Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Harp.
Hi Joshua, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Redlands, California but moved to Fortuna, California when I was one year old. My family lived in Fortuna until I was eight years old, after which we moved to Cottonwood, California. It was during this time that I happened upon a small winery and vineyard just down the road from where I lived; one of the few wineries at that time in Tehama and the surrounding counties. While I was in high school, I began working for this winery on the weekends and during the summers. During one of my first days on the job I was led into the barrel room where I was confronted with the intoxicating smell of brand new oak barrels. I was hooked from that day and I quickly feel in love with the industry and winemaking. I continued living in Cottonwood until I graduated from Shasta College, then I moved down to the Central Coast in 2010. My intention was to find a job in the wine industry while potentially waiting to transfer into one of California’s Wine and Viticulture programs, and I ended up finding a job working for Sextant Wines within a few weeks. I loved the work and saw the potential for advancement and eventually stopped looking back.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The wine industry is, at its core, an agricultural business, so the highs and lows of winemaking are closely tied to each vintage and the changing seasons. A consulting winemaker once told me, “A winemaker only has about 30 good years in them, so always make the best wines you can.” Because grapes are harvested just once a year, you only get so many chances. No matter how hard one works, through hot, 16+ hour workdays and long stretches without a day off, we are at the mercy of nature after all. My first year in the industry, 2010, brought scorching heat followed by rain during harvest. At the time, I had yet to learn the value of high quality, waterproof leather boots, and I was commuting 40 minutes each way, leaving at 5 a.m. and getting home around 9 p.m. The 2011 vintage brought more difficult conditions, with long days spent rushing fruit in from the rain and processing it in a facility without floor drains. During that time, I wondered whether I had made the right choice in moving away from my family instead of going straight to a university. But I stayed with it, and the next vintage was one of those winemakers talk about for decades. Later, with a healthy dose of luck, I joined Jada Vineyard and Winery in 2015. There, I was eventually promoted to winemaker, worked alongside exceptional consulting winemakers and viticulturists, and ultimately found my way to Caliza Winery.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Winemaking truly is a perfect blend of art and science, and it’s no wonder the industry attracts people from all professions and stages of life. It is not unusual to meet someone who has spent decades in financing, engineering, dentistry, or restaurant hospitality, you name it, only to leave those careers behind to spend a harvest as an intern to test the waters. That mix of backgrounds makes this a dynamic industry where new ideas and passions are constantly emerging. It is often joked that winemakers are just people who know a little about plumbing, electrical, willing to wear out their bodies, and like spread sheets. There is very little downtime. Harvest is often a grueling two- to three-month stretch, typically from August through November, filled with vineyard sampling, fruit analysis, and the work of processing and fermenting grapes. As harvest ends, we monitor the fermentation and the maturation of each lot. By January we are preparing for our first bottlings, blending whites and rosés from the current vintage and transferring to tank the wines from last year’s harvest. After that, we begin trial blends and final blending for the current vintage while preparing additional bottlings of the previous vintage from April through June. Beginning in February, we are also tracking vineyard pruning and the progression of bud break, flowering, fruit set, and veraison to better understand harvest timing, expected yields, and fruit quality. Alongside all of this, there are events, tasting room support, and sales trips. Before long, the cycle begins again!
At Caliza Winery, we focus on Rhône varieties such as Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre, while also working with grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo. Our commitment to thoughtful farming and to honoring each variety and the soil in which it is grown, has earned high scores from wine reviewers and, more importantly, helped us build an exceptional wine club community that inspires us to keep making better wines.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Over the years my greatest achievement has been being in the right place and time to be introduced to some amazing people. When I started at Sextant Winery in 2010, winemaker Steve Martell was nice enough to consider me for a harvest role after I had been working for the company in the tasting room for a couple weeks. This opportunity led me to taking on the Cellar Master role before moving to Jada Winery in 2015. There, winemaker David Galzignato taught me that you can always try something new and to put everything you can into making the best wines possible. He also threw me into the vineyard as often as possible, sometimes to work alongside the vineyard crew, connecting the farming to the winemaking. While at Jada, I had the privilege to work with several consulting winemakers, including Tony Biagi and Eric Jensen, who gave me the tools and the encouragement to take my winemaking to the next level. My family, friends, and wife have had the most important people throughout my career though. They have all been incredibly supportive and patient when I appear to fall off the face of the earth and disappear for months at a time during harvest. They have all, actually helped feed me at one point or another during a harvest, so I’m genuinely thankful for them keeping me alive.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.calizawinery.com
- Instagram: @calizawinery
