Today we’d like to introduce you to Samara Kaufman-Waldman.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Samara. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
For as long as I could remember, I have always been fascinated with wine — even as a child I remember thinking how magical it was that grape juice could turn into wine.
Growing up in a Jewish family, wine was always a memorable part of every holiday and family celebration. When I was in my second year of college, I found a 40-year old Zinfandel vine crawling across the fence in my backyard in Northern California in 1998.
I brought the grapes to the viticulture department at the university, and I immediately enrolled in the Introduction to Winemaking course. That course was followed by many winemaking, wine tasting, and wine marketing classes. Before I knew it, I had a minor in Viticulture, and I had all of the prerequisites necessary to take my Sommelier certification exams with WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust).
Earning my WSET certification empowered me to work as a Sommelier in a local restaurant and earn extra income to put myself through school. In 2002, I moved to NYC and decided to pursue a career in Business and Strategy. Wine always remained my passion project. I would donate sommelier-guided wine tastings to non-profit auctions that were hosted by the organization I worked for.
I served as the ‘on-call Sommelier’ for all of my friends and family — wine recommendations for my loved ones were always just a call or text away. In my free time, I would read books and blogs by prolific winemakers and wine critics, whom I respected. When I would vacation, I would always choose to go to an interesting wine region, which had piqued my interest.
One of my favorite business authors, Seth Godin, says, ‘the thing you do when you are procrastinating work is the thing you should be doing for the rest of your life.’ I always knew that my career would eventually lead me back to wine. I moved from NYC to Atlanta in 2015 with my family and decided to take a break from my strategy career. One day, the CEO of my husband’s company tapped me to curate a sommelier-guided wine tasting experience for a group of well-respected clients.
Seeing the joy and deep engagement in their eyes after participating in the tasting, I knew that it was time to take my passion project to the next level. And thus, Cinagro Wine Experience was born. Cinagro is simply organic spelled backwards (I’ll pause for a moment to let you sound that out), which is a nod to my passion for organic, biodynamic and sustainable wines.
Now that I have been a sommelier for 19 years, wine still surprises, delights and inspires me. I believe that the study of wine is the intersection of beverage, culture, history, agriculture, geography, language and art — there is always something to learn and be fascinated with!
Right now, I am enamored with some of the natural wines (unfined and unfiltered) coming out of Oregon and the bold and lively Tannat from Uruguay, which is beginning to slowly trickle into the US.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, owning and running Cinagro Wine Experience has been as smooth as a Left Bank Bordeaux. The only hiccups along the way have been in working around the very strict legal boundaries associated with selling wines direct to consumers.
Nearly all of my clients who attend my tastings want to buy the wines I’m pouring (usually by the case!) and I cannot sell to them directly. They have to visit the wine stores and wineries I work with and buy them in person. I love what I do, and I feel so lucky to live out my passion for teaching people about inspired fine wine!!
Cinagro Wine Experience – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Cinagro WIne Experience is a Wine Education company. We offer curated wine tastings, private wine classes, wine buying (we can fill your 20-bottle wine fridge or your 3,000-bottle cellar!), wine program consultation to restaurants and cellar-design consultation.
The heart and soul of Cinagro Wine Experience are our tasting events! Whether you are planning a holiday party, team building event, girls night, dinner party, networking event, fundraising event or simply looking to dazzle your clients and friends with the beauty and fun of inspired fine wine, Cinagro Wine Experience is your quintessential partner.
At a Cinagro Wine Experience event, we turn your event into a tasting room, where your guests can taste inspired fine wine and learn foundational components of how to taste and appreciate wine. We provide your guests with information about each wine we’re pouring, including interactive information about the grape varietals and winemaking process, all while we taste together!
Many attendees at my events tell me that they are nervous to do a tasting because they don’t want to say the ‘wrong’ thing about how the wine tastes to them. I always tell my clients that the best wine is the one that tastes best to them. There is no right or wrong.
The world of wine invites so many possibilities, and I am honored to be a guide and give people the tools they need to learn how to smell, sip (or gulp!) and savor beautiful wines.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am lucky enough to be doing the one thing that I am most passionate and excited about! I always feel so proud when my clients tell me that they have discovered a new wine varietal that they love because of the experience at one of my events.
I love to help people learn how to expand their palettes, identify new aromas and flavors in their wine and develop a deep appreciation for new and unique wine varietals. It fills me with such joy and energy!!
Contact Info:
- Address: 2660 Valvedere Drive Northeast
- Website: www.cinagrowine.com
- Phone: 9176869176
- Email: samara@cinagrowine.com
Image Credit:
Morgane Taylor Photography, Erin Miracle @boozechewsviews
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