Jobs in Wine

Ah, work. For most of us, it’s the thing which takes up that irritating stretch of time between crawling out of bed in the morning, and getting home to that lovely glass of wine in the evening.

We all know that the ideal job is one which involves your passion. For some people, this involves getting to travel, or to work with interesting people, music, film or wild animals.

However, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, I think it’s safe to assume exactly where your passion lies... and just imagine being one of the lucky people that gets to work with your favourite alcoholic drinks every day! It’s the grown-up equivalent of all those childhood Willy Wonka fantasies, of one day running your own chocolate factory and being let loose in a world of sugar-fueled pleasures.

Hidden hands behind the scenes--red

What a lot of people don’t realise is that there are a lot of jobs out there involving alcohol and the production of alcohol, which don’t require you to stand behind a bar and chat to old men downing pint after pint.

Wineries and breweries - certainly some of the bigger ones - are often major employers, requiring a plethora of talents from grape growers to grape pickers, bottle designers to marketing experts, tasting room runners to professional tasters.

There are complex and fascinating operations going on behind every bottle and every brand - from the smallest, independent label to the major wine houses with multinational offices.

One of our favourite things about the wine industry (and other booze-related industries) are the unique, odd, eccentric jobs that need to be done, but which are rarely given a thought by the majority of us when we’re enjoying a bottle in the evening.

These are often the real dreamy vocations - the kind of jobs that, if you were to meet someone at a party who did one, you’d be quick to corner them in the kitchen, ask them a million questions, and try and wrangle your way into a work experience program before the night was out. Or ask them to marry you - one or the other.

Let’s take a look at some of our favourites.

Super nose for hire--aromatic

This isn’t a job for everybody. Not because it involves anything particularly dangerous, difficult or unpleasant (quite the opposite, in fact), but because it involves skills and abilities which very, very few people possess, and which are more akin to some sort of superpowers than the usual things you see on the average CV.

A tiny percentage of people have olfactory abilities which are on the same level as sniffer dogs, and while this might be something of a curse in some situations (I imagine they tend to avoid busy commuter buses in the summer months…) they do tend to end up in jobs in the top wine, food and perfume companies in the world, where their innate talents have people clambering over each other to make use of them.

Expert sniffers, and those with super-sensitive noses are employed in the drinks industry to pick up all of those obscure, bizarre and difficult to detect scents which end up on the backs of wine bottles.

They can also actually play a significant role in guiding the general direction a winery takes with their produce, too, as their advice on what to focus on and what to avoid can make a significant difference to future vintages.

Importer--racy

The world of wine is vast, with wines being produced in countries all across the world. In each market, there's a good chance you'll be able to find wines from at least 6 different countries. In wine savvy places like Australia, that number triples.

But how do all these wines make it here? How on earth did that restaurant end up with a Romanian Chardonnay and a Brazilian Merlot? The answer is of course importers, wine professionals who also dabble in logistics. Often sommeliers or winemakers who are looking to do something a bit different but still utilise their skill set, these people are responsible for the end-to-end connection of these great bottles from distant lands.

In many cases they might be ex-pats from the country in question, with good connections to the industry back home that allows them easy access to these wines. Sometimes they are just wine lovers who wanted to see a greater range available in their home country.

Like many things, it's not a difficult job to learn, but it takes a fair bit of skill and persistence to master and turn into a career!

Distributor/sales representative--aromatic

Pretty much a given in a lot of industries....the winemaker makes the wine, but then has no route to market, and no contacts. What do they do? Some brave winemakers try and do it themselves, but more likely is paying a small fee to a wholesaler to arrange everything for them.

This necessitates what is essentially a 'retail sommelier' - sales reps who visit restaurants and bottle shops and show off the new releases to the wine buyers. Again, often the wholesaler will be a former sommelier looking for more amenable working hours,  and they are required to have strong wine knowledge plus impressive sales technique.

Some larger wineries employ their own sales team, but more common is a separate wholesaler who represents a number of wineries.

Influencer--cellar

The way products are marketed has changed completely. The rise of social media has impacted all of our lives (oh, if only I could get those hours wasted on Facebook back!) and it’s inspired a new generation of marketing executives in the wine and spirit world to approach things a little differently.

Nowadays, people looking for a great bottle to take home, or a spirit to drink with friends on a night out are going to pay a lot more attention to Instagram feeds and Twitter than they do to traditional print advertisements.

This has led to certain movers and shakers being paid by alcohol producers to ‘manage the perceptions’ of certain drinks, among certain audiences.

What does this mean? Well, if a spirit producer wants to reach a new customer base, they are going to target that customer base by getting social media ‘influencers’ to be seen in some cool bar drinking it… and of course getting plenty of selfies in the process.

It’s a little bit like the modern version of a celebrity endorsement, only less obvious, more clever, and potentially far more wide-reaching. Check out our favourite wine blogger Travelling Corkscrew for a good example of this job done well!

About the Author

Alex is a certified sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers and holds her WSET 3 with distinction. Her experience in the wine industry stretches from working as a sommelier in award-winning restaurants in British Columbia, judging national wine competitions, and utilising her background in design and communication toward commissioned art, writing, and branding for wineries and wine bars and columns across the globe.