The world is a global village where nothing seems impossible. There are so many career options available that you are free to choose, thousands of opportunities waiting for you if you know what you want to do. Wine consultant is just like another job, but for those who love what they do because this is something which needs passion, hard work, and patience.
If you are wondering what it is like to be a wine consultant and how to become a wine consultant then read this article. In this article, we are going to discuss the job of wine consultant and how to become one.
Wine Consultant:
Wine is one of those drinks who accompany you on so many occasions that you may feel incomplete without a glass of wine in your hand. Also, wine is a drink you can classify in many ways like exotic, sensual, sweet, bubbly, great food companion, party’s glamour and much more. People love a good glass of wine to compliment their food, to celebrate, to forget their sorrows or just to enjoy a peaceful evening.
There is not a single occasion where you cannot have a glass of wine to make it more special and important. But the most amazing fact about wine is that a few handfuls of people have an understanding of good wine and can distinguish between different tastes of wine. The lack of understanding of this fabulous drink makes the space for the job of a wine consultant.
Wine consultants are the people who help restaurants, pubs, hotels, the party’s host or anybody who are willing to pay for the best advice on selecting the best wine. The job of wine consultant revolves around wine and only wine, they know all about wine, its taste, age, quality and have experience of some great wine.
Wine consultants ultimately work to boost the sales of wine and are generally hired by hotels, restaurants, and winemakers boost their sales among consumers and help in stocking wine loved by people.
If you have a love for wine as well as want to explore the world of wine and all its offer, then the job of wine consultant is perfect for you. The people who have years of experience can directly work as a wine consultant, but for those who are starting from the scratch, they need the proper knowledge, qualification and of course a passion for wine.
What a Wine Consultant Does:
There are various things a wine consultant can do, but more importantly, they work to boost the sales of wine. A wine consultant works for different organizations, whether it is a hotel to improve their wine collection or a restaurant to increase its customers by providing the best collection of wine. Wine consultant ultimately provides their expert guidance to sell the wine simply because they are the wine tasting expert.
In simple words, wine consultants are the people who have great knowledge of wine and they give their expert guidance to the organization who wants their help in improving their stock of wine in exchange for money.
Wine consultants work more than one job at a time because of the flexibility of their work, they hardly sit in an office and discuss. Usually, their wine discussions take place over a good meal or a collection of wine storage.
It may look like wine consultants have a great career because they get to drink expensive and vintage wine for free, but the reality is harsher than what people think. A wine consultant needs great patience, alcohol tolerance and good knowledge of wine. If you are one of those people who want wine consultant as their career then you should know how to become a wine consultant which is pretty much important.
How to Become a Wine Expert:
If the word ‘wine’ brings images of top wine brands in your mind and your tongue relishes the taste immediately, then you are the perfect candidate to be a wine consultant. You do not need to be an alcoholic to remember the taste and name of good wine; your passion can do this for you.
Some people do wine consulting after years of experience, but if you are someone who wants to work as a wine consultant for your career then you should know the procedure to become the wine consultant.
Steps to Become a Wine Expert:
1. Basic education:
Consulting jobs are ones where you need industry knowledge as well as educational qualifications to break in. Like any other job of consulting, you need knowledge of wine to be a wine consultant as well as educational qualification to back up.
If you want to be a wine consultant then, you should start with bachelorette degree wine and viticulture or something related to it. Some universities run diploma and undergraduate program where you learn grape farming, viticulture practices, wine law, and sensory evaluation of wine as well as various other similar topics.
After your degree completion, you can start working; you can start with the job of winemakers, wine server, wine taster or wine sommelier which helps you in gaining experience and knowledge. Your job of wine consultant is a little far from the beginning, but you will get there if you are passionate about the job of a wine consultant.
2. Experience:
You cannot advise anyone about wine without having any experience and experience comes from learning. Your experience is what makes you a good consultant and also knowledge is gained from experience.
The job of consulting needs experience because you are responsible for someone’s decisions and you cannot give good advice without experiencing it firsthand. If you are keen on becoming a wine consultant and already had a degree to go with your decision, then you should work on your experience.
Just like any other consulting job, you cannot jump headfirst into the job. You need some homework; homework that gives you good experience to back you up as well as a good consultant always has better advice when they have the experience to go with the advice.
3. Career development:
The career of wine consultant starts from the basics where they first work in the wine industry to learn, to gather the experience and knowledge. After gaining the experience of the wine industry, join the wine society.
Wine society differs from country to country where they do seminars, conferences about wine, and get together to discuss the world’s best wine collection among the importers and famous brands of wine.
Joining a wine society is the next step in your career development, wine society elaborates your knowledge further as well as you got the opportunity to spread your network among the wine lovers, experts, and organizations.
After joining wine society you can apply for the certification of a wine judge. Wine judge certification helps you move into the most professional front of wine consulting. Wine judge certification depends on the country to country because wine is a world-class drink loved by millions of people.
4. Understanding Wine:
You cannot be a consultant if you do not have a good understanding of wine. The different brand has different taste, as well as the taste of wine, also depends on the ingredients, quality, and types of grapes and the process.
A wine consultant knows all the difference between good wine and cheap wine as well as having a good understanding of the brand and age of the wine. Just like any other profession you need to be passionate about wine because unless you are curious and want to know more you can never learn enough to be a good consultant. A consultant is a wine guide who has more knowledge than the consumer that’s why a wine consultant needs to have a good understanding of wine.
A good understanding of wine also helps in flourishing your career as a consultant because people going to use your service only when they know how well you are. Contrary to the degree you already had, you need to learn more than that to become a successful wine consultant, even you can open your consultancy firm if you are interested in this wine business.
5. Learn, read and taste:
Just like any other consultancy job, you need to have experience, knowledge, wisdom and most importantly love for the job you are doing. Wine consultancy is not some glamorous job, but it is your passion that makes it special. If you want to become a wine consultant then learn because a glass of good wine is always a mystery if you are a person who loves wine enough, to decode it.
Reading is another important part because reading helps you in elaborating your knowledge and giving your idea about different culture and involvement of wine in people’s life, you can even read about the vintage wine collection and similar stuff.
Taste all sorts and types of wine if you love wine consultancy enough that you are pursuing it as your career. The wine tasting experience will be very helpful and will be going with you forever, you can forget what you read, but you never forget the taste on your tongue.
Qualities You Should Have To Be A Wine Consultant:
Wine consultancy is not some hardcore job where you need to do an extensive physical workout or need a special feature to pass on. Wine consultancy is a profession of passion and love for a good glass of wine.
Some people love wine enough to make a career out of it, but sometimes your passion is not just enough to be a successful wine consultant. You need little more other than love for wine. Here are the qualities you should have to be a wine consultant.
1. The first thing you should have in you, other than love for wine is respect for cultural diversity. There are people with different taste, preferences, and you are here to help, not to impose your knowledge over them. Show respect for cultural diversity.
2. This applies to all consultancy jobs, not just to the wine consultancy. If you want to be a good wine consultant then you should have good verbal communication skills because no one knows how many glasses of wine you had tasted so far, but your words are the reassurance they need to convince that you are suggesting right and best.
3. Wine consultancy is a job of pressure. If you cannot handle the pressure of wine, the pressure of work, the pressure of clients and has a hard time in maintaining your cool in front of the potential client then forget about the wine consultancy. Confidence and patience are the golden rules of wine consultancy.
4. A love for wine, passion for wine taste and eagerness to learn about wine are what makes you a perfect candidate in this field. There are people, who chose a wine consultant as a pass time career, but in all honesty, you need passionate love for wine and eagerness to learn then only you can become a wine consultant.
5. A job of consultancy demands all sorts of information on a particular subject. If you want to enter in this field of wine consultant then be prepared to gain an extensive set of wine information because consultancy is the job for the good learner who loves to make a difference in people’s life, but when it comes to the job of wine consultant they just need lots of knowledge of different wine.
Conclusion:
Wine consultant can be a good job if you have passion, understanding, and love for the job. We hope this article helped you in some way and you can get set go on the path of your life. Just remember that no job is good or terrible and you should maintain your patience level.
