Wine Maker Wine: Wind River Cellars, Husum, WA   Book This Career Mentorship   Watch the Video

Would you like to take your passion for wine beyond a sniff, a swirl and a sip? Do you have an appreciation for the labor and patience that goes into producing a quality bottle of wine? Would you consider a career that involves getting your hands, dirty, wet and wine-stained on a regular basis? Then cleanse your palate and pack your jeans and join Joel Goodwillie and his wife Kris, owners of Wind River Cellars. Learn how to become a winemaker and manage a winery on a career mentorship at their beautiful winery in Husom, Washington, located in the spectacular Columbia River Gorge area, just an hour from Portland, Oregon.

Joel didn’t plan to go into the wine business. However, after he graduated from Eastern Washington University, Joel took a job with Gallo Wines in their marketing department. “It was a great company, but the large corporate environment was not for me,” remembers Joel. “But I learned a lot. It was like a mentorship that helped me discover I really enjoyed the wine business.”

Joel and Kris decided to strike out on their own and moved to southern Oregon to become operating partners in a winery. Eventually, they tried to buy their partner out, but to no avail. So, in 1995, they moved to Husom and purchased the Charles Hooper Winery – with full view of Mt. Hood – and renamed it Wind River Cellars. In 1997, Joel and Kris hosted the grand opening of Wind River Cellars with the release of their 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

Today, Wind River Cellars offers six varieties of red wines and a selection of six white wines all produced from grapes grown locally in Klickitat County, the largest grape growing county north of California. Joel describes his winemaking philosophy as minimalist. “I take the grapes and make wine. I don’t manipulate them by adjusting the acid or pH,” explains Joel. “I believe the grapes should express the character of the wine, not a laboratory.” This philosophy has served Joel well resulting in recognition within the industry including platinum awards presented by Wine Press Northwest and gold awards at the Capitol Food & Wine Festival.

Joel and Kris work hard and do whatever it takes to produce and market top quality wines. “We don’t just stand around in the tasting room talking to people,” laughs Joel. “You have to stay on top of everything.” Joel does the winemaking, Kris handles all the administrative work and both Joel and Kris manage the marketing side of the business.

Over the years, the Wind River Cellars staff, which consists of three part-time or three full-time employees depending on seasons, have benefited from Joel’s experience and mentoring abilities. “One former employee has gone on to own a winery; one has become a brewer; and a third is a winemaker with one of the largest wineries in Oregon,” says Joel.

As with any business, there are challenges and rewards. “We cannot control the weather or the economic climate,” shares Joel. “But it is great to work for yourself.” Any plans to expand? “Absolutely not. It is kind of like going from two kids to three. You need a bigger house, bigger car and another college fund. I’m happy with where the winery is today.”

While on your Vintner VocationVacations® dream job holiday, Joel and Kris will mentor you in some of all of the following activities:

• Wine Appreciation and Education
• Harvesting (October) – Picking, crushing, pressing grapes and… clean up
• Preparing the wine for bottling (November – May) – Clarification, cold stabilizing, fermentation, racking, topping barrels, wine blending and clean up
• Bottling and Labeling (April – September) – Setting up bottling, line, lab work, label layout, labeling, bottling and clean up
• In the field (April – September) – Leaf cluster thinning for wine quality, grape pest monitoring, soil and leaf tissue sampling, and general viticulture practice

The Wine Maker VocationVacations® holiday includes:

• Two days of one-on-one mentorship in your dream job as a Wine Maker
• The opportunity to participate in a total of one hour of pre- and post-VocationVacation career coaching from an accredited, affiliated VocationVacations career coach
• A pocket-size VocationVacations journal so you can document your dream job becoming a reality
• Light lunches with your mentor 

Available: All year based on mentor's availability with exception of holidays

Price: $849 Per Person

Book This Career Mentorship

Inn of the White Salmon	Hood River Hotel
(Not included in the price of the VocationVacations® holiday) Other activities and tourist destinations while on your VocationVacations® adventure: Columbia River Gorge Explorer Portland Oregon Visitors Association Experience Washington Travel Oregon Full payment of the VocationVacations dream job holiday is required to make a reservation. A $100 non-refundable fee is assessed if a VocationVacations experience is cancelled or rescheduled prior to 14-days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday, based on the approved availability of the mentor to reschedule. A VocationVacations adventure cannot be rescheduled and is non-refundable if cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday. Written notification of cancellation or rescheduling is required in all cases. In the US, Grounded Nomads, LLC and VocationVacations holidays encourage all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling. In the UK, Grounded Nomads, Ltd and VocationVacations holidays must require all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling and provide verification of such travel insurance to Grounded Nomads, Ltd.