Making wine a career.  How do you do it.  Well, it’s tough, I’ll just start there. The wine world is notorious for underpaying, let me just get that out of the way.  BUT… if you’re of unusual and wild passion for wine and what wine is, what it embodies and entails, then the fulfillment is inexhaustible.

The tasting room, with all its quirks and flaws time to time is something that is found nowhere else.  All the people you meet at different points in their wine experiences.  All the questions and wonder and mystery to what they sip… then with the more experienced sippers and collectors that will boast a bit about how many bottles they have int heir cellar and what be.  It’s all rewarding.  How to make it work, make it sustainable and support yourself, your family.. that’s where it can get tricky.

You can always do things on the side, yes.. if you’re a certain level somm’ you could consult I guess, I don’t know I’m not a sommelier of any stripe.  You have to get creative in this business, what my point is.  And, why do you want to make it a career and not just some side hustle or hobby?  I say it’s tough but I should explain what I mean – IF YOU MAKE IT TOUGH.  Wish I would have had this realization years ago, to be honest.  Wine to me is a story that changes shape and tone, and relevance.  Again wishing I would have had this insight earlier so consider this more of a note to self… making wine as a job less of a job, more of a self-taught course that doesn’t end and you shouldn’t want it to.

Passion, no.  This is more than passion for me.  This is THE story.  The only one, that’s how I’m framing it and continuing in its composition.  That, is what I am choosing to make it.