In this entry to our 2024 wine writing competition, sommelier Ameena Elmore writes about the bottle that led her to pursue a wine career. See the guide to our competition for more great wine writing.
Hello! My name is Ameena Elmore and I live in San Francisco, CA. After spending close to 20 years working in the technology sector, I changed my career into wine. Currently I work as a sommelier at Californios, a restaurant specializing in Mexican food. This is my story on how I got bit by the wine bug. Thank you for reading!
The kindness of a stranger
The kindness of a stranger, the kindness of a friend, and a splash of Quintarelli created the wine moment I’ll never forget.
The moment was actually an internal earthquake that ultimately caused me to quit my job in tech and led me into becoming a sommelier in San Francisco at a 2-star Michelin restaurant called Californios.
Rewinding to 2013, most Friday nights were spent at a local wine bar in my San Francisco neighborhood of Potrero Hill. The tasting fee was $10 for 4 pours, and nights would end with patrons buying bottles and sharing it amongst the crowd. While I knew little about wine, I liked this crowd of regulars. It was my way of building community.
On one particular evening, a stranger purchased a bottle with a green label and gifted the remainder of it to the bartender. This bartender, whose name is Tala Drzewiecki, had been my go-to-person for all-things-wine, and had become a dear friend along the way. Tala poured me a splash in my empty glass as she walked by.
My mouth exploded into flavors. All I remember were notes of Nescafe coffee and Maraschino cherries. It was a moment of pure hedonistic pleasure as well as utter confusion. What was happening in my mouth? It was as if years of drinking unremarkable wines subconsciously tuned my palate for “the one”. I didn’t realize it until years later, but this was the wine that changed everything for me.
Upon inquiring, Tala wrote down the name “Quintarelli”. That night was the first time I ever researched a bottle online. I found myself on the Kermit Lynch website reading about the family, and I drove to Berkeley a few days later to visit the store. I found the “green bottle” – a 2007 Valpolicella Classico Superiore. Spending a $100-plus on a bottle of wine was something I had never done, so I justified it as a present for my boyfriend’s upcoming birthday. How selfless I am… ;)
After that, I started having more “wine moments”. A Whitehall Lane Cabernet from the 90s that a friend shared made me want to jump on the dinner table and dance (granted, I may have had a martini prior). On a different occasion, Tala invited me to a reserve tasting at a wine storage shop she also worked at. I recall there being a white wine that made me feel like a hummingbird sipping sweet tropical nectar from a flower. All I remember on the bottle is that it said Corton-Charlemagne. Uh-oh bank account, because the Burgundy bug just bit me.
Eventually my inner nerd popped up and I decided to enroll for my first WSET class. I was hooked.
Then a bunch of things happened. My Mom died of ovarian cancer. I quit my tech job, got married (I guess the Quintarelli did the trick, ha!), and used my savings to take some serious time off. It wasn’t a mid-life crisis but rather a mid-life questioning. I always meant to go back to tech but nausea would take over each time I looked at job postings. At some point my husband suggested that wine might be my calling. It was hard for me to wrap my head around this idea because I had been raised Muslim where drinking is not allowed. My dear Mom would have been so angry with me! However life happens and I decided to give it a shot. Once that decision was made, a thousand bricks lifted off my shoulders. I signed up for a wine harvest in 2020 and never looked back.
Since then, I’ve tried on different roles to see where I might fit in best: production (two harvest internships), tasting room host, retail sales associate, server and sommelier.
There have been wonderful moments: getting over my shyness, leaning into my confidence and listening to my inner whisper more, discovering my love for hospitality, and learning that I have a down-to-earth approach when I’m with guests at the table. I like making guests feel at home while dining out. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out all the beautiful wines I have tasted through the generosity of others, as well as through my ever-dwindling savings account.
There have been not-so-wonderful moments too. At this point in life, I know that if your manager consistently makes you feel less than or speaks to you in a condescending manner, then you’re never going to get to place where you can truly shine and make your potential known. It has taken me years to know my value and what I’m capable of. And I’m lucky that I finally met someone who saw my potential. In 2023 I met Allison Bremer, the wine director at Californios, at a tasting group. We kept in touch and she eventually hired me to be an assistant sommelier. I am forever grateful for her taking a chance on me. The team at Californios is wonderful and the wine cellar is my version of heaven.
So it’s been a mix of tears and smiles. Through it all, my skin has grown a little thicker. I know both useful and useless wine-related facts. I’m studying for my Advanced Sommelier certification pin. Most important to me though, there is a bounce in my step that I never had before. Even on nights when I’m so tired and ready for my shift to end, I’m happy. Finally, this American-born and Pakistani/Muslim-raised female has found her calling. I didn’t think it would ever happen.
My life turned out very different than I thought it would. Thank goodness for that.
I am thrilled to work as a sommelier. Thank you stranger, thank you Tala, and thank you Quintarelli for making such beautiful wines. And thank you to those who have read my story! It’s been a pleasure to get this out on paper.
Cheers!
Image by Constantine Johnny via Getty Images.