Each summer, Claudio Ponte’s daughter, Juliet comes to the Winery to intern. This year, like last, she’s working with the Marketing department. We asked Juliet what the past ten years have been like, watching the Winery grow from the time she was a little girl. Here is what she told us.
If you were to ask the seven year old Juliet what her dad did for a living, she would say, “My daddy makes people happy by making good wine.” Ten years have passed and I still have same opinion. Growing up in a tasting room has taught me a lot about people and more importantly, how to treat people. Of course, as a seven year old, I was completely unable to comprehend what exactly happened during the wine making process. That didn’t matter to me; there was something magical about the tasting room. I would spend my summers at the winery, following managers around and asking for small jobs like putting stickers on bags or restocking bottles. As I got older, I was able to do more glamorous jobs like washing glasses and stacking boxes.
Although those jobs weren’t what I had hoped for, I was still working in the tasting room and that meant a lot to me. Being involved with my family’s company has greatly impacted my life and I have grown up in an environment full of loving people whose goal is to help people enjoy a day in the country. The individuals that are seen everyday at Ponte have taught me that through kindness and respect, you can achieve great memories. This summer, instead of stacking boxes or washing glasses, I am working as an intern in the marketing department. I hope to learn a lot from the marketing team at Ponte. With so many guests visiting on the weekend though, I have a feeling that I am not totally free from the kind of jobs I once had.
Hospitality is very important at Ponte, so I was not surprised when my father wanted to build a hotel in wine country. The Ponte Vineyard Inn turned out to be a beautiful structure and its construction added excitement and a bit of diversity to our lives. It has been very a rewarding experience watching the hotel come together and change since its opening last year.
If you were to ask me today, the seventeen year old Juliet, what my father does for a living, I would say that he created a place where friends and family can enjoy spending time together, while drinking wine they love and eating great food.
Thanks for the support, I hope to see you at the Winery or Hotel sometime this summer!
No comments yet. You should be kind and add one!
By submitting a comment you grant Ponte Winery Blog a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate and irrelevant comments will be removed at an admin’s discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.