we thank you. and others like you.
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iâd love to chat. i made a similar transition into the software/analytics side and it seems you have good experience there. and weâre hiring!
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Without any experience, you probably are going to find an entry-level position somewhere working the worst shifts with low wages. This may last several years. I entered the wine retail business in 1991 (because I demonstrated that I could operate a cash register) while attending college. When I got out a few years later, there wasnât much available in my field so I increased hours selling wine at the shop and got a couple of raises and benefits. Within three years, the wine buyer and manager were both gone so I was thrust into both positions as the guy who refused to quit (or get fired). I left that position in 1999 and it was the catalyst for everything Iâve done over the last 20+ years - a pair of senior wine buyer positions custom built for me, then working in sales with top wine estates, launching a trio of wine review publications, and finally building a business as a âreasonably talentedâ wine industry portrait artist. There will be competition from people, maybe younger than you who are either imposters, have some initials behind their name, or both. Iâve learned that memorizing facts, or being able to throw out the name of some obscure Slovenian white you tried backstage with a roadie touring with Alanis Morrisette (while the table is sipping on Rombauer Chardonnay) is not the same as having a unique life experience that can be achieved by working from the bottom up. There are likely some transferable skills from your previous profession, find creative ways to apply those to your first job that makes you unique and valuable. Donât say no to a first job even if it is buffing glasses for hours. Ask for more responsibility. I know a guy who just turned 65 and loves his new job working in a Long Island wine shop a few days a week. Iâve been a part of his wine journey, but it is something he wanted to pursue.
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Everyone giving legitimately helpful adviceâWB is literally the friendliest corner of the internet. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
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These are good points. This isnât wine retail, but I entered the wine industry aged 31 in 2019. I worked harvest in a cellar for $17/hr, which was about a 50% pay cut from my previous job. I was anticipating it taking 5 years minimum, probably more like 10, to get back to my previous pay, but it actually only took 2 because, once I was in the industry I was able to learn a lot more about it and find places and types of work where my previous experience was relevant (I was a geochemist through my 20s). But my wife and I had planned and made choices to ensure that weâd be financially stable for a longer-term dip in income, plus her income stayed the same so it was only a 25% decrease in household income - very much more sustainable.
So the first thing is to make sure that you have realistic expectations about earning potential and can absorb the hit to your income. Maybe you just landed a windfall from your business sale and have lots of savings, but it may still be demoralizing to see those savings sucked away over the years if you arenât making enough money to cover your major expenses, which may be true of working retail in an expensive city.
Then the second thing is that, if you want to parlay your previous experience into a more specialized kind of job in a new industry, Iâm sure you can but it will likely be way easier to figure out how once you are in that industry, seeing how it operates and connecting with a lot of other people in the industry.
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I always thought you were older based on your picture. Whatever you do, be careful with drinking too much, a career hazard Iâve seen firsthand that can play havoc with your life.
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Great advice. I have recently started to spit out a good chunk of the wine I open because I want to keep trying things, but I donât want the negative effects that come with alcohol.
The gif is from A Bishopâs Wife, which I am guessing you may already know. I watched it with my grandmother once and it has became a regular holiday season viewing here.
If youâre seriously tasting, you should be 100% spitting. In a more social environment, you can pace your consumption with mostly spitting and just drinking the right amount.
A recent example of the difference was a marathon day where we met up with some other industry folks âon the townâ after working (where weâd tasted at lunch and after finishing). So, about 3 dozen wines tasted, then an hour at some late hour eatery for three of us. One friend, who was driving, had a breathalizer. He blew .013, I blew .010, and our friend who (wasnât driving and) hadnât been spitting or dumping the remainder of a glass when the next pour was coming, blew a .130.
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Just want to be sure you know about WineBusinessâ wine jobs site. Good luck! You will love working where your passion is. Doors will open in unexpected places and waysâŠ. Wine Jobs
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That is good to know. I meant more just even opening a bottle at home with my wife. She thinks its nuts, but I decrease my consumption without decreasing my experiencing, so I am happy with it.
My guess is that the biggest transition would be psychological in nature; in auto parts, Iâd imagine that were you were largely regulated by no one whomsoever, whereas in the alcohol business, youâre gonna be VERY HEAVILY REGULATED by gubmint bureaucrats from myriad different alphabet soup agencies.
How much experience do you have with gubmint bureaucrats breathing down your neck, and how good are you at dealing with it psychologically?
Another big problem in NY could be organized crime; much of the trafficking in ETOH will still be controlled by the evolutionary remnants of the old ethnic crime syndicates, and, again, youâll need the correct psychological state of mind to deal with the ebb & flow of testosterone involved in those sorts of transactions.
OTOH, if you were moving used auto parts, then you might already have abundant experience with the various ethnic crime syndicates.
The final warning would involve The Scarlet Letter, which no one ever talks about here, but which will be an ever present aspect of your entire life, once you become a professional ETOH salesman.
Do you have the psychological tools necessary for dealing with The Scarlet Letter on a daily basis?
PS: In NY state, the Venn Diagram of the set of all gubmint bureaucrats and the set of all evolutionary remnants of ethnic crime syndicates is gonna have an highly non-trivial intersection, which means an whole heckuva lotta members of very large extended families are gonna be demanding a cut of the action.
You might think about settling somewhere upstate, maybe in the general vicinity of the Fingerlakes, and keeping a low profile.
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Start at the beginning by working harvest and learn how wine is made. There are hundreds of decisions that go into making a bottle of wine. All this starts at harvest and then moves into the winery. You will be surprised at folks who work harvest. You will meet a lot of different folks. You will see the decisions that the winemaker makes and the impact it has on the wine. There is no right answer or only way to do it. It is all about choices. You will be exposed to selling the wine again which involves choices. After that you will have a better idea where your skills will fit and what you want to do. 
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lol wut
NY is a really easy state to work in. NJ sales reps are the ones who still carry crowbars and baseball bats in the trunk to scare away competition.
Hospitality is probably the area which least interests me, so given my location, retail/ wholesale seems to be the most reasonable.
So you want to work for someone or work for yourself?
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Get a job working for someone else so you have some clue. Both retail and wholesale.
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Especially in wholesale, donât focus on the wines you love personally. Get some wines that wonât sit on shelves - retailers and restaurant owners arenât in business to amass inventory.
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Be relentless, at least initially. You need to knock on a lot of doors before anyone will talk to you, and even more before anyone will buy anything from you.
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Target your customers. You wonât get into high-end restaurants right away, or into big stores like Total Wine. Find some boutique places unless you have huge production wines. Most bars and restaurants are keyed into alcohol - Bacardi, Grey Goose, etc. Thatâs where the money is and people are brand-loyal. So what happens is theyâll tell their liquor guy to bring a few reds and a couple whites because thatâs exactly how people are going to buy them - theyâre not going to obsess over vintage, biodynamics, etc.
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Learn the law. If you think youâre going to be a wholesaler, find out the requirements, like what kind of facility youâre going to be required to maintain.
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If you think youâre going to be an importer, learn about that. Learn about currency fluctuation and payment terms. The business is all about cash flow and if someone is in another country, good luck exercising any influence. I knew someone who tasted some rosĂ© and flat out loved it. She ordered a few pallets. The wine maker was coy about giving her ârecipeâ, which I thought was weird. What she ended up shipping was a white of unknown provenance into which sheâd added some strawberry flavor and color. And the retailers turned back every single bottle, because they were turning brown on the shelves.
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Expect not to sell anything for several months, and not to break even for longer.
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Hook up with an attorney who knows about alcohol sales.
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Retailing is bad because it requires inventory and employees. Wholesale is bad because it requires space, inventory, and employees, and distributors.
10, Be prepared to offer âincentivesâ to get interviews and to get your wine tasted. Sometimes to get to the president, you need to get through the secretary. And donât hesitate to offer a few perks here and there.
But people do succeed. Just donât think youâre going to spend a lot of time discussing vintage variance. Itâs a business and itâs about selling. Eventually youâll find your niche and can start expanding. But donât go into it thinking thereâs any romance.
Good luck.
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Forget the restaurants -
Go find a part time job RIGHT NOW at the best local wine shop you can find. Make sure they have a top notch lead buyer with a sterling reputation. Nowhere else will you get a better education, learn about the wine industry, and be able to figure out what end of the business you want to be in.
If you are a natural born salesman, you may want to look at wholesale (but you are going to have to be able to handle disliking 80% of your customers who will do 20% of your business, while royally kissing the asses of the 20% of your customers who will do 80% of your business). This works if you just love being around people. You donât have to worry about have great wine knowledge for wine wholesale, because your customers will have great wine knowledge themselves (as they will continue to tell you). Just be a good listener, take notes with each customer, have great follow through, and you will succeed.
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Speaking of lead buyers Thomas, I saw Surdykâs has a new head guy.
I saw that Andy left - they have had quite the turnover in the last couple of years. Not sure who is there now - We will certainly see this guyâs game when that semi-annual wine sale goes live -
I will say this and I have emailed Melissa Surdyk who seems to be running everything. About 2 years ago they were on a roll with some good wines and good sales but lately pretty much slim pickings and I have moved my local business over to Thomas Liquors. Yes a lot of new people working there for sure!
That accords with everything Iâve heard about being in sales at the wholesale level. I would only add that some distributorsâ sales people are paid 100% on commission.
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Not to be discouraging, Joe, but I came on this Bob Johnson cartoon for Pacific Wine Company, which seemed apropos of this thread.
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