For Rosanna’s first story, she is shining a light on Arturo Enriquez, one of the vineyard workers for North Slope Management out at SeVein Vineyard.
This month, I would like to introduce Arturo Enriquez.
Arturo grew up in Mexico (Oaxaca) until he was 17-years-old, when he decided to come to the US with his father to work alongside him. When he first arrived, he worked asparagus, onions, raspberries, strawberries, cucumbers, and potatoes. A long list of agriculture work on a seasonal basis and would return home for the winter months.
In 1996, he started working for Tom Waliser pruning and picking apples and grapes. This was his first-year learning about the vineyard and later production. He worked for Tom until 2000 and upon returning from Mexico in 2001, he began working for Les Collines, specifically working in the vineyard. In 2004, he started working for Pepper Bridge Winery, working in the vineyard and on the production side up until 2021. After 17-years with Pepper Bridge, he felt it was time to move on to new adventures and accepted employment with El Girasol [BR1] effective Jan. 2022. He is solely responsible for five acres from start to finish (pruning – harvest), a very exciting and a GREAT challenge! Arturo’s skills and knowledge and experience range from planting, pruning, thinning, picking, tractor operator, forklift operator to racking, bottling, punch-downs, pump-overs, and so much more.
Over the years, Arturo has definitely seen many changes both in the vineyard and with production. One of the changes has been the use of chemicals. We have seen that the type of chemicals that are now being used from previous years has been a huge change. We use more organic or sustainable types of chemicals to ensure the safety of the soil, vines, grapes, animals, and the like. The rules and regulations have changed, becoming stricter. From the production side, he has seen the changes that have improved all employees’ organizational skills. Efficiency and cleanliness are a high priority and really allow us to showcase our facilities and wine.
His favorite time of the year is when he is placing the wine into the barrels. He states, “This is where you see the ‘fruit of your work’ for the year: the result flowing into the barrels, the smell of the different varietals of wine into each barrel.”
Arturo spends his personal time caring for his dogs, Dino and Canelo. They are his life. They go for walks and when the weather is really warm, he takes them to the pond to cool off.
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