Does the production team get enough recognition?

By JJ Pierce, Production Manager

So summer is once again upon us here at Heron Hill Winery. The summer time crowds have returned and as is the norm we in production are elbow deep in bottling all the great wines that we produce for our customers every year.

That being said, I was reflecting back on the years that I have been in this industry and I had a revelation. Sometimes the people behind the scenes in the wine industry don’t always get the recognition that they deserve. Lets face it, whenever you read an article in a wine magazine or a newspaper article about a particular winery the only people that seem to get any recognition are the winery owner and/or the winemaker, and they do deserve it! But in any good winery such as Heron Hill there is also a great wine making or production TEAM. The winemaker does direct and control all aspects of the wine making process but in wineries the size of Heron Hill or bigger the winemaker cannot perform all the manual work that is needed. Here is where our unsung heroes come into play, most of these people have years of experience such as myself. I have been trained by some of the best engineers throughout the world on winery equipment along with a lot of much needed on the job training, as have our other production employees. That’s why we enjoy being able to participate in our winery blog.

Every person has their own set of talents and we cannot only perform jobs for which we are trained but in some cases we can all perform each other’s job. There is a strict system of checks and balances and we can all fall back on each other’s knowledge if there is ever any question or concerns. This is why we at Heron Hill produce the very best products for our customers. So next time your sitting back and reading about your favorite wine or favorite winery remember its not just the Owner and the Winemaker that have a stake in how good a wine is but there is a whole TEAM behind it and we all have pride in what we produce!