*Answers have been edited for space
Retail Manager and Buyer, The Good Wine Shop
Host/Co-Creator, Bring Your Own AKA @BYOPodcast
Co-Founder, Grower Champagne Month
My first wine-focused job was at an Edmonton retail shop somewhere around 2006. This is when I really started to engage with wine more seriously as a passion and hobby. After working at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in the summer of 2005, I had been introduced to some incredible wines by colleagues there, which planted the seed.
I was working in finance for a mortgage investment corporation in Saskatoon, which was focused on helping families get through difficult financial situations. I had also spent several months prior to my European move doing stand-up comedy. Not necessarily your typical recipe to the wine industry!
The selection of wines available; there is little you can’t get here in London. The depth and diversity of wine available here, of perfect provenance, is unbeaten anywhere in the world. This is combined with sensible legislation that actually encourages and supports wine culture rather than suppresses it. If you are a wine lover, I really don’t think there is any better city in the world to be in.
Being from Saskatoon, you don’t really have much inherent credibility when it comes to wine, so cracking into European wine and establishing yourself as a trusted resource on fine wine for clients around the world doesn’t happen overnight or easily.
No. The liquor regulations across Canada absolutely strangle your ability to do anything meaningful in a cost-effective way. It also chokes out potential innovations, and ultimately deprives the customer. It’s also stifling the Canadian wine industry across the country. The fact you can’t easily find great Ontario wines in B.C., and vice-versa, is a national embarrassment.
I think the market is still learning, but over the last five years the wines have gone from something of a novelty to something seriously appreciated in the top restaurants in London.
An impossible question to answer! From my time living in BC, the wines of the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys hold a special place in my heart. Le Vieux Pin/La Stella, Tantalus, Meyer Family Vineyards, Synchromesh, Bella, Little Farm, Nichol/Lock & Worth, and TH Wines are making incredible wines, which help tell the diverse story of the region and reflect the inspiring people behind the labels.
Sommelière and owner of Comice
I started out in wine in New York, then went to sommellerie school just outside of Montreal, and worked at Le Club Chasse et Pêche, which was as much of a wonderful training ground and wine school as any formal education.
My husband, Noam, who is a chef, was set on cooking in France and I was ready for new challenges and interested in living in close proximity to vineyards in Europe. We got sponsored to come work here together in 2014 and figured that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I own a Michelin-starred restaurant in the 16th arrondissement of Paris with my husband. I oversee the dining room and am the wine director.
Interacting with the winemakers on a regular basis (a lot of them come through Paris on a frequent basis), tasting wines of the same vintage several times over the year.
The adjustment to working in a culture steeped in tradition. It’s both wonderful and sometimes limiting, as people can be a bit closed-minded about non-French wines or non-classic regions and styles. But in the four years that I’ve been here, I’ve seen that evolve, which makes me happy.
They barely know it exists, outside of a select number of people in the wine business. It’s not really a thing here, it doesn’t get exported in this direction very often, from what I can tell. Though I’ve seen the Hydromel from Ferme Apicole Desrochers, which is cool (and good).
In the French countryside. Otherwise, Paris is kind of the mecca for us, at least for the foreseeable future. Especially since we own a restaurant here.
Senior Sensory Scientist, Australian Wine Research Institute
Winemaker/Director, Dodgy Bros Wines
My first wine industry job was in 2004 working in the vineyard at Pinot Reach in Kelowna, which became Tantalus Vineyards shortly thereafter.
I felt like I had better opportunities outside of Canada, and I wanted to work and learn from some of the best in the world. I lucked into a six-month internship at Leoville Las Cases in the Medoc and that was it — I was gone!
The climate! There is not much disease pressure on grapes here, plenty of sun and heat, and very little moisture, so most years you can rely on good quality and quantities. But it’s also the way the industry is set up here. “Estate” fruit isn’t really a big thing, so if you don’t own vineyards, it’s not really a big deal. You can just go out and buy grapes from whatever grower you want. The by-product of that is that you don’t need crazy amounts of capital to get into the game. A resourceful winemaker can go out, source some grapes, set up a little winery somewhere and make some wine. This has led — in McLaren Vale, anyway — to a region with both big, established and traditional producers; and a vibrant community of small, cutting-edge, adventurous and modern producers.
Getting your foot in the door. When you’ve studied wine science in Canada, it doesn’t quite have the bling of a degree from say UC Davis, Bordeaux or Geisenheim. Most employers were unaware there was even a wine industry in Canada, so I was a bit of a wild card. Most of the people in the workforce here have gone to the University of Adelaide or CSU [Charles Stuart University], and the employer knows exactly what they’re getting as far as education and training from those programs. That was one of the reasons I transitioned into research. It’s a bit different now, I think, as the world is a bit smaller and more people at the top would be pretty clued in as to what’s happening in Canada.
On the wine production side, with the current business model we employ, I’d say no way. Too many barriers to entry, money being the first and most obvious one. For research, it’s a bit more likely, but as it stands right now, there are probably only a handful of people in Canada doing what I do in a wine space, so those aren’t the kinds of jobs that come up all that often.
I may hear it from my Okanagan friends but Norman Hardie County Pinot Noir. World class.
Since I was a teenager, I’ve consistently asked myself, “Is there somewhere I could be doing whatever it is I’m doing that would be better?” And that has kind of driven a lot of my travel over the years. But at this point in my life, I don’t think there is. I get to make wine from grapes grown on some of the oldest Grenache vines on the planet, I get to do relevant and interesting wine research, and my kids get to grow up surfing. Tough to beat.
Founder/Winemaker at Vins Hodgson
James Nevison and I started Halfaglass in 2002, with the purpose of introducing wine to a new demographic. Then, after a cellar internship in Japan, I was hired by Richard Kanazawa at Red Rooster for the 2006 vintage.
Penticton. My wife and I were pruning for Morton Serbon at Blasted Church in 2009.
At first, it was a one-year work-holiday. We had been tasting what French organic/biodynamic wine we could access in BC shops (not much back then; I hope this has changed) and we couldn’t figure out the reason for the massive quality gap compared to BC wine (I also hope this has changed). So, we left to try to learn why.
Support from community and colleagues. We had a minuscule budget and for the first few years had to work seasonal jobs to fund our project. The outright generosity of our colleagues is the only reason we could get this far. And even though now we’re better equipped, we still rely on them. Though finally I feel we are in a position to give back as well.
Director of Wine at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino and Delano Las Vegas
I really started to fall in love with wine working at the Algonquin Resort in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and decided I wanted to make a career of it when I was at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.
I was living in Whistler, B.C. and working as General Manager/Sommelier at Wildflower Restaurant.
I decided to move to Las Vegas after visiting twice. I knew that I wanted to be part of the wine business here.
I’m responsible for all wine purchasing, storage, pricing, training and operations for managed outlets — including the Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning Aureole by Charlie Palmer, Stripsteak by Michael Mina, Fleur by Hubert Keller, Rivea by Alain Ducasse and Libertine Social by Shawn McClain — as well as the casino, room service, banquets, pools, bars and dining outlets. I also oversee a team of eight sommeliers and manage over 4,000 wines.
Canadian wine is still looked at as a novelty, most guests only think of Icewine when you mention Canadian wine.