(VinePair) - Before we plunge into the intricacies of your journey to wine rep-dom, a few things about the profession itself. Well, one thing mainly: it’s hard. Harder and less glamorous than it looks.

It’s easy to imagine the life of a wine rep as some kind of nonstop, fancy free, wine-fueled traipse from restaurant to restaurant.  There’s a lot more selling and a lot less wine guzzling on a daily basis.

That doesn’t mean it’s not a rewarding (and yes, awesomely wine filled) career. Not only does it get you ready access to a massive world of wine, but you don’t actually have to be a wine expert to be a successful wine rep.

That of course depends on the kind of wine rep you want to be. While the basic job of being a wine sales representative is moving bottles, there are a number of outlets you might be working for. Many wine reps work directly with wineries—sort of like the middle man between the wine maker, the retailer or restaurant, and, most importantly, your mouth.

Other wine reps work for large distributors, companies that bring in a variety of wines and sell them to retailers and restaurants—through the sales prowess of the wine rep. And still other wine reps work for retailers themselves, basically working out of a liquor or wine store. Except instead of selling one bottle to one customer, they’re trying to sell multiple bottles to restaurants and cafes and bars.