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Firm Place On The Map
Thousands of visitors - local, interstate and international - continue to make their way to Western Australia, often making a beeline for the State's largest wine regions, the Swan Valley, Margaret River and the Great Southern. Here they'll find Houghtons Winery, or the likes of Evans and Tate and Palandri Wines.
While attracted by our wines, these visitors are usually interested in seeing what else a region has to offer. The Margaret River region boasts an array of magnificent and unique limestone caves - the Jewel, Mammoth and Lake Caves plus a spectacular coastline and surf. Many WA wine regions also have majestic native forest and nearly all have several galleries, restaurants and other attractions well worth visiting.
Cellar door sales salespersons are the smiling faces welcoming visitors at wineries and the visitor centres associated with and located near those wineries. These attendants will not only provide you with a comprehensive rundown of a winery's available wines, they will also happily introduce you to all of a region's surrounding attractions.
Hence The Term 'Wine Tourism'
''I work for Evans and Tate but everyone at the winery is here to also work for the region. If someone wants to know about other wineries, or the restaurants and galleries in the region then we'll help provide that information. It's part of our service, and everyone in the region will benefit if we work together,'' says former Evans and Tate Cellar Door Supervisor and now Administrative Assistant, Robyn Stewart.
Ready For Business
It's important that wineries or visitor centres be well presented. A roaring fire in winter is always inviting and any merchandise sold by the visitor centre should be attractively displayed. Presentation is a cellar door sales attendant's responsibility.
Sometimes, visitors may not have organised their accommodation, or interstate or overseas visitors may not be sure how to go about it. Once again, these attendants or salespersons can advise them on places to stay in a region or refer them to the local tourism associations who generally provide free booking services. Cellar door sales attendants will also assist visitors with restaurant or cafe bookings.
Robyn Stewart says that one of a cellar door sales attendant's key roles is, of course, to present a winery's range of wines to the public and to better inform them about the wines' various characteristics and flavours.
''They'll open a selection of the wines. Some people are just happy to have a taste of the wine, others are interested in learning more. They also sell merchandise. This includes wine accessories such as glassware and decanters, jams and honeys made in Margaret River and books on the Margaret River region,'' says Robyn.
Attendants should have good product knowledge (although this can be learnt on the job), background knowledge about a winery's association with a particular region, some basic knowledge of the wine industry, winemaking and viticulture, and some local knowledge, which they should be confident in sharing with the public. It doesn't hurt for brochures about the region and the winery to be on hand for interested visitors.
A People Person
As you can gather, interacting with people is the most vital part of this job, therefore, good interpersonal and communication skills are a must. Because their role includes a sales function, it's important for cellar door sales attendants to have basic maths skills and it is desirable to know how to use a cash register.
Sue Jackman, an independent consultant for the wine industry, sees cellar door sales attendants as the advocates of wine tourism, who play an integral role in promoting wine tourism both regionally and on a State level.
While permanent positions exist, peak employment prospects tend to be seasonal for cellar door sales attendants. However, it's clearly a growing industry, which will result in more full-time or permanent part-time positions.
The starting salary is about $30,000 and this may go as high as $35,000 per year.
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