I began working at the L.A. Cetto Winery at the company’s invitation for the 2000 harvest. The position was initially for four months, with the option of becoming permanent. At first I worked as a winemaker at the “Don Angel” cellar, where the company’s premium wines are made: a fully equipped facility with a production capacity of more than 260,000 liters.
From 2000 until I left the company in 2004, I was in charge of making all the Reserva Privada wines and the “Don Luis” line (Terra, Concordia, Viognier and Merlot) at this cellar. I was also responsible for the winemaking and barrel aging of all the component wines of the “Reserva Platino”, the wine released to mark the company’s 75th anniversary.
Wine aging
I was later put in charge of wine aging. This area handled 50 wooden vats of 12,500 liters each and approximately 2,000 oak barrels from different origins, holding all of the company’s barrel-aged wines from both the premium and the traditional lines.
Bulk Wine Cellar
In 2002, on top of my responsibilities for premium wines and wine aging, I took on the planning and supervision of work at the traditional winemaking cellar, which that year had a production capacity of over 20,000,000 liters.
My duties included setting the doses of the enological products used to stabilize and finish the wines, such as fining agents, enological tannins and sulfur dioxide. I was also responsible for supervising the work carried out in the cellar to ensure good winemaking practices and the quality of the wines produced.
Bottling
In 2003, a bottling line for the company’s premium wines was added to my responsibilities. I also implemented a wine monitoring and traceability system built on a Microsoft Access database, with features comparable to commercial winery software. That experience has since helped me build an application for managing small and medium-sized wineries, which is still in development.
While at L.A. Cetto, and outside my regular duties, I was invited to help develop the curriculum for the Viticulture and Enology vocational track offered by the Centro de Estudios Medios Superiores a Distancia (CEMSAD), part of the Colegio de Bachilleres de Baja California (COBACH), where I taught winemaking and enology to the first cohort of students.
In 2004 I left the company to begin developing the curriculum for the Specialization in Viticulture and Enology at the Autonomous University of Baja California. My time at L.A. Cetto was an enriching and rewarding experience, and I had the chance to work with excellent professionals.