Going Rogue with Ashland’s Irvine & Roberts Vineyards – Hospitality Manager
Irvine & Roberts Vineyards has attracted and assembled a team that clearly sees the potential in making benchmark Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and sparkling wine in the Rogue Valley. We have built a character that has rallied around a shared vision to make some of the best wine in the world and share the story of our endeavor with our guests every day.
Since we opened our doors to the Tasting Room in 2017, we have been embraced by our local community and have become a must-see wine destination in the heart of the Rogue Valley for visitors from all across the United States.
The Tasting Room at Irvine & Roberts Vineyards has become one of Ashland’s busiest attractions. We are looking for the right leader to grow our well-established reputation for excellence in hospitality while navigating a brisk pace set by guests who visit us seven days a week.
An Ideal Candidate
We are a winery that operates as a family with an uncompromising spirit and a true commitment to excellence. An ideal candidate values strong communication, shares what they know and earnestly supports his or her team to build a brand that is truly unique.
He or she would see the opportunity to branch out to join a team that is motivated to make, share and celebrate authentically great wines in a new place instead of good wines in a well-known place.
Our ideal candidate would be a passionate, charismatic and independent professional with a proven track record of modeling brand advocacy with club members and daily guests. He or she would have excellent planning skills and is goal oriented to deliver key results to grow this critical piece of our overall DTC business.
We are looking for the right leader with the skillset, the confidence and the dream to take a chance and the drive to be the best every day.
Role Purpose
Perform the critical role of setting up the company for success in its busy Tasting Room. This role is intended to oversee the Tasting Room business and build Irvine & Roberts’ reputation of delivering the best hospitality for daily Tasting Room guests in the Rogue Valley, in addition to growing brand loyalty through wine club subscription conversion, wines sales, and e-commerce reach through data collection in accord with our annual plans.
Core Accountabilities
•  Provide a charismatic, infectious brand of leadership with our team, our guests and our partners to deliver the highest quality consumer engagement in Oregon
•  Maintain our one-of-a-kind culture that attracts, inspires and supports a team of creative individuals to ensure a vibrant, energetic and productive work environment
•  Provide consistent team leadership, planning and direction to ensure achievement of DTC goals for Tasting Room sales, Wine Club conversion, database growth, food service and events and maintain the highest quality of guest services
•  Oversee and ensure the professional development of all team members, instituting consistent 1 on 1 meetings with each individual on the team to foster the company’s intent on retaining the valley’s top talent
•  Foster lasting relationships with top customers through direct sales and relationship-based outreach using current CRM systems
•  Provide a tireless, thoughtful, infectious brand of hospitality for all guests
•  Provide the highest level of fine-wine, guest services and elevated, educational programming in keeping with the current wine consumer trends and attitudes
Experience
•  2+ years of Tasting room, restaurant hospitality and/or DTC sales management & marketing experience required
•  Demonstrated leadership experience, managing diverse DTC teams
•  Experience with P&L comprehension, accountability and delivery, annual planning and budgeting
•  Experience in event planning, execution of fine wine programming
•  Added experience with launching new brands/businesses is a plus
Skills
•  Team leadership and organizational skills with proven ability to set, prioritize and manage a strategic agenda
•  Proven ability to create an achievement culture that shares and incorporates best practices with all team members to grow the business
•  Proven verbal, written and presentation communication skills
•  Skilled at collaboration and achieving through partnership and team play
•  Strategically oriented, thoughtful leadership with innate curiosity to learn and grow
•  Teacher mentality that develops team members for promotion opportunity
•  Ability to build an inclusive model for team engagement that champions diversity and coaches and empowers others
Technical Experience
•  Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
•  Administrative Proficiency in effective winery/beverage POS systems (e.g., Commerce7, Tock, etc.)
•  Familiarity with CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Zoho etc.)
•  Administrative proficiency in HTML oriented e-commerce and communication platforms (e.g., Mailchimp, Constant Contact etc.)
•  Proficiency in web-based remote meeting and communication platforms
Knowledge
•  Comprehension of the U.S. wine industry and the commercial landscape of Oregon wineries within it across multiple channels, markets, distributors and customers
•  Comprehension of the most up to date hospitality principles and metrics of DTC channels (e- commerce, tasting room and wine club subscription subchannels)
•  Comprehension of State-by-State shipping compliance & regulatory landscape
•  Passion and acumen for fine wine, the history and practice of winegrowing and winemaking across different wine varietals, regions and styles
•  Combination of education and experience; preferably in business related and wine hospitality discipline. Extra consideration given to candidates with third party wine education accreditation (e.g., WSET, Court of Master Sommeliers, ISG)