On the subject of both happy and sad occasions, Nabor Camarena, our vineyard manager for the past eight years, left this spring as he reported in our last post. Rather than just announce his leaving, we invited Nabor to comment on his new opportunities and reflect on his experiences here, and he graciously complied. Typical of Nabor, he did not depart before finding his extremely able replacement, Lauro Servin. We all stay in touch and, of course, we wish Nabor every success in his new venture.

Ours is a small, tightly knit team. Every member is important. And we’ve “lucked out” with our two new employees. I will include their “bios” below, but first I want to welcome them and pass along a few informal observations about them.

John Harley, our assistant winemaker, is a young man who has blended in very well. This is his first full-time job following a series of internships in what promises to be a great career. He is fun, enthusiastic and mature beyond his years. He brings great energy and has readily accepted responsibility, taking ownership of his job. We also joke that he is without a past – we were talking about vintages and the fact that the frosts last year were as bad as some in the 1970s. He shrugged and pointed out that those frosts happened a decade before he was born.

John is close to his family, perhaps part of the reason that he has integrated so well with us. In the interview process, John inspired positive reactions from the start. On such a small team, everyone has great responsibility. We simply can’t afford to select the wrong people because consistency year-to-year is so vital for us. Fortunately, John gets it. He’s bright, well-trained, easy to work with, respectful of his co-workers and an astute observer who quickly sees what needs to be done, and he does it! He’s our kind of guy.

Lauro Servin is another self-motivated man who quietly and competently takes the initiative. He is well-respected by his associates for his impressive background. He, too, remains close to his family, having worked for his brother for the past ten years and beside him for the previous decade.

Lauro even brings with him experience developing this very property with me some 20 years ago. It is very satisfying seeing Lauro come full circle. He has learned his trade extremely well, working his way up, becoming fluent in English and always improving his knowledge and skills. We are fortunate to have him, and the fact that Nabor brought him to us out of his deep concern for our team, our vineyards and the wine makes this a special win-win situation.

With such solid, capable people in place, I’m very confident in our future. Here’s a little more information about them.

Lauro Servin grew up in Zamora in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, and came to the United States in 1987. He joined his brother, Francisco Servin, at Peter Nissen’s vineyard management company. Ironically, Lauro’s first job in the U.S. was helping replant what was then the Tula Vista Vineyard, known today as the Donum Ranch. Overseeing the replanting was none other than Anne Moller-Racke, then director of vineyard operations for Buena Vista Winery.

Lauro worked for Nissen for 11 years, then joined Francisco’s vineyard management company for another decade. Former Donum vineyard manager Nabor Camarena approached Lauro about a position as Nabor’s replacement. “I said, yes, I certainly know the ranch!” Lauro says. Returning to the vineyard has brought back lots of memories, he says, including when the roof of the old milk barn (now converted into winery offices) blew off and landed in the driveway. Lauro asserts that he learns something new every day now, and he finds the greatest differences in 20 years are equipment improvements, new vine spacings, trellising techniques and plant materials, and an intense focus on details to enhance quality.

John Harley was raised in Visalia in California’s Central Valley. His father owns Sum Fruit International and consults as a table grape broker for Anthony Vineyards in Bakersfield; his mother does the office work. John earned his degree in enology from California State University, Fresno. In 2005, he took a sabbatical from school to work in the “wonderful controlled chaos of a cellar” as an intern at Wild Horse Winery in Templeton, California, where he honed his appreciation of Pinot Noir. John spent the summer of 2006 working in the laboratory for Videl Companies, then worked the 2006 and 2007 harvests as a part-time cellarman in the Fresno State Winery while attending classes full-time.

From the spring of 2007 until spring, 2008, John spent weekends managing the tasting room at Quady Winery in Madera. In the summer of 2008, he spent a month with other enology/viticultural students in a study program in Switzerland that was his introduction to European cellars. Finally, he worked the 2008 harvest at The Donum Estate before joining the winery full-time. “At first I was a little overwhelmed by the freedom,” he says. “The happy surprise is that everyone here is highly motivated, feels heard by the others, willingly takes the reins and has the same goal – to get even better.”