What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. – Bob Dylan

Our mission here at Craft Beverage Jobs is to connect passionate people with unique wine jobs, beer jobs, and other career opportunities in the craft beverage market.

If we had a magic wand we could wave upon the world, we would enforce a rule that people only do work that they want to do – that they only pursue their passions.

Because when you’re doing what you want to do, it rarely feels like work!

Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else. – James M. Barrie

This is no doubt an idealistic point of view, but here’s the good news: the wine industry is booming and there are more opportunities now than ever for those passionate about wine to find a meaningful career in the industry.

For those considering a career in wine, our guide to wine jobs is intended to help you navigate your options.

What does it take to become a winemaker?
What types of wine jobs can you get with your marketing background?
What’s involved in getting a degree in enology and what are your options in terms of higher eduction?
What are the various certification programs available if you want to become a sommelier?
and more!

These are all questions asked by people who are looking to enter wine as a career field, and this guide aims to answer as many of these questions as possible.

NOTE: If you’re looking for a wine job, we’ve created a free worksheet to help you stay organized and working towards your goals. Download your FREE Wine Jobs Organizational Worksheet now.

Types of Wine Jobs

Jobs in Viticulture & Enology
Jobs in Sales & Marketing
Jobs in Hospitality & Education (Direct to Consumer)
Jobs in General Administration and Operations

List of Resources

Higher Education in Viticulture & Enology
Higher Education in Wine Business
Continuing Education Opportunities
Certifications in Wine (Sommelier)
Where to Look for Wine Jobs
List of Wine Recruiters
List of LinkedIn Groups to Join
List of Wine Business Sites & Blogs to Follow

Types of Wine Jobs

On a macro level, there are three categories under which your career in wine could fall under:

working in off/on premise establishments (i.e. at wine shops and restaurants)
working for a distributor
working at a winery and/or vineyard

On a more micro level, there is a different set of categories under which your career in wine could fall under:

Production (Viticulture & Enology)
Sales & Marketing
Hospitality & Education (Direct to Consumer)
General Administration & Operations

This guide is going to focus on a cross-section of career opportunities as they pertain to working directly with a winery and the production of wine.

As with any business, the number of opportunities available at any given winery will largely be a direct result of the winery’s size and production level. Many small wineries may be completely owner-operated or have just a few key positions for which they hire for.

Jobs in Viticulture & Enology

If you love to be outdoors and are interested in agriculture, then a career in viticulture may be the type of wine job that would interest you.

Viticulture is the science around the growing of grapes and work in the vineyard. From deciding what grape varieties to plant, to pest management, to irrigation, and to deciding when is the best time to harvest the grapes, there are many aspects to this field of study and an assortment of career paths one could take.

An advanced degree is generally required by someone who wants to pursue work as a viticulturist, which usually leads to positions like:

Vineyard Manager (in charge of a single vineyard)
Director of Viticulture (oversees multiple vineyard locations)

Enology (also often spelled Oenology) is the science of wine production or winemaking.

Someone who studies enology will understand the methods and techniques of making wine, will understand fermentation processes, and will have a good grasp of wine microbiology. Like viticulture, an advanced degree is generally required by someone who wants to pursue work as an Enologist or Winemaker. There is inherent crossover between viticulture and enology and most higher education opportunities combine the two into one academic discipline.

In addition, many of the career opportunities in the wine industry are with smaller wine producers so more often than not, the winemaker may also be the resident viticulturist. Like all jobs in wine, there are many factors that go into what one can expect in terms of a salary.

For reference, here are several average salaries for two sought after roles:

Winemaker: $103,000
Vineyard Manager: $90,000

(source: Wine Business Monthly)

Harvest Internships

Viticulture and enology require a lot of eduction and hands-on training, and harvest internships offer both.

Internships also are a great way for someone to test out the industry to see if this is something that they want to pursue. It is almost a given that the labor needs at a winery increase during harvest season so internships are readily available for those who are interested.

Working in grape and wine production is usually accompanied by many long hours and lots of manual labor, and this is especially true in harvest months. Harvest season at a winery is not for the faint of heart, and having a few internships under your belt is often a requirement by employers who may be considering hiring you on full-time in a larger role.

Lastly, harvest internships are a great opportunity for someone interested in traveling and seeing different parts of the world. Think of any of the major wine regions around the globe and there will be harvest internship opportunities there:

North America (California, Oregon, Washington, New York, Texas, and British Columbia, etc.)
South America (Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, etc.)
Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Greece, etc.)
South Africa
Australia
New Zealand

Jobs in Sales & Marketing

One of the outcomes of the repeal of prohibition was the establishment of what is called the “Three-tier System”.

In an effort to limit access and control the distribution of alcohol, the three-tier system was set up so that a winery is required to use a distributor to get their product out to the market.

With a few exceptions, a winery (or brewery, distiller, or importer) is required to have a distributor in order to sell to retailers and restaurants and there are many restrictions on selling directly to the public.

If you work in sales for a specific winery, you may be located in a region or territory where you work primarily with your counterpart at a partner distributor. You may go into the market and pitch your product to various potential accounts, but you work through your distributor to fulfill orders and manage your market.

Working in wine sales can be very lucrative and rewarding, but it can also be grueling and tough. There are over 8,000 wineries in operation in the United States alone and nearly a countless number of individual wines from various vintages available on the market at any one time. If you are in charge of selling a specific wine or a specific portfolio of wine, you are constantly up against a lot of competition and many other quality wines.

Doing well, however, can mean a nice financial return. One of the top paying positions within the wine industry are those who do well at sales for premium brands.

Per Wine Business Monthly, the average salary for a Vice President of Sales is $170,000 per year.

The size of the winery will ultimately determine how many levels of sales personnel are employed. In general, a winery with any level of regional or national distribution will have someone working specifically in the function of sales (unless they are very small where the winemaker and/or owner may take on this role).

Wineries also have marketing needs.

From packaging to promotional materials, the function of marketing wine also comes with its own set of complexities.

Alcohol is a regulated product in the United States so there are many regulations a winery must follow in order to be compliant.

Again, depending on the size of the winery, there may be one person in charge of all winery marketing, or there could be specific positions for each of the following:

Director of Marketing
Direct-to-consumer Marketing Manager (tasting room and wine club specific)
Social Media
Compliance Manager
Graphic Designer

Note: If you’re looking for a wine job, we’ve created a free worksheet to help you stay organized. Download your FREE Wine Jobs Organizational Worksheet now.

Jobs in Hospitality & Education (Direct to Consumer)

If you work in the wine industry the term “Direct to Consumer” is something to become familiar with.

Because of the rules and regulations that established the “three-tier stystem” there are only a limited number of opportunities to sell their wine directly to the end consumer. In general, these opportunities are:

in a tasting room
through a wine club
via a winery website

Wine is all about the experience and about its story. In order to truly understand a wine, it’s best to also understand what it is, where it comes from, and who made it.

The enjoyment of wine is highly personal and highly visceral, and wine consumers tend to be very loyal to brands whom they feel they’ve connected with.

It’s no surprise then that wineries tend to put a lot of resources towards educating their consumers and visitors and eliciting a memorable experience.

Wineries connect with their consumers via their tasting rooms and via their wine club. Those that work in these “direct to consumer” roles end up being the story tellers for the winery and ambassadors of the brand.

Positions include:

Tasting Room Hosts/Associates
Tasting Room Managers
Wine Club / Ecommerce Managers
Wine Educators
Tour Guides
Event Managers

Positions can range from entry to mid-level in terms of salary. Per Wine Business Monthly the average salary for tasting room staff worker is $28,000 annually while a Tasting Room or Wine Club manager averages $55,000.

Jobs in General Administration and Operations

As with any business, a winery operates best with a solid business plan, good management, and accurate financial forecasting.

If a winery is large enough to have a General Manager at the helm, that person often has a unique mixture of experience that makes him or her specifically qualified to run the winery business. Many winery general managers have at least some winemaking experience, and often have a MBA as a strong business acumen is necessary.

Budgeting a winery business is a complex ordeal that begins as early in the process as when the raw land is purchased for a vineyard site.

The cultivation of grapes is a finicky process; crop yields vary, which affects costs, and many variables exist within the winemaking process as well. Add to this the financial logistics of the three-tier system and you have an industry where there is always a need for a pool of qualified candidates in finance.

There is also the demand for good operations professionals within the wine business. Many wineries with their own production facilities have their own bottling lines that need management and maintenance, shipping and receiving departments, and cellar crews.

List of Resources

Higher Education in Viticulture & Enology

There is an increasing number of degree and graduate degree programs in the field of wine and while the list below is not exhaustive, it represents the better known establishments for obtaining degrees in this field:

UC Davis (both B.S. & M.S. programs for Viticulture & Enology)
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (B.S. Wine & Viticulture)
Cornell University
Washington State University
VESTA – Viticulture & Enology Science and Technology Alliance (NSF funded partnership between Missouri State University and various colleges and vineyards across the US)
Northwest Wine Academy (Degree tracks for both Winemaking (Enology) and Wine Marketing & Sales)

Higher Education in Wine Business

Most of the degree paths listed above for viticulture and enology also include curriculum geared towards wine business. The following programs below are specific to wine business and do not include viticulture or enology content:

Wine Business Institute – Sonoma State University (MBA & Executive MBA programs)
Bordeaux International Wine Institute

Continuing Education Opportunities

These valuable courses and programs offer certificates in various aspects of the wine business:

WISE Academy (Direct to Consumer sales and marketing training)
UC Davis (Wine Executive Program)
UC Davis (Winemaking Certificate Program)
Sonoma State University (Wine Business Management Certificate)

Certifications in Wine (Sommelier)

Interested in being a wine education professional?

Sommeliers are trained professionals who understand wine intimately and who know how to communicate wine effectively to others.

A Sommelier’s career path can take them across the wine spectrum. Historically known as someone to assist in fine-dining, sommeliers now work as winemakers, in distribution, sales, education, and often own their own companies.

The following is a list of certification courses (available in the US) geared towards those who wish to become a certified Sommelier:

Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET)
Society of Wine Educators – Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW)
Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS)
International Sommelier Guild (ISG)

Where to Look for Wine Jobs

While we’d love every wine job to be posted and available for you on Craft Beverage Jobs, we are not the only place you should be looking when starting your job search. Below is a list of various online resources where you could begin your search:

List of Wine Recruiters

Below are a few Recruiters who specialize in wine industry placements. Many of the opportunities these recruiters are hired to fill are specialized and high-level wine industry positions. Regardless of where you are in your wine career, it’s always great to connect with a recruiter, tell them your goals, and share your resume!

List of LinkedIn Groups to Join

Getting a job in any field is part opportunity, part experience, and definitely part networking!

The more connected you are to a potential employer, the better your changes of standing out from the pack of other qualified candidates. LinkedIn is a great place to network you and your professional skills online, and joining relevant groups is not only a great way to keep up with wine news and opportunities, but is a great place to meet people who can help you get that dream job in wine. Here are a few groups you should join if not a member of already:

List of Wine Business Sites to Follow

RSS may be dead (or nearly dead), but if you still use it, these are great sites to monitor:

** note ** this post will be treated like a living document. Edited and added to as-needed. Something crucial that we missed in this post? Leave a comment for us below in order for it to be considered.

Cheers!
photo credits: derekGavey, alexbrn, JAS_photo, gfairchild, nimdok

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Wine Jobs: A Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Wine

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