PRODUCTION MANAGER – ASSISTANT WINEMAKER
Lake Chelan Winery | Wapato Point Cellars | Kludt-Williams Family Winery | Gold Cider


Location:
Lake Chelan Trading Company
Chelan, WA 98816


Production Manager Job Description:
The responsibilities of this role include accountability for the quality, organization, and execution of winemaking and cider activities for our 8,000 to 10,000 case production winery and 15,000 case equivalents of cider a year with a projected annual increase of 10% to 20% per year in cider. The position requires a mixture of hands-on and managerial/supervisory skills, laboratory technical aptitude, attention to detail, cleanliness, and a penchant to craft and blend great wines.

Duties Include:
- Leading: Coach, teach and mentor all cellar employees during harvest and cider making, providing ongoing instruction and support.
- Supervising: Supervising day to day cellar and cider house operations, including harvest, bulk wine and cider maintenance and upkeep, barrel care, bottling and canning preparation, sanitization, cellar and cider house organization and cleanliness.
- Managing: Managing all technical aspects of winemaking and cider making including grape and apple juice receiving, crushing, pressing and wine and cider production operations during grape harvest and year-round in production cycle of cider.
- Wholesale Cider Program: Manage cider production.
- Blending: Oversee wine and cider tasting and blending trials at all stages throughout the winemaking and cider making process and be responsible for conducting evaluation and treatments.
- Workflow: Implement effective work order process for all production related tasks from harvest to bottling or canning and conduct bulk and bottled wine and cider inventories in Innovint and Order port.
- Improving: Contribute to the continuous improvement of the winemaking and cider making process and procedures.
- Systems and Safety: - Responsibility for the quality and execution of work performed, review and implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and safety. Conduct safety training and management of compliance issues in the laboratory and cellar environment to ensure a safe workplace.
- Compliance: Responsible for adhering to Washington state and federal regulations.
- Budgeting: Strategic and budgetary planning for seasonal projects, harvest activities, staffing, ordering of supplies, etc.
- Customer Facing: Assist in educational tastings and tours of the facility, when needed and be available for weekend and evening winery events that require interaction with customers.


Key Attributes for Success:
- Do routine things routinely: Focus on preventative maintenance and proactive tasks instead of reacting to problems as they develop.
- Develop and document a process and control for everything: Processes are how to do something, controls are implemented to ensure things get done.
- Defect reduction: Identify defects early and develop systems to identify and prevent future defects from occurring.
- Forward thinking: Plan ahead 12 months. Plan for production needs and forecast production levels based on expected demand and current inventories to prevent inventory shortages and minimize waste and overproduction.
- Integrate with sales teams: work closely with sales teams to understand consumer preferences and demand, and educate customer facing sales staff on all aspects of production and key selling points for all products.