Napa Associate Tasting Coordinator and Contributing Writer

Wine Spectator’s Napa office is looking for a tasting coordinator who is passionate about wine and interested in journalism and wine writing. Depending on the candidate, this is either an entry or mid-level position.

The Napa tasting department is responsible for managing thousands of bottles of wine from the Western Hemisphere that arrive every year for review. This position's primary responsibility is to receive wines in our Napa office, assist in entering data about the wines into our database, manage the wines in our cellars, and set up and execute blind tastings for reviews by our senior editors.

Responsibilities include:

• Being in the Napa office every day to receive deliveries. Opening boxes, handling wines, organizing our cellar. Must be able to comfortably lift 40 pounds.

• Accurately entering data about the wines into our database, setting up blind tastings, opening bottles of wines and cleaning up afterwards. To be clear, we are hiring someone to set up the tastings, not to taste wine themselves. That said, many of our current tasters did start in a similar position, so there may be opportunities for advancement for certain candidates.

• Contacting wineries for samples and information. Assisting the tasting and editorial departments as needed with research and other projects.

• Participating in general office duties. We’re a small team and need someone who will be able to pitch in when it comes to administrative tasks and managing our historic property.

For some candidates, there will also be opportunities to participate in tasks such as copyediting, web production, social media, recipe development, interviewing people in the wine business, and, particularly, reporting and writing news stories occurring in West Coast wine country.

The breakdown of duties will be about 75 percent tasting department and 25 percent editorial to begin, but can evolve depending on the hire's skills and interests.

What we are looking for:

• • Someone who is comfortable talking about at least the basics of wine. We’d prefer a candidate with 2 to 4 years of related experience in wine sales, hospitality, wine education or production.
• • The ideal candidate will be highly attentive to details, have strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task and take pride in the accuracy of their work. Must be a good communicator, able to take direction and feedback both verbally and in person, and communicate clearly in writing.
• • Computer skills. We spend a lot of time working in our proprietary database, but we regularly use Word and Excel, as well as Google Docs and other Google Workspace applications.
• • Ability to both work alone and in a small team setting that is both professional and friendly. The tasting department will be made up of four people who will share information and work in the same space both literally and figurately, so we want someone who will be comfortable in this small office environment.

Our office is located in downtown Napa, and we need to hire someone already in the area.

Please email both a cover letter and a resume to: napatastings@mshanken.com

You are welcome to also send up to three writing samples, if you wish.

Compensation: $40k–$60k

About Wine Spectator:
Wine Spectator explores wine as a beverage and as a lifestyle, educating and entertaining readers at every level of wine knowledge with in-depth articles and expert advice. In addition to blind-tasting 10,000 wines each year, our journalists and critics write about dining and travel, cooking, entertaining and design, environmental and health issues and more, reporting news and profiling achievers industry-wide. The world’s leading wine publication, Wine Spectator reaches more than 3 million readers per print issue and millions more through its digital brands. Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Awards annually honor dining destinations around the world that demonstrate excellence in their wine programs.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $40,000.00 - $60,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Napa, CA 94559: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $40,000 - $60,000