Longtime Madera winery holding job fair Thursday to hire new employees

MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's quiet inside Mission Bell Winery now, but it will be bustling with employees bottling wine and champagne come August.

"Mission Bell produces wine for consumers. We bring in fruit to harvest and then create wine, ferment it. Then we also co-pack for other operations," said Ken Putnam, operations director for Mission Bell Winery Cellars.

Putnam says the winery is looking to hire 40 seasonal positions across three shifts for harvest. The company can train workers, and full-time careers are also available.

"We have a cellar supervisor open. We have a plant maintenance position open. We have a bottling supervisor position open, but the bulk of it we are looking for is temporary harvest positions. General winery workers to run different pieces of equipment for us, our crushes, our presses, things that produce wine during our harvest season," Putnam said.

Mission Bell Winery is a part of Constellation Brands. They produce wine under different labels and bottle Cook's champagne.

"Wine goes throughout the entire U.S. anywhere from Florida, New York, California. Anywhere in the 50 states," Putnam said.

The winery has stood in Madera County for decades. It's located off Road 24 near Avenue 12 1/2.

"This site has been around since 1897. So it's not just a part of the wine business. It's a part of the community--not just Madera, but the Fresno area. There's a many as 300, 350 people who work here, and we have people who have worked here for greater than 40 years," Putnam said.

A Valley business helping people celebrate around the country.

The winery's job fair is Thursday, July 8, from 8 am until 2 pm.

Managers will be interviewing job seekers and even hiring on the spot.

Pay starts at $16.50 and goes up depending on experience.