Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Enologist

🎯 Role Definition

The Enologist (Winemaker/Winemaking Scientist) is responsible for translating vineyard inputs into high-quality wine through science-driven fermentation management, laboratory analysis, sensory evaluation, and operational leadership. This role bridges viticulture, chemistry, microbiology, and production, ensuring products meet sensory targets, regulatory standards and commercial specifications while continuously improving processes and costs.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Laboratory Technician / Wine Lab Analyst
Assistant Winemaker / Cellarhand
Viticulture Technician or Vineyard Manager

Advancement To:

Head Winemaker / Winemaking Manager
Director of Production / Operations Manager (Winery)
Director of Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs

Lateral Moves:

Quality Manager (Food & Beverage)
R&D Scientist / Product Development Lead
Sensory Program Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead and manage all fermentation processes from must handling through alcoholic and malolactic fermentations, including yeast/bacteria selection, nutrient regimes, temperature control, and troubleshooting to achieve targeted wine style and quality.
Design, implement and optimize laboratory testing programs (chemical and microbiological) including routine analyses for Brix, pH, TA, SO2, volatile acidity, residual sugar, free/total SO2 and microbial counts, ensuring timely, accurate results for production decision-making.
Conduct sensory evaluation panels (triage, formal descriptive analysis, bench trials) and translate sensory data into actionable winemaking adjustments for blending, oak, and aging strategies to meet brand profiles and consumer expectations.
Draft, maintain and enforce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for winemaking and laboratory operations, ensuring consistency across vintages and compliance with internal quality systems.
Manage cellar operations including receiving grapes, grape processing, press schedules, racking, fining, filtration, clarification, stabilization, barrel programs and bottling coordination to achieve efficient, safe, and quality-driven production flows.
Perform blending trials and create final blending proposals supported by chemical and sensory data to meet target flavor profiles, cost objectives, and labeling claims.
Oversee microbiological control programs to prevent and remediate spoilage organisms (Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus), including sanitation protocols, SO2 management, sterile filtration, and corrective actions.
Maintain and validate analytical instrumentation (HPLC, GC-MS, FTIR, spectrophotometers, titrators) and manage external lab relationships when specialized testing is required.
Manage SO2 and preservative regimes across production, including calculations for free/total SO2, addition schedules, and safety handling, to ensure microbial stability and shelf-life.
Plan and execute tank and barrel aging programs, including oak selection, toasting level decisions, barrel maintenance, and blending timelines consistent with production capacity and product release schedules.
Coordinate with vineyard teams and suppliers to align fruit quality, harvest timing, and grape handling protocols, including pre-harvest sampling plans and harvest logistics.
Lead continuous improvement projects to increase yield, reduce oxygen pickup, minimize spoilage losses, optimize additive usage, and improve sensory outcomes while tracking KPIs and cost of goods.
Prepare and maintain production, lab and sensory records for traceability, internal audits, and compliance with regulatory agencies (TTB, FDA, local authorities), including batch records, COAs, and label compliance data.
Supervise, train and mentor cellar and lab staff, establishing clear roles, safety practices, and performance expectations, and coordinate seasonal workforce planning during harvest and bottling campaigns.
Drive product development and innovation initiatives—small-batch trials, yeast and bacteria screening, alternative oak and aging methods, cold-soak and extended maceration evaluations—documenting results and scaling successful trials.
Implement and monitor HACCP, GMPs and food safety programs tailored to winery operations to reduce contamination risk and ensure consumer safety.
Manage bottling and packaging activities, working with co-packers when applicable, ensuring fill quality, oxygen management, closure selection and package integrity that aligns with shelf-life and sensory objectives.
Analyze production and lab data using statistical tools, maintain databases for vintage comparisons, and provide data-backed recommendations for future harvest and process adjustments.
Collaborate with marketing and sales teams to provide technical details, sensory descriptors and technical sheets for product launches, tastings and consumer communications.
Control inventory and ordering of enological supplies (enzymes, nutrients, SO2, fining agents, filtration media) and ensure appropriate storage conditions and supplier quality documentation.
Investigate and resolve off-flavors, refermentation, haze, instability and other quality incidents by developing corrective action plans, root-cause analyses and communicating outcomes to stakeholders.
Coordinate environmental control programs (temperature/humidity in cellars, CO2 monitoring during fermentation) and implement energy/water efficiency improvements where applicable.
Prepare budgets, forecast material needs and contribute to capital equipment planning for mills, presses, tanks, pumps and lab equipment that support the winery’s production strategy.
Ensure health & safety compliance for winery personnel, including training on chemical handling, confined-space entry, hot/cold work and personal protective equipment (PPE) for cellar and lab environments.
Act as primary technical liaison with external laboratories, consultants, and suppliers for analytical method development, contract analysis and problem-solving support.

Secondary Functions

Support cross-functional initiatives such as sustainability programs, packaging innovation, and supply chain optimization related to enology.
Contribute to internal knowledge sharing by documenting best practices, vintage reports, and post-mortem analyses for continuous learning.
Assist with regulatory submissions and label approvals by providing technical specifications, ingredient statements, and stability data.
Represent the winery at industry technical committees, supplier demos and educational events to stay current on enology innovations and best practices.
Provide ad-hoc technical support to tasting room staff and commercial teams during product launches, trade tastings and educational sessions.
Participate in harvest planning meetings, capacity scheduling and vendor negotiations to align production schedules with business needs.
Drive small-scale R&D projects and maintain a library of trial samples for future reference and benchmarking.
Coordinate calibration schedules and preventive maintenance plans for critical lab and production equipment.
Assist HR with seasonal recruiting needs for harvest and bottling teams, including onboarding and site safety orientation.
Facilitate third-party audits (organic, sustainable certification, quality systems) by preparing documentation and leading on-site walkthroughs.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced knowledge of wine chemistry and enology principles including fermentation kinetics, acid-base chemistry, sulfur dioxide chemistry, and oxidative/reductive wine management.
Strong sensory analysis capability: conducting formal tasting panels, descriptive analysis and translating sensory feedback into process changes.
Practical experience with microbiology relevant to wine—yeast selection, malolactic bacteria management, spoilage organism identification and mitigation.
Proficiency operating and troubleshooting analytical instrumentation: HPLC, GC-MS, FTIR, spectrophotometers, titrators and plate-count microbiology techniques.
Experience with laboratory QA/QC practices, method validation, calibration, proficiency testing and creating robust SOPs and lab notebooks.
Knowledge of filtration, fining, clarification, cold stabilization, and sterile barrier systems used in modern wineries.
Hands-on cellar skills: grape receiving, sorting, destemming/crushing, press optimization, tank management, barrel handling and bottling line oversight.
Competency in preservative management (SO2 calculations, addition strategies), stabilizers, clarifying agents and enzymology as applied to winemaking.
Familiarity with regulatory frameworks and compliance requirements (TTB, FDA labeling, local alcohol laws), documentation and traceability.
Practical data literacy: using spreadsheets, basic statistical analysis, data visualization and maintaining production/lab databases.
Experience implementing HACCP, GMPs and food safety systems in beverage or food production environments.
Knowledge of oxygen management and dissolved oxygen measurement techniques in winemaking operations.
Proven ability to design and run experimental trials, small-batch R&D and scale-up of processes to production volumes.
Experience with inventory control for chemicals and enological supplies and managing supplier quality documentation.
Familiarity with cellar automation systems, SCADA for temperature control, and basic PLC interactions is a plus.

Soft Skills

Excellent written and verbal communication skills for cross-functional collaboration with vineyard, operations, marketing and regulatory teams.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with an evidence-based approach to troubleshooting complex production or quality issues.
Detail-oriented with high standards for documentation, traceability and reproducibility of results across vintages.
Leadership and team development capabilities including mentoring seasonal staff and fostering a safety-first culture.
Project management skills: ability to prioritize multiple tasks during high-demand periods (harvest/bottling) and meet strict deadlines.
Adaptability and resilience in a dynamic environment with fluctuating workloads and seasonal peaks.
Commercial awareness: understanding of cost implications of enological decisions and ability to balance quality with budgetary constraints.
Collaborative mindset with experience working within cross-disciplinary teams and external partners.
Curiosity and continuous learning orientation—stays current with scientific literature, industry trends and new enological technologies.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Enology, Viticulture, Food Science, Chemistry, Microbiology or related scientific field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Enology, Viticulture, Wine Science, Food Science, Analytical Chemistry or equivalent advanced technical training.
Certification or continuing education in sensory analysis, HACCP, or wine lab instrumentation.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Enology / Wine Science
Viticulture
Food Science
Chemistry
Microbiology
Analytical Chemistry

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive experience in a winery, laboratory, or beverage production environment; includes harvest seasons and cellar operations.

Preferred: 5+ years as an Assistant Winemaker, Enologist, Lab Manager or equivalent with direct responsibility for fermentation programs, lab operations, sensory evaluation and production oversight. Experience supervising seasonal teams and managing capital projects is highly desirable.