Thursday, February 4, 2021

Book Review: Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells by Harold McGee

Walking into my house this time of year, I am greeted by the intoxicating scent of Daphne.  Daphne is a wonderful evergreen shrub that blooms here in late January and keeps on blooming for weeks.  I have always loved the smell of Daphne, and on neighborhood walks can sniff out other Daphnes in flower.   But not until reading Nose Dive:  A Field Guide to the World's Smells did I think about delving into what the fragrance was.  I will agree with others that it has a powerful nutmeg and honeysuckle perfume, a sweet and spicy fragrance that is strong, but not sickly.  I think it has a bright citrus element too.

Reading through Nose Dive by Harold McGee I really starting to think about about aromas and what characteristics they have.  Harold gave me the additional information about why they smell the way they do.   


Here are three reasons to read this book:

1.  The smells of our world.  Nose Dive is an excellent compilation of the smells of our world, starting from the creation of Earth, followed by plant and animal smells and then into the smells of land, sea and industry.  This is all followed by the world of chosen smells; the smells of fragrances, cooking and lastly, cured and fermented foods.  

2.  You'll learn a lot.  The book covers how aromas are created by their molecular compounds on to how aromas are synthesized for the consumer goods industry.  

3.  You'll be surprised.  There may be a few revelations for you.  I learned what aromas some cheeses emit is, as well as the funky smell of black currants.  That lovely smell of cassis in wine may not be as pleasing as first thought.

And here is one big reason not to:

You may never smell things the same again!  While reading this book, I've been sticking my nose in freshly laundered towels, jars of black currant preserves, tubs of hummus and handfuls of compost to learn the fundamental smells of things.  While I have always had a good sniffer, this was detrimental to me earlier this year.  While sniffing for that pleasing fresh laundered towel smell, I was shocked that my clean laundry stunk!  Ten loads of laundry were rewashed, my washing machine was scrubbed inside and out, and I found a filter on my machine I hadn't known about for 13 years.  Going forward, when I do the recommended bimonthly filter cleaning I will remember that I'm battling the stink most likely caused by the bacteria Moraxella osloensis.  (p. 546)

Nose Dive is a great book.  It is quite hefty.  I figured there were about 600 detailed pages I had to get through.  But they were fun and informative.  Good quotes, good references, and fun facts were discovered.  Harold McGee also encourages you to read the book whatever way you want.  Skip ahead to the wine section, or breeze through the plant smells.  Every author should write that way!  

Harold does a wonderful job of taking very dense information (lots of chemical compounds are discussed and diagrammed) and making it accessible.  With Harold living in Northern California now, I was able to virtually walk the streets of San Francisco as he described the scents his neighborhood expressed.  Also, he allowed me to learn what some mysterious plants, and smells, were that I've encountered my entire life.  An example of this is Rabbit Tobacco.  Growing up in the Bay Area, I was often out wandering in the hills.  In late summer I would always discover "maple plant", an everlasting flower that smelled exactly like maple syrup.    Reading this book, I now know the plant is Rabbit Tobacco, and it smells of maple syrup as well as curry and fenugreek.  Exactly!

My only unresolved sensational question is:  How does Febreeze work?  I may never know.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Webinar: Hiring in 2021

Plan to join me for a free webinar on January 21, 2021 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, Pacific.  WineTalent is partnering up with Cook Brown LLP to host this webinar that will focus on hiring and managing your team in 2021.  

Hiring in 2021:

  • What are the hiring trends?
  • What stays the same?
  • What will change?
  • What are the major hiring pitfalls to avoid?
  • What are the economic indicators for expanding or contracting the workforce?
We will also be providing an Onboarding Template and a Remote Worker Playbook to help you manage your team effectively now and into the future.


Barbara A Cotter, Partner, Cook Brown LLP.  
As a litigator, Barbara has extensive experience defending wage and hour class action claims and representative claims – including those under the Private Attorneys General Act. She’s known for crafting client-centered defense plans, suiting each client’s budget and priorities.

Amy Gardner, President, WineTalent
With a strong background in recruiting and personnel management, Amy Gardner founded WineTalent to provide executive search services focused on the wine industry.  

Friday, November 6, 2020

WineTalent Classifieds: Production Cost Accountant and Analyst role in the Napa Valley



WineTalent is working with our client, Far Niente Family of Wineries and Vineyards, on an Accountant role within the Napa Valley.

About the Company:  Far Niente is a group of well-respected wineries and sustainably grown vineyards.  The six wine brands have widespread distribution and a strong direct-to-consumer business.  

About the Position:  The Production Cost Accountant and Analyst will apply the principles of accounting to analyze financial information and prepare financial reports by compiling information, preparing account reconciliations, and utilizing appropriate accounting control procedures.  The role provides accounting support in inventory, COGS reporting and analysis, account reconciliations, monthly close activities and end of year accounting resolution. 

Responsibilities:  

  • Assists in month-end accounting close by performing accurate and timely completion of assigned financial close activities. 
  • Performs complex analysis functions, reviews sub-ledger transactions and posts entries to general ledger accounts. 
  • Responsible for the preparation of more complex account reconciliation and analysis.
  • Perform analysis and forecasts on project and operational production costs.  
  • Recommends and supports improvement opportunities and/or risks based on review and analysis of variances. 
  • Develop and report key metrics to senior management. 
  • Applies cost principles to analyze project costs and reconcile variances.
  • Supports audit and regulatory requests, generates ad hoc analyses reports ensuring needed financial information is presented clearly, consistently, and on time.  
  • Assists with specialized and complex assignments.

Requirements:

  • Bachelor degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance or closely related discipline.  Experience in lieu of a degree will also be considered.
  • Can-do attitude, with at least 5 years of closely related work experience.
  • Knowledge of finance, accounting, and cost control principles including Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. 

Desirable Qualifications:

  • Experience with NAV, Adaptive Planning and Vintrace strongly desirable. 
  • Experience in manufacturing (including but not limited to wine industry) accounting highly desirable.
  • Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Excel and PowerPoint.
  • Proven effective communication skills, both verbally and in writing, working with various levels throughout an organization.

Compensation and Benefits:

  • This is a full-time, salaried position
  • Competitive compensation depending on experience plus benefits including medical, dental and vision coverage, paid time off and 401(k).

About WineTalent:  WineTalent is a wine industry focused recruitment company. We work closely with our clients and our job seekers to find the right fit of talents, experience and work environment. All inquiries will be kept strictly confidential.  

Please email resume and all inquiries to amy@winetalent.net  

WineTalent:  The Right People for the Job


Wednesday, November 4, 2020

WineTalent Classifieds: Senior Financial Analyst in the Napa Valley




WineTalent is working with our client, Far Niente Family of Wineries and Vineyards, on a Senior Financial Analyst role within the Napa Valley.

About the Company:  Far Niente is a group of well-respected wineries and sustainably grown vineyards.  The six wine brands have widespread distribution and a strong direct-to-consumer business.  

About the Position:  The Senior Financial Analyst is responsible for the day-to-day analytical support for the company’s sales divisions and overall wine operations. This position requires ethical conduct and thoroughness in conjunction with critical thinking, attention to detail and strong time management skills.  





Responsibilities:  
  • Support budgeting, forecasting and longer-term planning processes by providing revenue and cost inputs, including drivers and assumptions for various channels and products
  • Assist in tracking consolidated cased goods inventory reporting
  • Track marketing metrics to help measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns
  • Serve as interface between 3rd party data providers and develop, maintain and identify inaccuracies for daily dashboards
  • Perform ad hoc analysis of daily business issues and provide sales support for the company
  • Analyze and explain variances and prepare reporting package and presentation for monthly Management financial review
  • Proactively analyze profitability trends - evaluating revenue, cost of goods sold and operational expenses and make recommendations to various teams
  • Ability to navigate the three-tier system, recognize depletion trends and evaluate pricing
  • Ability to organize and efficiently manipulate large data sets in Excel
  • Work extended hours during peak times

Requirements:
  • BS/BA in finance or business-related discipline
  • Minimum of three years of increasingly responsible experience in a sales finance role with financial planning/analytics and modeling experience
  • Experience in budgeting/forecasting and explaining a P&L
  • Proficiency in Targit is a strong preference. Familiarity with Adaptive and NAV are highly desirable
  • Advanced computer skills, especially in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word
  • Successful candidate will be a very motivated self-starter and be able to work without daily guidance

Desirable Qualifications:
  • Strategic thinker with highly competent analytical skills 
  • Versatile, flexible, and willing to work within constantly changing priorities with enthusiasm
  • Positive, energetic, engaging and able to maintain composure under pressure
  • Team-oriented professional who is willing to help and support others in their work to contribute to the overall success of the Company 
  • Detail oriented, with ability to perform work accurately and thoroughly
  • Curious and pro-active in recognizing trends and able to recommend action-oriented insights
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills 
  • Prioritizes and balances workload to respond to new reporting and data requests
  • Service orientation - maintains collaborative relationships with multi-functional teams while managing relationships and expectations of management and their various team members

Compensation and Benefits:
  • This is a full-time, salaried position
  • Competitive compensation depending on experience plus benefits including medical, dental and  vision coverage, paid time off and 401(k).

About WineTalent:  WineTalent is a wine industry focused recruitment company. We work closely with our clients and our job seekers to find the right fit of talents, experience and work environment. All inquiries will be kept strictly confidential.

Please email resume and all inquiries to amy@winetalent.net  

WineTalent:  The Right People for the Job

Friday, October 16, 2020

WineTalent Classifieds: Information Technology Manager

 
WineTalent is working with our confidential client on an Information Technology Manager role in the Napa Valley.

About the Company:  Our client is a well-respected and long-established winery in the Napa Valley.  The company has several brands with widespread distribution and a strong direct-to-consumer business.  

About the Position:  The IT Manager will provide ongoing technical support to staff for all computer problems and manage company’s outsourced IT vendor. Along with the outsourced vendor, the IT Manager will manage company-wide hardware and application infrastructure.  This role will provide support for the implementation of new digital platforms, including vendor selection and project management.

Responsibilities:

Primary point-of-contact to third-party IT support company.

Day-to-day oversight of systems and troubleshooting of issues.  On the ground hardware and software support for all company computer users. 

Installs and maintains servers, desktop computers, notebook computers, smart phones, peripherals, printers, etc. Keeps current inventory of all devices and maintains current licenses.

Maintains working knowledge of cybersecurity threats, and ensures company has appropriate protections in place.

Works with third-party vendor to select, configure and install all software, including upgrades to existing software.

Standardization of business software across the organization.

Creates and maintains batch files, drive mappings, login scripts, and menus in order to provide appropriate secure user access to applications and data. 

Oversight of the entire network infrastructure, with responsibilities that include server upkeep, security upgrades, planning all infrastructure upgrades or changes, managing contracts with vendors, and managing the IT department's budget.

Managing the development, maintenance and technical support of the network, servers, telecom and operating systems including external application contractors.

Ensures connectivity of monitoring and alarm lines.  

Manages and maintains all communications systems used throughout organization.

Collaboration with all departments to determine technology needs, to ensure problems are resolved swiftly and completely, and to understand the business IT needs of each department.

Requirements:

Bachelor degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related discipline.  Work experience in lieu of a degree will also be considered.

4+ years of IT support work experience in a similar sized company (50 +/- users)

Experience with NAV highly desirable.  

Excellent communication skills and proven ability to work across an organization with many different types of departments.  

Service-oriented, collaborative approach to IT support.

Experience managing new hardware and software implementation projects with attention to budget and timeline.

Innovative team member in a newly created position with a flexible, can-do attitude to ensure current IT needs of company and departments are met and future needs are anticipated and planned for.

Compensation and Benefits:

This is a full-time, salaried position

Competitive compensation depending on experience plus benefits including medical, dental and vision coverage, paid time off and 401(k).

About WineTalent:  WineTalent is a wine industry focused recruitment company. We work closely with our clients and our job seekers to find the right fit of talents, experience and work environment. All inquiries will be kept strictly confidential.

Please email resume and all inquiries to amy@winetalent.net  

WineTalent:  The Right People for the Job