How to Launch your Wine Career: Dream Jobs in America's Hottest Industry [Paperback]

Liz Thach (Author), Ph.D. (Author), Brian D'Emilio (Author), Doug Pike (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2009

Hating life in a cubicle where the only greenery is that of the mold growing on the rungs of the corporate ladder? Feel as if you ve graduated with honors into a nation-wide hiring deep freeze? Wine was one of the very few U.S. industries that experienced growth in 2008. Is wine recession-proof as many believe? Not entirely. But even in these times of pervasive layoffs and cutbacks wineries and wine related businesses are creating job prospects every day and in a variety of skill applications from agricultural work to marketing and business. How to Launch Your Wine Career is the first book of its kind. Written by successful and respected industry professionals it gives practical, real-world advice on how to land, develop and succeed in a career in: Wine Making, Wine Production, Vineyard Management, Wine Marketing & Sales, Wine Public Relations, Wine Writing, Wine Education, Winery Management & Administration , Direct to Consumer Sales, Winery Supplier and Wine Marketing with a Distributor or Retailer. Including interviews with some of wine s most prominent figures, like winemaker Heidi Barrett, and wine writer James Laube of the Wine Spectator, about how they made it, the book builds a career from the ground up, explaining job descriptions, educational and skill requirements, the career ladder, how to get started, and job hunting strategies. Each chapter ends with a helpful resource guide of available conferences, books, and websites. The appendix provides a detailed Action Plan Worksheet to help the prospective applicant plan, plot progress and nail that killer wine industry job. .

Editorial Reviews

Review

How to Launch Your Wine Career, by Lia Thach and Brian D Emilio, did not, as I started to read, engage me. My interest in, liking of, and knowledge about wine center around the stuff in the bottle, and how it got that way. I am also repelled by too-cute adjectival modifiers I quickly encountered: the ilk of wickedly cool and awesome -teeny bopper talk. But as I got into the book, I realized it was written by and for grown-ups, and that it had been done well. Thach, now on the faculty of Sonoma State University in its Wine Business Center, had had experience in business and in wine writing and education. D Emilio, now working in human resources for Foster s Wine Estates Americas, has similar experience in and out of the wine trade, including a spell with the Clorox Company (which amuses me for some reason) Both are wine-aware and enamored.

The book reads easily and is very well organized. It realistically considers every detail and alerts the reader to pitsfalls. It includes useful and interesting vignettes describing the livers of wine careerists in various roles. It is weighted toward California, and exclusively American in its purview. It is graced by a good index and by amusing cartoons by Doug Pike. --Harvey Finkle, New England Wine Journal

Product Details

• Paperback: 354 pages
• Publisher: Wine Appreciation Guild (March 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934259063
• ISBN-13: 978-1934259061
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Drinks & Beverages > Wine > Wine & Winemaking

More About the Author

Dr. Liz Thach (pronounced "tosh") is a management and wine business professor at Sonoma State University in the Wine Business Institute where she teaches in both the undergraduate and Wine MBA programs. In addition, she has 15 years of executive and management level experience at Fortune 500 companies and has done consulting and research projects for more than 30 different wineries. Liz's passion is wine, and she has visited most of the major wine regions of the world and more than 25 countries. In addition, she has published over 90 articles and 4 wine textbooks, including Wine - A Global Business and Wine Marketing & Sales. A fifth generation Californian, Liz finished her Ph.D. at Texas A&M and now lives on Sonoma Mountain where she tends a small hobby vineyard and makes homemade wine. She also serves as a wine judge in various competitions, and is a candidate in the Masters of Wine (MW) program. She can be contacted at [e-mail]; 011.707.664.4212. Website: http://lizthach.wordpress.com/.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A practical and effective guide, July 15, 2009

By 

G. Leon (Sonom County, California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Launch your Wine Career: Dream Jobs in America's Hottest Industry (Paperback)

As an HR Director with wine industry experience, I can vouch that this book provides great tips that work to get you experience and education for breaking into and launching a sucessful career in the wine industry.
This is a "one of a kind" guide full of practical advice on how to break into one of the best industries that really works.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Resource, June 1, 2009

By 

K. Hanratty (Fort Collins, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Launch your Wine Career: Dream Jobs in America's Hottest Industry (Paperback)

I love this book! It breaks down many sections of the wine industry with clear details on what job descriptions can be, what kind of background or education you might need, what resources you need for the sectors of the industry you are interested in, how to find jobs, and what to do and what not to do. At the end of the book there is a practical section or an "action plan" to help outline the reader's next steps for getting into the wine industry. Besides the resources, my favorite part was reading stories from people in the wine industry. I recommend the book!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, July 15, 2009

By 

MED (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Launch your Wine Career: Dream Jobs in America's Hottest Industry (Paperback)

Hey, this book is cool! I've been designing winery websites for years and really love it. I even found my job described on p. 318, but what is nice about this book is it describes what I need to do if I want to break into the Marketing and PR function within a winery. Very practical.