Taking the Plunge into Wine

I didn't always know that I wanted a career in wine. For the longest time I did not know what it was that I was truly passionate about. I had an idea of what I wanted to be, an entrepreneur and business owner, but was always nervous, uncertain or apprehensive about a "career". But I knew that upon graduation I was going to need to get a job ASAP or starve.

Out of college I worked in the Healthcare Industry for 3yrs, something I really had no interest in. As a matter of fact, if "Healthcare" was the topic of study for a class in College, I'd of probably ended up playing hooky. But, coming out of college I was eager for the opportunity to get some professional experience under my belt. Furthermore, this would give me the chance to gain knowledge of the business side of Home Healthcare, and what it takes to run an individual office of a very large company... the business management side of things.

I had gotten interested in wine during college, but knew very little about it... just that I liked it. I did a couple of wine tastings here and there and slowly enjoyed it more and more by the glass, and not just during one sitting. As I continued to enjoy wine as a consumer post graduation, I started to gain an appreciation of where the wine was coming from and how it went from "vine to wine"... different Terroirs, growing practices, grape varietals etc. I had been bit by the bug, and my passion was snowballing. Then, in an almost "all of the sudden" fashion, I knew that I wanted to be involved in wine, especially in Vinticulture and Enology. After being unhappy for too long, I started applying for harvest intern and direct to consumer (tasting room) positions on craigslist and winejobs.com, and ended up getting the opportunity to work with Clos Lachance. I am beside myself with excitement at this time... definitely have never looked forward to 72hr work weeks this much. My goal is to work as hard as possible and for my brain to have "ShamWow" soaking powers for knowledge retention!

I decided to give my notice to the previous employer so that I could have some time off in between jobs, and with a month to myself, I decided to go on a road trip vacation up through the Pacific Northwest, which I will talk about a bit more in my next post.