Dylan Rekucki
St. Helena,CA
Summary
Experienced cellar hand looking to build a career in wine. I have worked at large and small scale wineries in Napa Valley, CA, where I execute all tasks from receiving fruit until the final wine is in bottle. Taking winemaking classes from UC Davis to further my knowledge on winemaking. I began doing this because I wanted to make wine in Italy, and am searching for an Italian winery to do a harvest.
Overview
5
5
years of professional experience
Work History
Cellar Worker
Sinegal Estate
St. Helena, CA
05.2024 - Current
- Ultra Premium winery in St. Helena AVA. Worked with fruit from different American Viticultural Areas in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley such as Howell Mountain and the Russian River.
- Assist in all aspects of harvest from fruit receival to barreling down.
- Receive grapes by forklifting macrobins off of trucks and organizing by varietal, vineyard, and separate lots.
- Responsible for sanitizing all equipment for harvest, including but not limited to: hopper, shaker table, escalator, destemmer, optical sorter, must pump, and tanks.
- Operate optical sorter by setting and adjusting the quality of grapes to accept.
- Monitor fermentations by analyzing BRIX, Glu/Fru, VA, alcohol, sensory aspects.
- Non-harvest time responsibilities include but are not limited to: barrel downs, topping, taking samples and analyzing on SPICA, racking, blending, filtering, bottling.
- Participate in blending trials and tastings
- Vineyard sampling and scouting
- Property maintenance
Cellar II
Cakebread Cellars
08.2021 - 05.2024
- Accepted a harvest internship in 2021 and earned a job on the full-time team, eventually promoted to Cellar II.
- Managed projects including topping, racking, filtering, blending.
- Organized barrel hall of over 8,000 barrels by vintage, varietal, and size of lot.
- Harvest 2023 responsibility was managing the red tank room. Led a team of 2-5 interns from receiving grapes in tank and betting them to barrel down. This included monitoring 44 tanks at full capacity, scheduling and executing pumpovers, adds, inoculations.
- Worked Night Crew for Harvest 2021 and '22. Took over all cellar responsibilities from day crew, ensured everything was sanitized, put away, and ready for day crew the next morning.
- Represented the production team on our safety committee, ensuring that our cellar was up to OSHA standards and that the crew was using proper safety equipment and tactics.
Food Runner II
Press Restaurant, Napa Valley
11.2023 - 05.2024
- Experienced the inside of a Michelin-Star restaurant
- Collaborated with chefs and sommeliers to improve dining experiences
- Assisted guests with menu, including explaining the dishes, any substitutes for food allergies, and walking them through the courses.
- Participated in wine classes led by sommeliers on wines we were pouring
- Studied a 9 course menu, and worked efficiently to deliver Michelin-Star service to up to 200 guests
Financial Representative
Equitable Advisors
03.2021 - 05.2021
- My responsibilities were to cold call executives about their financial plans and explain ours.
- I learned about personal finance and how to build wealth.
- I left the job quickly to pursue my dream of making wine in Italy.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Viticulture And Eonology
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA07.2026
Bachelors of Science - Finance
University of Maryland
College Park, MD05.2021
Languages
English
Native or Bilingual
Spanish
Limited Working
Italian
Professional Working
In my Free Time:
I coach CrossFit and working out is a part of my daily routine. Once a month I help trim pig hooves, I flip the pig on its back and the other person shaves the hooves. Use biking as my main form of transportation. Once a week I study Italian with a professor to prepare myself for moving there.
Timeline
Cellar Worker
Sinegal Estate
05.2024 - Current
Food Runner II
Press Restaurant, Napa Valley
11.2023 - 05.2024
Cellar II
Cakebread Cellars
08.2021 - 05.2024
Financial Representative
Equitable Advisors
03.2021 - 05.2021
Bachelor of Science - Viticulture And Eonology
University of California, Davis
Bachelors of Science - Finance
University of Maryland