Book smarts are great; street smarts are essential.

Featured in The Tasting Panel | Sept - Oct 2023

AT A RECENT DINNER with new business partners, one of them handed me the wine list and I felt an all-too-familiar sense of self-doubt creep in. My mind flashed back to what a vigneronne once said to me: “One day you’re going to be at a table full of people and get handed the wine list, and you have to know what to do with it.” It took me an embarrassing amount of time to understand what she was talking about. For too long I thought she meant I had to know the difference between, say, a Pouilly Fumé and a Sancerre, and while that’s true, there’s more to knowledge than information.

Like a lot of people in the wine industry—dare I say a majority—I’m a homegrown wine professional. My degree in childhood education didn’t prepare me for my current career, which is built on bits and pieces of wisdom I gleaned over time: tasting bottles of Cannonau with co-workers after a Saturday night restaurant shift, enduring a grueling number of rack-and-returns, undertaking self-guided studies—and developing a passion and a thirst for not only the next bottle but the next step in my education and the next eye-opening experience.

The wine industry isn’t all that different from health care or education in that it requires you to keep learning. There was no piece of paper that officially declared me capable, no culminating moment that definitively proved I was ready to have a seat at any of the tables I’ve found myself: attending a marketing meeting, hosting a wine dinner, negotiating a sales deal, or representing a brand in front of a Master Sommelier. Never mind being given the wine list at a table full of people who are looking for signs they made the right decision in working with you.

“While we can lean into our WSET or CMS certifications, we must know how to be led by our hearts and how to trust our voices.”

You must personally certify you’ve gained not only textbook learning but also the deeper knowledge that can only be obtained through experience, whether you’re speaking to the back of the room when you are hosting that wine dinner or letting others speak first when you’re negotiating a deal. Book smarts are great; street smarts are essential.

Often I hear friends in the industry express their lack of confidence: Feeling like impostors, they wonder, “How did I get here?” and insist they’re just faking it ’til they make it. While we all have holes in our knowledge base, we didn’t just magically appear where we are. Rest assured that whatever path you took to get there, wherever “there” may be, you’ve earned your place at the table. Have confidence in all the blocks you’ve built your career on, and know they’ll provide you the wisdom you need. True confidence entails the emotional intelligence to know that you won’t have all the answers, and that’s OK.

And in case you’re wondering, I chose a Spanish Garnacha from Alto Moncayo—highly recommended. If you ever see it on a list, you know what to do.

Audrey Tito is director of distribution at Epoch Estate Wines.