IF YOU’VE EVER visited a wine shop on a weeknight or Saturday afternoon, odds are you’ve encountered a winemaker pouring small tastes for customers while explaining the story of each wine. The man or woman hovering nearby is likely the wholesale sales rep who has traveled with said winemaker on an all-day sales blitz. It’s a marathon known as a “ride with,” or a “work with” if it takes place in Manhattan, where salespeople and winemakers mostly travel by subway, not car.
These “work withs” provide an opportunity for winemakers...