Dicing with death in the skies above the Chilean desert or discussing the finer points of champagne with dancers in London — it is all in a day's work for Matthew Cooper.

As a wine buyer with Ellis of Richmond, Mr Cooper seeks out the finest and most interesting wines for Britain's restaurant and hotel trade. It is not the best-paid job in the industry, but surely one of the most fun.

“If you want to earn big money in the wine trade, then you need to work for one of the supermarkets,” Mr Cooper said. “They are completely dominant in the retail market, but they tend to prefer the branded wines that are of less interest to restaurants.

“Prestige restaurants, hotels and gastropubs are looking for estate wines that may be a little unusual or have a story. So, if you want to indulge your own love of wine, then you are better off working for an independent.”

There is no set career path to become a wine buyer. Most will have a degree, a second language and one of the qualifications offered by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. Mr Cooper took an engineering degree at Southampton University, but spent more time with the Wine Society than he did on his studies.

“When I graduated, I was offered a job with a company repairing road surfaces in Luton for £6,000 a year,” he said. "That didn't sound like a lot of fun, so I went to the South of France for six months and worked on a wine co-operative.” Then he wangled an introduction to a wine company through the chairman of his university wine society, the cricket commentator and renowned wine buff John Arlott. He has been serving Britain's wine trade ever since.

“The UK is one of the best markets to work in because it is so diverse,” Mr Cooper said. “We have a very discerning and demanding palate in this country, simply because we don't have a loyalty to any particular region, so we are exposed to many different wines.”

He begins a typical day in the office by sorting through correspondence from producers, prospective clients and the government bodies with which he deals. At 11am, while his palate is fresh, he enters the tasting room for a quality-control session. He tastes wines that he has bought and tries out up to 40 prospects.

“The downside is that most of the time I am tasting young, immature wines that aren't ready for the market just yet,” he said. “These can be very acidic with a lot of unpleasant tannins. At the end of a hard day in the tasting room, I go for a beer.”

Mr Cooper does not end each day rolling drunk. Tasting involves swilling and spitting but little drinking. However, his teeth are bearing the brunt. “After a while, tasting turns your teeth black and your gums start to recede,” he said. “At 45 I seem to be spending rather more time with my dentist than I'd like.”

He also hosts tastings for wine correspondents and prospective clients, which range from fine restaurants to gentlemen's clubs. “The girls at Spearmint Rhino were probably the most attentive audience I've had,” he said. “They took far more notes than the sommeliers ever do.”

Every few weeks Mr Cooper travels to the Continent and two or three times a year he visits growers in Australia, Asia and South America, where he will try out new wines and seek to educate the producers on what will sell well in Britain.

“Chilean producers, for instance, will sell most of their wine in the US, where they prefer slightly sweeter, more bland styles. It's my job to persuade them to produce a drier, more aromatic blend for the UK market.”

These journeys take Mr Cooper to destinations that rarely feature in travel brochures. “One producer flew us himself in a little two-seater plane for five hours over the remotest part of Chile. He'd only just passed his test and had a checklist of things to do on his knee. When we landed, there was a horse on the runway.

“We flew back in the dark with no lights. When we landed safely, I said to myself: I'm going to try really hard to sell that wine.'”

So, his top wine tip: the Chilean Sol y Sombra, a pungent, aromatic sauvignon blanc with a story to tell.

WHAT IT TAKES

Qualifications

You will need a degree, preferably in languages and/or business studies.

Training Certificates and diplomas are offered by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. A diploma takes two years' part-time study.

The Institute of Master of Wine offers the respected Master of Wine qualification, which takes two years to complete, although this is considered an academic rather than commercial qualification and is not needed to work in the industry.

Attributes

You have to love wine, but you will also take hard-nosed commercial decisions, anticipate the market, deal with currency fluctuations and plough through the bureaucracy of international government regulations.

Salary expectations Starting at about £18,000, wine buyers can earn up to £80,000 as a senior buyer for a supermarket.

Travel opportunities Excellent. Although tasting samples are increasingly arranged by e-mail and sent by courier, most buyers still regularly visit the vineyards and foster face-to-face relationships with their suppliers.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive