Winemaking consultants offer services ranging from quality improvement advice to full-scale guidance in every step of the winemaking process. They typically work with several clients at a time, making them highly knowledgeable and experienced in executing your vision.
A winemaking consultant has been in your shoes many times over and is dedicated to helping you to make the best wine possible.
The decision to hire or not to hire typically comes down to your personal winemaking experience and that of your team if you have one. Are you brand new to the industry? Is there an area of your process that could use some dedicated, experienced thought and planning?
In this post, we will cover:
- What a winemaking consultant does.
- How to know if you need a winemaking consultant.
- How to find a winemaking consultant and questions to ask during the process.
- The typical costs associated with hiring a winemaking consultant.
We sat down with Robert Nida of Vine to Vino Consulting to get a winemaking consultant’s perspective on determining the right time to start looking for a consultant and what to look for during your search.
“If you're starting to see issues in the cellar or your winemaker leaves and you have no replacement, you should hire a consultant to make sure everything stays on track while you're in that transition period. You should also consider hiring a consultant if you are new to the wine industry or just hire a winemaker right off the bat,” says Nida.
He adds, “You might consider a consultant if you have a new hire who doesn't have years and years of winemaking experience; you can hire a consultant to come in and guide that newly-minted winemaker.”
Nida primarily works with new, existing, and prospective wineries in the Texas Hill Country and surrounding areas. He works alongside his wife, a vineyard consultant, and together they offer support at every step of the way, from vine to vino, true to the name of their company. He is also co-founder and winemaker at Pebble Rock Cellars.
So with that, let’s dig in...
What does a winemaking consultant do?
A winemaking consultant can help with:
- All areas of winemaking
- Enhancing existing programs
- Winery development, including permits, layouts, and equipment selection
- Picking out the best winery software
- Networking and local resources
- Identifying areas for improvement to help you reach your full potential
- Marketing, PR, and brand development
How do I know if I need a winemaking consultant?
If you fit into one of the following situations, it might be time to start looking for a consulting winemaker.
Situation 1) You are just getting started with winemaking
Winemaking was just a hobby before, and now you have fallen in love with the process. “You'll see people who will say I used to make wine in my house, like five-gallon batches. But that transition from doing home fermentation to commercial... that's a huge learning curve,” says Nida. So It turns out it’s more complicated than it looked, and there is a lot to consider before getting started. If you look to Google, you might get overwhelmed with questions like:
- What kind of licenses do you need?
- Are you purchasing bulk wine, purchasing grapes, or are you growing your own grapes?
- What is your vision for your wine product line?
- What winery software will you use to track what’s happening in the cellar and vineyard for compliance and reporting?
- What is your distribution strategy?
Nida sees value in helping wineries at the start of their journey “I like coming on board at the beginning. It’s a bit more challenging to do damage control after the fact."
While you might have the confidence and determination to figure it all out on your own, it might be worth it, in the long run, to save yourself time and money by bringing in a trusted resource with winemaking knowledge to fill in the gaps. According to the Harvard Business Review, "over two-thirds of wineries hire consultants to improve the quality of their wines.”
Having someone to call on for major decisions can save you time and money. A winemaking consultant is an expert who has not only been exactly where you are but has helped others in your situation time and time again.