How To Get that Winery Job When Nepotism is Not an Option

The DtC Wine Symposium is the best networking opportunity for a winery job

If I were serious about getting a job in wine—particularly on the winery side—I would make plans to show up in Monterey, California next January to attend the Direct-To-Consumer Wine Symposium. When seeking a position in a field, nepotism is the only thing more effective than networking among those working in that industry. As we all know, nepotism is rarely an option.

The Direct-To-Consumer Wine Symposium will be held in Monterey, California on January 21-23 at the Hyatt Regency Monterey. Four Hundred-plus marketing, sales, and hospitality professionals will be in attendance to hear dozens of experts discuss every aspect of direct-to-consumer wine sales from digital, text offers, compliance, metrics, marketing, and much more. If over those three days you made an effort to chat up just 25 of those attendees, odds are your chances of landing a position would increase exponentially than if you simply send out resumes.

The entire reason I initially found work in the wine industry was due to networking. I had just graduated from college with an MA in History. And I decided that I wanted to work in winery PR. But I brought no experience in wine PR with me to the table. But I figured the skills I had cultivated, along with my experience drinking wine, was enough. It was only partly enough.

I sent out resumes to about 50 wineries. I got one call back and that didn’t work out. So, I started cold-calling wine writers and journalists I’d read in various papers and magazines. When I got them on the phone I did two thing: I told them I wanted a job in wine public relations and asked them who I should contact. This inevitably led to them to ask, “Who the hell are you?”

That was exactly what I wanted them to ask because it began a conversation about me, what I might bring to the table, and, eventually, to whom I might expose my particular talents.

In the end, one of the many writers I reached out to and spoke with, Jerry Mead of Wine Curmudgeon fame, referred me to Gracelyn Associates, a wine PR firm in Santa Rosa, California. I was able to call up the owner and say, “Jerry Mead suggested I call.” That was a pretty powerful thing to say. This led to a meeting. This led to a job offer.