I’m surprised people are giving Boisset Collection more than a two star review. When I worked there, it seems like every employee from every department had complaints about the exact same things: They are overworked beyond their limits… They are underpaid (my starting pay was $18/hour with a pay raise on 50¢ every year. And had a level II WSET certification)…. For the two tasting room staff members who were lucky enough to have benefits, I heard that the benefits suck, but I can’t really speak on this... Many times different employees of different departments would be asked to take on more tasks than their original job description asked for and with no pay raise. This was a polite threat that if they don’t take all these tasks in the company has no use for them (An IT employee was asked to do HR responsibilities otherwise they’d have “no use for him”)
They’re not disclosing this yet, but I believe as of 2022 when I worked there, the company has been doing very poorly. So much so that there have been massive waves of layoffs at all the properties (Buena Vista, Oakville Grocery, JCB, Raymond) Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones who never got laid off, but the fear of being laid off is what encouraged me others to go find another job.
A common theme from all the negative reviews comes from the owners on Jean-Charles Boisset, who is basically a child adult who runs his company, not as a Napa Valley wine brand but rather a “celebrity” brand. He flaunts himself as this luxurious mogul but takes incredible short cuts when it comes presenting a “luxury” experience. On the surface, he appears affable but any employee knows when he’s around he might say two of three things: make sexual comments that make the staff uncomfortable or throw a tantrum and scare the employees.
Returning to the taking short cut, they had a poor music system that would constantly turn off. One day he approached the concierge and result asked “Are you deaf? Where is the music?” Not the way to speak to employees. Honestly, Napa would be better off without Boisset in it.
