Would you trust me as a wine consultant?

[John_Morris]

@Theodore Anderson

Doesn’t MW Tim Hanni abstain from alcohol?

What does he do for a living? He certainly couldn’t abstain while working for his MW.

[T_Welch]

@Theodore Anderson

Doesn’t MW Tim Hanni abstain from alcohol?

I think you’re correct.

[Theodore_Anderson]

@John Morris

What does he do for a living? He certainly couldn’t abstain while working for his MW.

I think he grappled with alcoholism after earning the degree. I guess he’s an author, educator, and consultant now.

[CFu]

@Marc Frontario

I wrestled in HS & College…I knew a guy who taught me one of my best wrestling moves…
except the dude never wrestled

Ken Hitchcock coached the Dallas Stars to a Stanely Cup victory… except one thing…he has never played hockey.

…I say do it

You can look at sports, analyze the sports, understand the sport without playing. You can’t tell the taste of the wine without tasting.

[CFu]

@John Morris

@Theodore Anderson

Doesn’t MW Tim Hanni abstain from alcohol?

What does he do for a living? He certainly couldn’t abstain while working for his MW.

he tastes and spits though.

[Eric_Ifune]

IMHO, the world of wine has changed tremendously in the past nine years. One would have to taste considerably to catch up.

[Marc_Frontario]

@c fu

@Marc Frontario

I wrestled in HS & College…I knew a guy who taught me one of my best wrestling moves…
except the dude never wrestled

Ken Hitchcock coached the Dallas Stars to a Stanely Cup victory… except one thing…he has never played hockey.

…I say do it

You can look at sports, analyze the sports, understand the sport without playing. You can’t tell the taste of the wine without tasting.

My sophomore year of college Englsih,
half my grade was an oral
(I can almost hear Corey now)
presentation and a written test on the book
Last of the Mochicans…
I received a B overall for this segment…
except for, I never read the book …
yes good point and it’s not apples to apples but…with his past experiences and some book knowledge I believe he could pull it off.

[Michael_S_Monie]

Clearly, even tasting and spitting would be problematic for some. Reminds me of a line from Devil’s Advocate: “Look, but don’t touch. Touch but don’t taste. Taste but don’t swallow.” But then there’s that line from another movie: “A man has to know his limitations.”

[Wes_Barton]

@c fu

@John Morris

@Theodore Anderson

Doesn’t MW Tim Hanni abstain from alcohol?

What does he do for a living? He certainly couldn’t abstain while working for his MW.

he tastes and spits though.

Did Rick answer if he can spit? That’s a huge question. Never asked why, but a friend’s husband was a well-respected major wine buyer who didn’t/doesn’t drink. He still tastes all the wines they’re considering for their fairly high end restaurant. I don’t drink when I’m seriously tasting, or often even semi-seriously. I’d be perfectly fine going the rest of my life making wine, going to tastings and dinners, and spitting everything I taste.

[Ken_V]

@andy velebil

To be quite blunt and honest;

Would I trust a car salesman who doesn’t drive. No
Would I trust a fitness person who doesn’t work out themselves. No
Would I trust a coach who’s never played the game themselves. No
Would I trust someone to give me wine advice who doesn’t drink. No

Can I assume you’re not a practicing Catholic?

[Markus_S]

@Ken V

@andy velebil

To be quite blunt and honest;

Would I trust a car salesman who doesn’t drive. No
Would I trust a fitness person who doesn’t work out themselves. No
Would I trust a coach who’s never played the game themselves. No
Would I trust someone to give me wine advice who doesn’t drink. No

Can I assume you’re not a practicing Catholic?

Huh?

[Marc_Frontario]

@Ken V

@andy velebil

To be quite blunt and honest;

Would I trust a car salesman who doesn’t drive. No
Would I trust a fitness person who doesn’t work out themselves. No
Would I trust a coach who’s never played the game themselves. No
Would I trust someone to give me wine advice who doesn’t drink. No

Can I assume you’re not a practicing Catholic?

Nice

[andy_velebil]

@Ken V

@andy velebil

To be quite blunt and honest;

Would I trust a car salesman who doesn’t drive. No
Would I trust a fitness person who doesn’t work out themselves. No
Would I trust a coach who’s never played the game themselves. No
Would I trust someone to give me wine advice who doesn’t drink. No

Can I assume you’re not a practicing Catholic?

You’re good! And no

[Bdklein]

Yes I would trust you.
And if it’s not working out, you and/or your boss will know.

I have had wine recommend to me I didn’t like; sure it happens to everyone . And I have no idea if the person who recommended it actually drank it .

It’s only wine .

[Drew_Goin]

I worked as the “Wine Guy” at a local shop for ten years, but years lapsed before I got back into wine.

Just as you gained the initial knowledge of wine by tasting, tasting, tasting, you can do it again.

Shop yourself around as someone who has demonstrated a capacity to learn tons of stuff about wine. You can take the background information from the past and, with an eagerness to re-embark on the journey, jump back in the pool.

[Jeremy_Holmes]

No.

[Tom_Reddick]

When I saw the title and the term wine consultant- I was thinking more of the freelance industry that has popped up where you source high end wines and manage the cellars of wealthy clients who want to have a great cellar for appearances/consumption, but either do not have the passion, or have the passion but not the time, to do it themselves.

Looking at a true retail role- I know two very successful and talented wine retail sales/manager types who, at some point in their life, gave up drinking and do not drink. I trust their judgment in a way that is reserved for those who I know have the deepest and most objective knowledge of wine.

But do note that both of them taste and spit, and if you want to keep up in the retail world in a major market at a major store (as I did working retail in college myself), you need to be prepared to taste and spit with sales reps and at local wholesaler tastings once a week on average. In a year, you will need to taste and spit over a thousand wines- and there is some degree of alcohol absorption when you taste and spit. I note that since in cases where cessation of drinking is a medical necessity- tasting and spitting is not an option. It varies by person, but for me if I taste and spit more than about 20 wines, I consider myself to be “drinking”. For a Theise tasting or other tasting of similar scale with 50+ wines- tasting and spitting only- I would arrive and leave in a taxi, always.

If your circumstances permit you to taste and spit, knowing that there will be some degree of alcohol intake, then that is enough to be a good retailer. And in fact- you are expected to taste and spit generally.

If you are looking at getting into consulting from the standpoint of helping people build cellars- you just need two things (and you need to do them very well- which is not easy),

1. What the client’s external parameters are (for example, "Napa Cabs with a rating of 95+ from X critic).
2. The ability to source those wines in the quantity your client desires.

[alan_weinberg]

No.

[Lee_Short]

No.

I don’t trust anyone who hasn’t proved themselves to me. So I’d give you the chance to do that. First chance would probably be a couple of $15 bottles. If those were good, we’d work from there. You might eventually get my trust, and you might not. But either way, you would have earned it.

[Randy_Bowman]

While I don’t think a non drinking consultant would fly, I do believe it is possible. If you have a history and memory of what you experienced, you should have the basics of wine description, flavor characteristics, fruit specifics, geography specifics, etc. In today’s world, winemaker is added to the equation along with palate preference. If I haven’t tried a wine we sell, I use the available resources, starting with Cellar Tracker. Plenty of other available resources on line these days including Wineberserkers. A consultant does research to ensure accuracy. Instant answer “consulting” isn’t a requirement, just a benefit. A person who read a book about the basics of wine is a pro at government owned liquor/wine/beer store and will rapidly move to procurement if they read the available descriptions and descriptors online.