Sommelier & Wine Curation

Key Responsibilities

• Weekly inventory management and stock checking.
•  Identifying wines requiring replenishment or allocation within store
• Wine sourcing from international producers and/or wine buyers, together with Australian wholesale brokers and producers. Note: We will never source direct from producers who are listed in our wholesale brokers portfolio’s.
• Curating and selecting wines for the Vino Club subscription offering.
• Writing professional on-brand wine descriptions for the website and other copy.
• Providing specialist wine knowledge and recommendations.
• Creating and preparing one EDM per week.
• Creating three social media posts per fortnight.
• Additional sourcing activity and hours when new wine ranges are being selected.

Remuneration & Award

$47.50 per hour + superannuation

Award category: As this is an e-commerce wine retail role rather than a traditional restaurant sommelier position, the General Retail Industry Award 2020 is the relevant award basis for the role.

Fair Work benchmark: Current ordinary permanent adult rates under the General Retail Industry Award top out at $33.99 per hour, while the Restaurant Industry Award tops out at $32.13 per hour.

At $47.50 per hour + superannuation, this position has deliberately been set at a premium rate compared with ordinary award rates across retail, restaurant-based sommelier and similar employment. This is further enhanced by the additional per-bottle sourcing commission, providing the opportunity to earn substantially more through successful wine sourcing.

Additional Wine Sourcing Commission

In addition to the $47.50 per hour + superannuation, a performance-based per-bottle commission release will apply to wines successfully sourced for the business. This commission is additional to, and does not replace, the hourly rate.

The commission increases incrementally with the commercial margin achieved. Stronger supplier negotiations and more favourable acquisition pricing therefore directly increase the per-bottle commission earned. The greater the margin secured through sourcing, the higher the per- bottle commission. Will explain in complete detail as part of placement process.

The Opportunity

The remuneration structure provides both security and upside: a premium permanent part-time rate for the core role, plus additional financial reward for the commercial value created through successful wine sourcing.

Rather than simply paying an award-level wage, the role recognises specialist expertise at $47.50 per hour + super and provides the opportunity for a substantial additional uplift through per-bottle sourcing commission. When successful sourcing creates greater value for the business, the Sommelier shares directly per bottle in that value.