As in other industries, wine consultants can work in a vast array of different capacities, from production to service or retail. Regardless of their personal niche, they generally provide professional advice or service to various players in the wine industry.
If your vision of a wine consultant is someone who sits around and sips wine all day, you may be partially correct. But it’s not all glamor and takes much more skill and experience than just an appreciation for good Pinot. Here’s what to know if you’re thinking of becoming one.
What is a wine consultant?
While the role of a wine consultant is largely shaped by the individual and may include different areas of specialisation, most tend to fall into one (or more) of four categories within the industry: restaurants, private collectors, vineyards and wineries.
Restaurant wine consultants
Wine consultants in this space advise bars and restaurants on everything from designing and diversifying wine programs to hiring sommeliers and wine directors. They may also help with operations and creating sales programs for restaurant and hotel clients.
After he worked as a sommelier in restaurants for years, New York-based Jeff Porter left his role in 2019 to pursue a career as an independent consultant.
“[Creating] the wine list is the sexy part—the human parts are always the hardest,” says Porter. Some weeks, he’s dressed to the nines helping set up a wine program at a luxury hotel in Piedmont, Italy, while others he’s sweating through a T-shirt unpacking 150 cases of wine at Barclays Center, a sport and entertainment complex in Brooklyn, New York.
Private collector wine consultants
This type of wine consultant helps private collectors build and manage their wine collections and procure rare vintages. They often travel to wine regions throughout the world, with or without the collector, to handle sourcing and logistics for their collection.
Thatcher Baker-Briggs in San Francisco launched his wine consulting business in 2019 after 16 years working in restaurants. Today, his global clientele ranges from professional athletes to venture capitalists. He’s constantly on the move, often traveling three weeks out of the month. A day’s work may be spent in transit, or with clients on their private planes or yachts, wine tasting from 9am until well past midnight.
“It’s incredible, but you need to remain in control and also [remember] that there’s a whole business that still needs to be run,” says Baker-Briggs.
Vineyard consultants
Wine consultants for vineyards focus on the grape growing process from an agricultural perspective. This often means being familiar with the fruit down to a molecular level, with a goal of maximizing a terroir’s presence in the wine’s flavor profile. This kind of consultant may also work with individuals planting a new vineyard.
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