BC Business
sommelier_over.jpgGot $200,000 to spare? Perhaps it's time to let personal sommelier Annie Lau (and her nose) go to work for you.
Personal sommelier Annie Lau might just have the perfect job for these perilous economic times. A personal sommelier might have the perfect job for these perilous economic times. To produce and sell wine is an unfortunately material enterprise: you have to grow, crush, bottle, and ship the grapes. But selling your opinion of wine is much more efficient. Save for a laptop, a wireless hookup and a bedroom office, your outlay is practically nil.
sommelier_over.jpgGot $200,000 to spare? Perhaps it’s time to let personal sommelier Annie Lau (and her nose) go to work for you.
A personal sommelier might have the perfect job for these perilous economic times. To produce and sell wine is an unfortunately material enterprise: you have to grow, crush, bottle, and ship the grapes. But selling your opinion of wine is much more efficient. Save for a laptop, a wireless hookup and a bedroom office, your outlay is practically nil.
It was when Annie Lau outgrew her role at a Dundarave wine shop that she decided to go virtual. She sent an email bulletin to clients, apprising them of the vineyards and vintages she had access to. That grew into a personal shopping enterprise. Now, five years on, the 45-year-old splits her time between the Vendemmia Group Inc., the importing arm of her business, and her for-hire duties as a personal sommelier, designing and purchasing personal wine collections for a well-heeled Vancouver clientele.
These days a medium-sized wine cellar runs to 3,000 bottles and costs about $200,000 to set up (sommelier fee included, of course). For her clients, who are primarily financiers and mining executives, Lau structures a cellar the way a stockbroker would a model portfolio, judiciously covering all bets. She’ll buy you a $30 Pinot you can drink every day, a range of Amarones for nicer occasions and then some extra-fancy Bordeaux for a daughter’s wedding, say, or an IPO. “Those last ones,” she warns, “you don’t touch for 20 years.”
And what if you wanted a wine of which your spouse might disapprove – say, a $1,000 bottle of ’96 Screaming Eagle Cabernet? A good sommelier understands the art of discretion. If you ask nicely, Lau will hold on to your bottle for you, far from prying eyes, in what she slyly calls her “Vancouver wine vault.”
The recent economic downturn has Lau bracing for a slackening of demand, but she doesn’t expect business to die. “Buyers will be more selective, but they’re not going to stop buying,” she says confidently. The grapes keep growing, after all, and no one wants to miss a good vintage.
Besides, in a faltering economy, it’s store owners who face the scary overhead costs of keeping all that inventory on hand. Point this out, Lau’s voice betrays a note of satisfaction: “All I need are my connections and my nose.”