From Tijuana to Temecula: Interview with a winemaker, Javier Flores of South Coast Winery

From making wine in Tijuana to making wine in Temecula, Javier Flores career is as flavorful as his wines. I had the opportunity to meet – and sip wine – with Javier in Temecula where I learned all about the road and detours that lead him to South Coast Winery Resort. It’s one of those American Dream stories filled with hard work, determination, people giving you a chance and good wine.

Javier Flores winemaking career began as a child in Tijuana, growing up at L.A. Cetto Winery. The winery was established in 1928 by an Italian family and today is one of Mexico’s biggest wineries. Located within the Mexican wine region of Valle de Guadalupe it is still family owned and operated – seven generations!

Back in the 1940’s Javier’s dad and other family members started working at L.A. Cetto Winery as cellar workers. At one time there were 20+ members of his family working at the vineyard. When he was very young – around six or seven years old – he started going to L.A. Cetto to bring food to his dad and other relatives. It’s this time frame that shaped his future. It was this family errand that peeked his senses – attaching him to the smells and aromas of the winery.

“I actually grew up at L.A. Cetto Winery. My dad had become very good friends with the winemaker Camillo Magino and the owner, Don Cetto, who recently passed away. When my parents had gotten married he allowed my dad to build a small house on what was parking lot so they could live on property. I grew up here.”

When Javier was around 12 years old his dad was diagnosed with cancer and was no longer able to work so he and his brothers started working at the winery. “Camillo Magino took me under his wing and became my mentor. He helped me finish high school and when he saw my desire to stay in the wine industry he helped me to go to college. I had the opportunity to study biochemical engineering and biochemistry engineering in food sciences, which back in those days was the only career in Mexico related to winemaking.”

Javier earned his degree as a Biochemist Engineer from the Tecnologico de Tijuana in 1986, and continued working at L.A. Cetto after graduation. Then in 1990 he and his wife had the opportunity to come to the United States. “It was a hard decision because I was attached to L.A. Cetto Winery… my family roots were there. Camillo Magino gave me the blessing to leave; he pushed me to grow and helped me to move on. I’ve know Camillo Magino since I was four years old. He worked for the winery for 49 years and taught me so much. When he gave me the blessing to leave, we headed to the states.”

“Napa was the only wine region in the United States that we had heard about in Mexico. It was only Napa, Napa, Napa, and barely Sonoma. It was my first time to come to the United States…and I didn’t speak English. My wife – who speaks great English – went with me to every winery to help me fill out application, after application. It was very difficult.”

“I had several job offers but only for three-month jobs during harvest. At Conn Creek I was offered a six-month job, which I was going to take. But while my wife was waiting for me to finish the interview with the winemaker she had a conversation with a woman working in the tasting room who told her about Temecula. The woman asked her, why I was looking in Napa since Temecula was so much closer to Tijuana and my family in Mexico.  We had no idea that Temecula even existed. We left Napa Valley that afternoon and went straight to Temecula.”

“The first winery that got my attention was Callaway’s, at the time it was the largest in Temecula. I filled out an application – with my wife’s help – and then took her to lunch at Culbertsons Winery – now Thornton Winery, it had a restaurant onsite. We got to talking to the waitress and told her I was out looking for a job making wine. She got all excited saying their winemaker needed help and ran into the wine cellar. At that time the production manager was Paul Cooper and John McPherson was the winemaker, he’s now the head winemaker at South Coast Winery. They both came out of the cellar to talk to me about the opportunity. John offered me an assistant winemaker position on the spot and asked me when I could start. That was my first harvest with John. I’ve been making wines with him for thirty-three years now.”

“In 2001 John and I met John Carter who had vineyards in Temecula and had been selling his grapes to Callaway’s. The hand-shake agreement he had with Callaway’s ended for some reason and he had to harvest and produce his grapes on his own so he asked John McPherson and I to do a custom crush. Two years later South Coast Winery was established on his land with his vines, with John McPherson and I leading the winemaking. This last January was my 21^st  twentieth anniversary at South Coast Winery.”

Give yourself the confidence.

Be positive. There are opportunities.

Learn. If you don’t come with the knowledge, learn it. I spent a lot of time working on my English and learning the region in order to be successful.