$10,000 to Twitter about wine? It's a 'Really Goode Job'

NEW YORK — Are you a "people person"?

How about an "excellent communicator"?

Do resume-wrecking cliches like those make your thumbs twitter with excitement? If so, you may be just what California's Murphy-Goode Winery is looking for.

In a sign of the cyber-crazed times, the Sonoma County winery is on a nationwide hunt for someone to fill its "Really Goode Job." The successful applicant will earn $10,000 a month to tweet and use other social media skills to generate buzz about its reds and whites.

The job, which begins in August, offers no health insurance and lasts for six months. But by the time auditions were held this week at a restaurant at New York's Grand Central Terminal, at least 747 people had posted videos in hopes of impressing winemaker David Ready Jr.

Hundreds more are expected to submit applications -- videos no longer than 60 seconds -- by the June 19 deadline, either by posting them directly to a website or by going on camera at auditions across the country.

Ready said his idea was to "demystify wine" by using social networking via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other sites to spread interest among a crowd that might view the beverage as out of its league.

"This has never really been done in the wine industry," said Ready, a burly Minnesota native who sipped wine samples as hopefuls closed in, hungering for face time with the man who might be their boss.

"It's so the new frontier," said Tara Moncheck, who planned to submit a joint video with her fiance, Rayhan Daudani.

"We obviously didn't expect double salary or anything," Daudani said when Ready emphasized that he wanted just one online guru to send out messages and thoughts on wine to people around the globe.

The job-seekers who showed up at Michael Jordan's Steak House were a reflection of the recession's indiscriminate effect: They included a former investment bank vice president who was laid off after 20 years, two young journalists (Moncheck and Daudani) and passers-by who couldn't resist giving it a shot, like Stefanie Johnston.

"I love wine!" Johnston burbled as she stood before the camera on a balcony overhanging Grand Central's main concourse. As proof of her devotion, the New Yorker pointed out that she even had a copy of Wine Enthusiast in her backpack. "Look, I'm serious," she said, pulling the magazine out after her audition.