For the next few months, we will profile different makers within our community. Our first maker is JP Caldcleugh our Winemaker and the newest member of the team.

JP was born and raised in New Orleans. When he was 15 years old his Father opened a neighborhood fine wine shop. JP was able to quite literally help him build it from the ground up and fell in love with wine. Even at a young age JP was fascinated with the fact that you can grow fruit, crush it, let it sit there and end up with the most complex and compelling drink found on the earth. This is what got him his key role at Union Wine Company as Head Winemaker.

Wine Maker seems like such a straight forward term but what does it actually mean to be a Wine Maker?

JP: I have always thought of Winemakers as being very industrious folks, someone who had a good balance of science and also a very creative aspect of their brain. To be able to hand craft something most people have a love of plants and nature and a love of creativity

What categorizes you as a maker other than having it in your title?

JP: It’s just like creating anything. You have the opportunity to shape a raw product into something that is true to itself while allowing you to put your own signature on it. All of the decisions made from what type of yeast to the type of oak, the fermentation and the barrel aging and blending. These are all conscious decisions that go into crafting wine.