ABOUT
Define yourself radically as one beloved by God.
This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.
Brennan Manning
Sommelier-extraordinaire, est. 2014:
Saving you from panic and paralysis in the wine aisle, one bottle at a time.
Partially blind, est. 1992:
I see 50%, 100% of the time.
Wife/Mother/Believer/
Wanna-Be Chef/
Self-Proclaimed Healthnut/Aspiring Greenthumb, est. 2018ish:
We’re only tired on days that end in y.
SOmmelier.
IT ALL BEGAN BY realizing i wasn’t meant to be an INTERIOR DESIGNer after all…
In Jr. High I remember watching HGTV and having the epiphany: I was going to be an Interior Designer. My explicit goals were to wear high heels to work and look at fabric all day and play with color. I didn’t find out what the job description truly entailed until I was knee-deep in a corporate job as a designer six months after college graduation.
I remembered that hospitality had been my first love (thank you, hostess job at Islands) and quickly learned that a person could actually get educated in the field of wine. I thought, if I’m going to work in restaurants all my life, might as well find a niche I can enjoy.
Two years of certifications and more restaurant experience later, I began my first gig as a real-life Sommelier as the resident Somm of a downtown wine bar. I loved my job and was soon recruited to reboot the wine program at a local French restaurant; I loved that job, too. But the hours were getting long and as luck (or God) would have it, I had a friend who asked if I could put on a casual wine tasting for her birthday.
I did her event with six bottles of wines I was currently loving, sat with the group with my knee up on the chair, all casual like, and talked about wine as we nibbled and gabbed. I booked two more events with guests in attendance that evening and that night my then-boyfriend (husband now!) said to me, “I think there’s a business here!” I filed my LLC and Sam(the)Somm was born.
I had the privilege and joy of conducting educational wine tasting events for folks locally and across the country for multiple years after that, for birthdays and corporate parties, sales seminars and bachelorettes, even prevailing through COVID by shipping wine and hosting tastings over zoom. I deeply enjoyed my work, but motherhood was beckoning me to diversify my experience and education.
A new passion was brought forth through the past years post-pandemic and looks like: inviting you to open up your home and assist you with setting the scene so you can bring your genuine self and be present with your people over a couple bottles of wine.
Our generation has been up-to-here in bad news. loneliness and isolation, and I believe it’s time to put the phones down, get together in person and share life once again; what better way to do that over a bottle of wine or five, I say!
Learning more about what you enjoy and being with your people face to face is the point, wine is simply the vessel.
BLINDNESS.
since i was two, i haven’t been able to see out of my right eye.
When I was 18 months old, my pediatrician looked at my mother and said, I think you need to see a specialist at CHOC. What we later found out was that I, by the grace of God, had a benign growth on my right eye and would need surgery to remove it.
The operation proved to be more invasive than originally thought, and my lens needed to be removed entirely. In the process, my retina detached, causing what would lead to a plethora of scar tissue on my optic nerve due to the stitches in the repair.
Later I would come to understand that there were only eleven other cases in the entire United States that were remotely similar to mine; eleven! What had happened to me was a miracle, but extremely rare, and left me with barely any vision in my right eye.
Physical therapy, eye patching, countless Optometry visits, doctors “ooing and awing” at my medical wonder, sports goggles, teasing, trauma and years of hating what I saw as a handicap are what ensued in the decades following. It is only until recently, through more grace and EDMR therapy (can I get an amen?) that I now see my condition as truly unique and accept it fully as mine.
Being unable to see with full vision throughout my life has given me a deep gratitude for the other senses we get to take in the world around us with, and why I enjoy experiencing wine so immensely.
The process of deductively tasting a wine takes you on a small journey and requires you to utilize your other less relied upon, though profoundly important, senses, and it is one that calls you to slow down a bit an appreciate the moment you’re in, with the wine you’re with.
Conversely, it was my intention in creating this brand, with this name, with this story, to hopefully express to you that your handicap, your story, the thing you’re perhaps most ashamed of, may just be the thing you and you alone were meant to be in possession of. Perhaps, it’s exactly the thing that will set you free if you let it.
If your story is one you would like to share with me, I’d be honored to hear it, dear one. Thanks for being here for mine. Cheers -
one husband i grew up 5 miles from, two girls under the age of three, and a corgi that has more attitude than we bargained for.
MOTHERHOOD. MARRIAGE. LIFE.
Stay tuned friends for blog posts coming in early 2024 where you’ll find discussions on all things life in the Williams’ household. My latest wine finds, recipes, helpful tips and tools to make life easier, shortcuts to stay on-time (the clock: my forever nemesis) and be grounded & stay slow in an ever-quickening society.
FAQs
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“What are we eating?”, I say. But in all honesty these days, in the land of motherhood & making weeknight dinners, it depends on what I have in the wine fridge, have already begun Coravin-ing (is that a verb?), or what has a lowish level of alcohol. But in my past life, a wonderful GSM blend from the Rhone or Châteauneuf, a Washington Syrah or a California Coast Viognier or Grenache Blanc. Mmm, mm, mmm.
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In sunny Southern California. Orange County to be more precise.
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100% Old World. I fell in love with French wine while I was studying to be a Somm and haven’t looked back. As a California girl it’s hard not to love the local juice, which I have a great appreciation for, but it’s not my go-to.
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Let me ask you this: how do you take your coffee or tea? This question gives an idea of what your palate likes: if you like your coffee black, try an old world Pinot Noir or dry Riesling to start. If you take coffee with your creamer, then best to start with a California red blend, Zinfandel or oaked Chardonnay.
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You can read my full story above, but I am partially blind, also a Sommelier by trade, and yes, I do thoroughly enjoy a good blind tasting. So, the name seemed fitting!
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When you’ve been enjoying wine long enough, you know the wine that converted you into a wine-lover. Mine was a bottle of 2008 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a well-renowned appellation in the Rhone Valley, France. What I had been consuming up until that point in my life started with “white” and ended with “zin”; need I say more? My life was forever changed. All I remember asking my mentor whom had the kindness to introduce me to the wine was, “Is this a Cab?”. He smiled softly and said, “No, no it’s not.” And the rest is history.
the bottom line
i believe
Wine, at it’s core, is farming and family, and should be respected as such.
i believe
Wine is the great connector and has the capability of crossing borders, languages and generational gaps that without it, would have otherwise stayed untouched, unknown and unchanged.
i believe
Wine shouldn’t be taken so seriously, but rather appreciated deeply and enjoyed endlessly.
i believe
The more you know about wine, the less you realize you know.
i believe
Wine is an artform.
i believe
There is drinking wine, and there is tasting wine, and they are not the same.