behind the winery. My favorite fish to catch is the Steelhead as
it is the best fighting fish, this fish gives me quite a challenge to catch,
which makes for a more appreciated and savoring meal.”
Tracy not only loves catching the fish he
also loves cooking it too, Tracy says, “the best recipe for cooking steelhead
is to smoke it, or cook it in Bear Republic beer batter, by the way, Bear
Republic is a great local brewery in Healdsburg. I will also put a spice dry rub on the Steelhead
and barbeque it, goes great with the J Vineyards Nicole’s Pinot Noir, really
tasty.”
Tracy spends
his morning break with a cup of coffee in one hand and the comics in the other
hand. “I love reading the comics; my
favorite comic strip is Hägar the Horrible with
his wife Helga. It really makes me laugh
as the comic strip reminds me of my parents as Hägar is a mild-mannered working class Viking
devoted to his family and answering to his wife.”
Tracy is
really looking forward to harvest as he learns new skills every year, and with
our new Winemaker, Melissa Stackhouse, working her second J harvest he plans on
picking her brain, Tracy says, “It’s going to be really cool working with
Melissa again this harvest, it is a great time for me to learn more about her
winemaking techniques as I tend to ask her a lot of questions as the grapes are
arriving at the winery very early in the morning. Melisa is such an admired Winemaker and I am
fortunate enough to learn from one of the best in the industry.”
Although Tracy
has a passion for fishing he is also a big baseball fan, “I started going to
the Oakland A’s games with a friend when I was 21 and I got the A’s bug, hook,
line and sinker.” Melissa Stackhouse
organized a fun baseball trip for the J team members to watch the A’s verse the
San Francisco Giants at the Oakland Coliseum on June 24, 2012 and of course,
Tracy was all over that one. “It was a really fun employee outing for all of
us, but the highlight of the game was the walk off home run by the A’s in the
bottom of the ninth inning, the A’s had two outs with their last batter brought
the final score to A’s at five and Giants at three, I was in my glory.”
Tracy is an
all-around solidly dependable and very helpful guy around the winery; he is
much appreciated for his fun humor and great nature. Moreover, he loves to share his prized caught
fish with J team members; he tends to lure the team in during the lunch hour
for a tasty treat. We are so lucky to
have Tracy as a J family member, he is the revered “favor guy” always more than
willing to lend a helping hand to other’s at the winery. We love ya Tracy!
