Dane De Luca

• Operating/cleaning the cross-flow and Reverse Osmosis machines.

• Botteling on a small scale.

• Worked in the lab and can do basic tests.

• Got my Washington State food handlers card and Mixologist permit.

• Worked in the tasting room where my knowledge about wine helped me to sell alot of wine.

• Learn about distilling and ran still.

Typical cellar hand duties included but not limited to

• Forklifting barrel work in the cave.

•Maintained cleanliness and organization of cellar space, adhering to safety standards.

•Collaborated with team members to complete daily production tasks efficiently.

The owner and I managed to win some awards from the San Francisco Chronicle and points from Wine Enthusiast. Including a double gold 92 point Carménère, double gold Cabernet Sauvignon, gold 93 point Bordeaux blend also Cabernet Franc, and silver 93 point Merlot. We would set together a game plan and I would carry out the duties.

• It was the winemaker's first harvest at the new facility so I helped identified issues, analyzed information and provided solutions to problems.
• Vineyard sampling for ripeness at all vineyards.
• Worked all cellar duties.

• Valuable team member during the harvest with all my knowledge.
• Work mostly consisted of barrel downs, inoculations, pump overs and rackings.

• Joined to help a friend who received a lot more fruit than expected.
• Mostly did pump overs on 10,000 gallon tanks.
• Focused also with blending and transfers.

• Managed time efficiently in order to complete all tasks within deadlines.
• Acted as a team leader, delegating tasks.
• Pressed directly into barrels which was a first.

• Starting my own label with one hectare of at least 100 year old vines.
• Rented space at a winery to fulfill most winemaking needs.
• Made 3,000 liters of Cabernet, 3,000 liters of Pais, and about 1,000 liters of Rose.
• Hand picked/sorted all and hand destemmed at least a ton.
• Distilled the pressed grapes to make Agua Ardiente.

Worked at both facilities Carneros and St. Helena

• Carneros work consisted of flotation, rackings and white press.
• St. Helena had two optical sorters that I worked a lot with.
• Barrel ferments, took all the heads off put them back on and spun them twice a day.
• Two hydrologic basket presses that all the fruit went through in St. Helena.

• Was in charge of receiving work orders and delegating tasks in order to complete everything correct and in timely fashion.
• Worked with two cross flows one for solids and the other for liquid's.
• Drove a five ton forklift with a tipper attachment that dumped around three tons at a time.
• loaded and watched two 20 tons and two 10 tons presses for press cuts.

From the vineyard to the cellar. My duties included but weren't limited to:

• Racking and putting the lees through a pad filter.
• Grape receival as well as setting up the line, caps, and plugs to the tank making sure the temperature was correct.
• Barreling down, pump overs, and punch downs manual/pneumatic.
• Kept operations in compliance with company, safety and legal requirements.

• Established myself in the racking department.
• Produced over 100 rackings with three pumps going at the same time.
• Diagnosed issues quickly and avoided potential project delays.

• Was in charge of all the inoculations and reinoculations.
• Got my third forklift license and moved several hundred full barrels.
• Observed each team member to ensure duties were being carried out and provided constructive criticism if needed.

Worked at three wineries in Alba, Barbaresco, and Barolo - mostly on the press pad loading.

• Performed press cuts, added enzymes/sulfur, and concluded with flotation.
• Collected and organized data for reports, meetings and policies.

• Honed my ability to produce wine at a large scale while being attentive to quality and productivity.
• Was in charge of eight presses and two 20,000 Kg receival bins with an assistive computer system.

• Supervisor of red press for draining and pressing tanks.
• Led the draining of stainless steel open top fermenters, T-bins, and Macro bins with a torpedo.
• Moved full T-bins and Macro bins down a steep hill to the draining and pressing area.

At Cakebread I performed operations at two facilities in two different AVA's in Oakville and Rutherford in Napa Valley.

• Spent most of my time on the four white presses loading the press and making sure logistics to the tank were correct, clean and ready.
• Learned how smoke affects grapes, wine and countermeasures against it.
• Performed work with an optical sorter and the dumping of expensive fruit, up to $14,000 a tons.

• Became proficient in the "natural" approach to winemaking which included gravity flow.
• Using as few machines as possible we created a unique esoteric composition, focusing on our best Russian River fruit.
• The only machines these grapes went through were the sorting table, destemmer, and auger; we bin dumped into tanks as well most times, creating a truly natural wine.
• Used a bulldog for the first time.

• Controlled 50 tanks (ranging from 10,000 liters to 500,000 liters) from pump overs to assemblage.
• Tasted wines with the winemaker to decipher what needed to be added.
• Performed flotation duties which included figuring out how much enzyme, gelatin, and making sure the tank was at the right temperature.
• Operated eight presses which included two thermal press and a thermoflash.
• Worked in the reserve cellar to oversee the high quality wine that we made.
• Around 60,000,000 liters was the total for harvest.

• Main objective was adding TA, pump overs, and leading the daily coordination of mechanical punch downs.
• Dig outs/pressing of red grapes, racking, transferring wine, along with barreling down.
• Received my forklift license, organized bins and moved whatever they told me to.
• Also responsible for operating a dump truck.

• Positioned as a red wine team member.
• My daily responsibilities consisted of plunging/air blast twice a day, making additions (TA and yeast) doing dig-outs, pressing, followed by racking.

• Bottling line, cleaning/gassing/filling/stirring barrels, dig-outs, making additions (bentonite, nutrients, TA, and yeast), plunging, pump overs, racking, receiving grapes, sanitizing tanks, and shipping wine.