The wine business is a cruel and shallow money pit, a long-stemmed hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and weak men die like dogs.
Somebody gave me this quote when I first went to work for a wine distributor in 2002. Before that time, I had worked as a beverage director for a restaurant group and even did a short stint in wine retail. Since 2002, I have held sales management positions within wine distribution and wine import companies.
Late last year, I launched my own little California based wholesale/brokerage company, where I focus mostly on the natural, biodynamic and organic wines that I love so much.
I laughed at the quote and hung it over my desk for years.
It was obvious hyperbole and yet, that little grain of truth was undeniable. I always tell new wine sales reps that if they can make it through the first 18 months, they will probably survive.
And I advise them to never take any of it personally.
Not the restaurant or retail wine buyers that don't show when you confirmed the appointment weeks ago and have an important winemaker in tow. Not the accounts that either don't pay or late pay.
Of course, all of the above happens less frequently the longer you are in the business because through seniority or just smarts you are able to do business with only class act accounts, who rarely engage in the above behavior.
That's not even delving into the constant pressure and politics from your own company's management to sell, sell, sell the wines of whichever winery is the squeaky wheel that week.
And as evidenced below, each player in the wine business has their own gripes, whether winemaker, restaurant or retail buyers or wine critic.
Tom Wark wrote a recent post about Naomi Brilliant, owner at Roshambo Winery.
Naomi has decided to hang up her winemaking boots and focus on organic farming. I am sad to see her go. I do not know Naomi personally, although we are connected online and I used to sell her wines in Texas years ago. She seemed to be just the kind of young iconoclast the staid wine world needed. Naomi said she loved making wine but not selling it.
And yes, quite frankly, selling wine can seem a slog at times. But I have also had the opportunity to meet some amazing people, both wine buyers and winemakers, over the years. These people and the chance to travel to beautiful vineyards around the world more than make up for the temporary setbacks and disappointments.
Those of us in the wine business are fortunate really, compared to many other industries. Especially those of us who deal with artisanal wines, whether imports or domestic. Many of our consumers read books, travel to expand their minds and shop at farmers markets.
Not to mention that most of us truly are wine geeks and love all the romance and the history that our wines contain.
I have definitely been grateful that my current wine portfolio ( Savio Soares Selections and Darcy & Huber Selections,
) for CA seems to attract some of the most interesting and forward thinking wine buyers. I enjoy my meetings with these accounts, I learn and laugh and we share stories.
I believe that the wines I represent attract these buyers. And I think they see that I am truly passionate about these wines, they are not just another product in a bottle. They are not to 'fill' another empty space on the shelf at the lowest price. They come with an interesting story and so they attract interesting people.
8 comments:
Your quote has been pilfered and changed. Here's the original:
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” – Hunter S. Thompson
Funnier.
Best,
Tom Gable
To Mr. Tom Gable:
I prefer it her way. :-)
All the best,
Evan Fisher
Yes, the wine world is certainly more interesting than, say, working in an office! I'm looking forward to the day when I can give up the day job and dedicate myself 100% to wine - which is what I love! Life's too short, and the world is wide, is it not?
Tom,
Yes, I have since seen many variations of that quote, applied to multiple professions. I guess it always seems funnier when it is a situation we can relate to..
Cheers, Amy
I loved the "quote" you used in your blog - with a bit of literary license I adapted it to fit the story behind our winery named Hard Row to Hoe
The wine business is a cruel and shallow money pit, a long-stemmed hallway where whores and pimps run free, and miners go down the shaft.
Read about our name at www.hardrow.com and you will understand why :)
I, too work in the industry for more than 20 years and can't be believe how lucky I am to have survived and prospered. Current peeve; too many buyers/consumers want a story and yet can't tell an ok wine from a good wine to a great wine. They focus on focusing on the backstory, which can be filled with interesting contradictions, while not taking the time to learn how to evaluate wine.
This is a great post because you shed light on one of the realities of being in the biz. I, too, am a wine industry survivor. I have been in the production side for many years and love making it but generally don't like selling it. Selling it, though, has gotten easier as you say Amy. I have learned who the gems in the business are and have also learned to ignore all the garbage and pretense and BS and keep moving forward. What kind of upsets me these days are the lackeys who pass themselves off as being serious winemakers when they are really nothing else but marketing fakes. As "Anonymous" mentions -- there is so much emphasis on the story behind the wine -- but what about when the story and persona are phony and exist for the sole purpose of selling wine? I agree that there is less emphasis on determining wine quality by consumers. I know so many good people who have dedicated themselves to making truly great wines year after year but don't get the recognition (or financial success) that they deserve.
I KNEW it had to be HST!
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