In smaller wineries making up to a few thousand cases of wine a year the winemaker, maybe an assistant, and/or a cellar master all play major roles in the wine you get. In the smallest wineries it's pretty much just a owner/winemaker who could be doing everything from vineyard management to sorting the grapes to bottling.
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Well, he certainly dresses
like a real winemaker |
Once the operation gets larger there are more and more employees, some full-time, some are temporary labor for the harvest, for bottling, etc. At some point as the size of the winery grows the winemaker becomes the project manager who coordinates all of the tasks. He/she plans and supervises, but doesn't get dirty. Their job is strictly the mental side of the business where other people are doing the tremendous amount of physical labor that goes into wine making.
Is that bad or somehow cheating? Nope. It still comes down to wines you like whether it's from Hawkes (a father/son operation in Alexander Valley) or Kendall-Jackson (almost two millions cases a year).
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