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In restaurants that have wine as one of the principal components of their offerings there's
often a wine director, or a sommelier, someone who's responsible for the wine list, the selections
on the wine list, how it's priced, and the inventorying of the product that provides
for the wine list. Now, if you want to become a sommelier, or a wine director, you need
to start studying wine now. It's a huge subject with lots of variation and lots of nuance.
It also involves multiple languages, because there's wine from almost every part of the
world. You're going to need to hit the books. You're going to need to really learn about
wine, not because you're going to bore your guests to tears with it, but because it will
inform your selection and it will inform your understanding of how the wine will work best
with the guests' dining experience.
Once you have a lot of knowledge, hopefully you're already working in a restaurant, and
perhaps you're in a dining room. You've worked your way up to captain. And you're somebody
who is actually involved in helping the guests to select wine. The next step after that might
be to take on a position of support to the wine program. Perhaps you work with the wine
director of the restaurant and help them with the inventorying of the product, with the
management of the wine list itself. This gives you experience in the nuts and bolts of what
it takes to run a wine program. Then, hopefully, with a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge
and understanding, and a lot of tasting experience, tasting wine, you will be able to take on
a position as a wine director, or sommelier, in a restaurant.
It's a position of great responsibility and great trust. Sometimes beverage alcohol can
make up as much as a third of a restaurant's revenue. It is also a product that needs to
be carefully controlled and inventoried so you can keep track of every dollar that's
being used in the inventory of beverage alcohol. It's also a place where sales people are involved,
and limiting that to an appropriate amount of interaction and an appropriate amount of
control is very important in the process of running a wine program that has integrity
and works well with the food and concept of the restaurant.
So, if you want to become a wine director, start learning about wine, start tasting wine,
and learn about how wine contributes to the restaurant business. It's important to remember
that many wine directors are managers in the restaurant. So, wine is an area of special
responsibility, but it's not the entirety of their responsibility. Most restaurants
have a manager who specializes in wine and runs the wine program, but they also have
other responsibilities for payroll, or for running shifts, or for specific administrative
tasks in the restaurant. So, you're not just the wine person. You're also a part of the
management team of the restaurant.