What Happens When a Sommelier Loses Her Vision? w/ Amy Yancey (Part 1)

Ep 170

At 32 years old, Amy Yancey was told it might be time to retire because she was losing her sight. She wasn't ready to walk away from wine.

After more than a decade in the wine industry, Amy's retinitis pigmentosa had progressed to the point where working safely on a restaurant floor was no longer possible. But instead of leaving the industry she loved, the Certified Sommelier began figuring out how to build a wine career that could evolve alongside her vision loss.

In this episode, Amy shares how her vision loss changed the way she experiences and evaluates wine, what tasting without relying on sight can reveal about our own biases, and why black wine glasses can completely change the tasting experience. She also shares how she created Pocket Somm, built unconventional partnerships that allowed her to stay in the industry, and turned her expertise into private tastings, wine retail, and a subscription wine club.

You'll also hear about some of Amy's favorite lesser-known wines, her love of grower Champagne, and why she gravitates toward thoughtfully farmed wines that allow you to taste the grape and the place it came from.

Connect with Amy:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pocketsommgvl/

Website: https://www.pocketsommgvl.com/

Use code CORKFIZZ for $15 off your first order when you sign up for the subscription wine club! https://shop-pocket-somm.myshopify.com/

Episode Highlights:

• Building a wine career after vision loss
• How sight influences the way we taste wine
• Removing bias with black wine glass tastings
• Creating Pocket Somm and a new career path
• How wine education helped Amy adapt her tasting 
• Discovering lesser-known wines and grape varieties
• Why thoughtfully farmed wines stand out
• Amy’s love of grower Champagne

Transcript

0:09

Interested in learning about wine, but not sure where to start? You're in the right place. Welcome to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Hayley Bohlman, and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a wine enthusiast turned wine educator and founder of the Seattle-based wine tasting business, Cork and Fizz. Cork and Fizz. It is my goal to build your confidence in wine by making it approachable and lots of fun. You can expect to learn everything from how to describe your favorite wine to what to pair with dinner tonight, and so much more. Whether you're a casual wine sipper or a total cork dork like myself, this podcast is for you. So grab yourself a glass and let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. Today I have a very fun interview for you to listen to. We are talking to Amy Yancey. She is a certified sommelier and the founder of Pocket Somm, and her story is very unique in that she started working on the floor as a sommelier. But after being diagnosed with a rare degenerative eye disease, she had to step away from restaurant service and build her own path in wine. She did not want to go on disability. She did not want to get what she quoted as a real job. She wanted to stick with wine and wanted to find a way to make that happen. She is now helping people discover thoughtfully made wines through education, storytelling, and her wine club. She has a unique perspective. On how we experience wine, and I'm excited to share this conversation with you. In the first half of the conversation in this episode, we talk about how her vision loss forced a creative redefinition of her career, what changed about Amy's wine experience due to her vision loss, her wine club, Pocket Somm, and why it's special, plus some of her favorite bottles and so much more. So without further ado, let's get into the interview. So let's start with one of my favorite questions to ask anybody in the world of wine is just how and when did you fall in love with wine? Well, I think it's funny, as I've been in the wine industry for over a decade, there's always this like commonality amongst a lot of sommeliers. And I was a political science undergrad and I had like a minor in philosophy and history. And I remember I took all my science classes in like geology. I remember one of my classes was geography of the atmosphere. And I just like absolutely loved it. And I've also always been in, in the hospitality industry. I started when I was 15 and when I moved, I moved to Chicago and started working in, you know, fine dining. And you pretty much have to learn the entire wine list to get on the floor and like move up from food runner to, uh, server captain. And once I started going to like these wine classes and started learning more about like entire menu, I was just kind of mesmerized. And also I just love going out to eat and I loved going out to doing different dining experiences and, you know, starting with cocktails and then having champagne and then getting red wine with it. The whole poetry of it all was so fun. And then once I actually, you know, decided I was going to pursue my certifications and really start getting that foundational knowledge, everything from my undergraduate degree kind of, it kind of just encompassed it all. It's, and wine is, it's art, it's culture, it's, it's economics, it's philosophy, it's, you know, an intoxicant. It's really fun. And so I just, everything together, I, I was absolutely mesmerized. And of course I saw, you know, I was in Chicago when I was studying and there's all these master sommeliers in Chicago and tasting groups, and they were so kind to let me taste with them. And at one point in time, I think I was going to like 7 different restaurants' wine classes just 'cause I was trying to taste and learn as much as possible. And I would just like, show up at a restaurant, at a bar, ask to meet the somm and be like, can I come to your wine classes? And it was just, I was hooked once I really figured out the world of wine and everything there is to learn about it. I, yeah, so it, it just actually just felt like a really natural progression from my degree. And as I've met more people that took this path, I've, I've met so many poli sci majors that are now sommeliers. Interesting. I love that. Like, I feel like a lot of folks when I ask them, how did you get into wine? You know, and all that. It's typically like, oh, I went this direction and I was gonna do this very serious job and, and then I loved wine and I did that. Right. And I love that, like, I mean, like a little bit of your story, but it's more so that you're like, oh, I was going this degree with my, you know, poli sci degree and philosophy. And then I realized actually wine encompasses a lot of that and I get to like use a lot of that knowledge and, and everything in the wine world, which is a really cool thing. For sure. And I, I mean, I studied speech and debate. I did policy debate. I did Model United Nations. And I think that that really helps me as like a, when you're in a, a server or sommelier, like you're on stage, it's performance, you know? So I think a lot of my public speaking really helped me in being a good front of the house server and good floor sommelier. But also like when people ask me that question, like genuinely as a server, I wanted to make more money. Like I wanted to work in Michelin restaurants and I wanted to be a captain. And you had to learn about wine. And in some restaurants you pretty much had to have your level 1 Court of Master Sommeliers to even serve at those restaurants. And I wanted to serve at those restaurants, so I pursued. But, and the certifications are really, I love the court, the NWSET. I did both. It really opened my world up to wines of the world. Yeah. Wow. It just puts more appreciation. I always try to highlight whenever folks are talking on here about like when you go to those nice restaurants and the servers are there, like They have put the work in to be there. Oh my gosh. Like it is just, it baffles me the amount of work that goes into, and then just becoming a server. And so many people underappreciate that and don't realize of like all the knowledge that you have and, and everything you need to know in order to, to be serving them. My mom loves to share that with her friends cuz I'm a professional hospitality. I was a server for many, many years. I was a sommelier for like the last maybe say 8 years of that. My brother is a chef and his wife is a sommelier and founder of a restaurant group. And so she, you know, had one idea. She didn't think in her entire, you know, both of her kids were gonna be hospitality professionals. And so it, it's fun to open up her world and so many other people's worlds are exactly what you just said. Like, it is very difficult, especially when you are at the top of the, in those top restaurants. Yeah, absolutely. Just a quick reminder, if you are not on my mailing list yet, What are you waiting for? I would love for you to join. When you do, you'll get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to corkandfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. Now let's get back to the show. Okay. Well, so we talked a little bit about how wine became a career for you, but there was a pivot. So, right, it would— today you are not serving on the floor of restaurants. You had a diagnosis led to vision loss. Tell me about, you know, what, what was it like making that change? It was terrifying. It still kind of is. I think I saw your post earlier that was just like, I don't, you know, have a private sum. This is my passion, not my career. It doesn't pay my mortgage. And I'm like, ah, it does fine. But yeah, so I was diagnosed with a, a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which is degenerative, or it progresses over time. And the first thing you lose is Night vision. So it became pretty apparent that I would, when I was serving and I thought like, oh, I'm just gonna go get a day job as a wine rep. You know, I'm gonna go, you know, drag a bag around the city. But turns out I can't drive either. So that kind of crushed that. I did actually move back down to Greenville, South Carolina, my hometown, and I had told a steakhouse what was going on and they're like, we have the brightest steakhouse in the city. There's like floor-to-ceiling windows. Like, come work for us. So I did that for a number of years and became their wine director. And so I had a lot of office time, but it just got to the point, so I've been losing my vision from the outside in. So I have like, I can't see my hands or like even like a couple inches away from my eyes. So it's like a pinhole vision. And so I would say it's a lot of what got me to this point was actually nothing to do with the wine world or professionality. It was all learning adaptive and assistive technologies out there for visually impaired and low vision people because I'm not blind. I'm just visually impaired. I'm just, I think it's called like severely sight impaired. I'm legally blind. The definition of legal blindness is, is there's nothing that you can do. There's no cures, there's no glasses, there's no vitamins. So it's like legal blindness. And so I have like 8% of a visual field. So I tell people it's like looking through like a little straw. So it took me a lot of time to just figure out what was out there. I was actively pursuing the advanced sommelier exam and even to the point where when I was tasting with MSs. I've moved sight to before my initial conclusion, and I could pretty accurately describe the wine and what it should look like based on what I'm tasting. Maceration, thin, thick skin, age, etc. Interesting. So it was like you did the full tasting and you're like, I think I know what to expect now. Yeah. From all the other things I would know, and here's what I expect the color to be, even though it's not just like, it's not me looking at it. Yeah. And that's only because I pursued education for so long that I had that kind of stuff. I'm like lucky where I lost my sight in my career, although I don't think that it's like the most important. And I've met people, I, I actually have a, a meetup group once a month at my little wine shop. I don't own a shop, I just run a program within, within a place, but we have a meetup group of low vision and blind friends and it's so interesting to see how other people experience wine depending on their level of, of sight and what they can see and what they can't see. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna, I'm gonna tangent, take us on a tangent real fast cuz I'm curious about that. That was one of my questions about like, Do you think sight is overrated in wine? I've definitely heard from a lot of folks about like, do a tasting with like the black wine glass, you know, so you can't see. I do. Right. So you can't see what's in it. What do you think, like if you could have folks, you know, do a tasting where they can't see it, what would they learn? Well, it makes you really evaluate wine without bias, and it's not even not seeing the wine, it's not seeing the label, you know? Yeah. Because there's a lot of groupthink in wine, good or bad. And I mean, I think every somm has been in a tasting where they're like, I hate this, but I don't wanna say it because what if it's something like really cool? And then I'm gonna look like, oh, it's on my shelf. I sell this and I'm over here just like, and, but I've never, usually that never actually happens when they've revealed the wine. I'm like, oh, should have just trusted my gut. That wine is not, you know, cuz people tease you, they'll bring you like the most bottom shelf wine that they can find at the grocery store and throw it in like a high-end wine tasting to see who can get it. But do I think sight is overrated? Probably not the word overrated, but I think that, I think everybody should try to evaluate wine, especially if you're learning. Not that you have to drink wine and evaluate it every time. You can just drink wine and enjoy it. But if you are evaluating wine, not knowing what it looks like and not knowing the label, I think can just really give you a different way of evaluating it, experiencing it. Sometimes, like depending on, 'cause I blind taste a lot of wines that aren't Like classics or like depending on like some of those really light Trousseau, like I couldn't even tell if I'm drinking a red or a rosé, you know? And it's like trying to figure out exactly what I'm drinking, not knowing the color sometimes is a challenge. And I never would've thought that until I started doing more black wine glass tastings. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like too, cuz I feel like at least, you know, for the most part, like as humans, like our main sense is sight. Like that's like the first thing we use. And so I feel like when I'm tasting a white wine, I'm never gonna use a red fruit descriptor for some reason to describe it, even if it could very well smell like a red fruit. I'm just like, no, it's a white wine. So it's gonna be in the like tropical fruit or, or, or citrus or something. Like, I'm never gonna give you a red fruit because that doesn't make sense for a white wine. When actually, if I close my eyes, maybe that is what I smell and that's okay. For sure. Yeah. 'Cause there's a lot of fruits regardless that the juice is clear, you know? Yeah. Including grapes itself. Yeah. Okay. All right. I'll bring us back. Let's take us back to your career. I was just like, I was, that was one of my questions and I was like, it was perfect time to segue into it. But yeah, talk to us about, so now you worked at the steakhouse for a while as a wine director, and then where did you go from there? Well, after COVID, the sommelier wine director only positions kind of went away, you know? So I was a wine director manager, but I would, they kind of accommodated me by managing lunch so I could be in like brighter light. So. I would open the restaurant, manage the lunch, and then do all of my wine director-ness in the afternoon and then get home before it was too dark. The, the company was actually phenomenal with accommodating me. Unfortunately, the next thing that came in this silly, annoying disease is insane light, like sensitivities. Like even my house now, I had to like install blackout curtains in my own house, which I hate, but I just cannot be near a window. So those 70-foot floor-to-ceiling windows became like the bane of my existence. And I also started having to use a white cane because my vision narrowed so much that like I was always staring at the ground, so I was bumping into people. Or then I started looking up and unfortunately it just got to the point where I couldn't safely navigate a restaurant and be safe for food runners running around and bartenders and cocktail servers and guests. Swiping a white cane and wearing sunglasses because it was so bad. So it was, it just got to a point and they were very much like, just go on disability. We love you. Like, we'll help you transition to SSDI, like just retire. And I was like 32. I had just finished the advanced course in Dallas and I just wasn't ready to retire and I didn't really know what I was going to do. So I created Pocket Psalm because over the decade and between Chicago and where I'm at in Greenville, South Carolina, I'd made so many regular friends, especially collector regular friends. I'm in a smaller market now and people would bring in like their nice wine and be like, oh no, we'll, don't worry. Like we'll open it. And then I would like pull my Durand out of my pocket and be like, with my cheesecloth and like, you sure you don't want me to do it? And then they're like, oh wait, what up? What's up girl? Like, who are you? So I became friends with like anybody that like knew anything about wine and kind of got a reputation. So. I basically became a private client buyer for a little while and I needed a license. In the South, liquor, beer, and wine are separated. Beer and wine is one license and liquor is a separate license. And there was this super cool craft beer store. It's been around for like 15 years and they don't really sell wine. So I went there and I was just like, hi, I need a partner. Like, can I give you money and you let me use your space and your license? And they were like, sure. And so 6 months of just doing private client sales, they were kind of blown away cuz they had no idea like how expensive wine can get or Like, think about the profit margin of like a 6-pack or a draft beer versus like a glass of wine or a bottle of Cabernet. So they very quickly asked if I wanted to move in. And so now I have a 150-bottle retail space within this like nerdy craft beer store, which also gave me a place to hold my wine and a, like also a staff to like receive it, somewhere to hold it, someone to sell it, someone to ring it up, stuff like that. So. Wow. That's such a genius idea. I'd never even thought about like, I, you know, like the idea of like having a wine shop or, 'cause I've been with my business, you know, there was a part of me that was like, maybe I'll sell wine with it. But then like, God, going into the whole liquor law, like liquor license and all that was so complicated. And each state is different, but that's genius to like be like, yeah, let's work into a, a business that's already open that I, you know, you kind of meshed with. You were like, it's cool craft beer. Let's do some cool wine here. Yeah. And to just partner with them on that, that's genius. You know, I had looked at doing a couple like fine wine stores too, cuz at that point in time I hadn't really figured out how to be low vision and like be badass. I was still kind of scared, you know, getting around, navigating by myself. I was attached to someone's arm for like a year. I finally really settled in using a cane and now I can honestly get around anywhere I need to go with a cane, but it just took me some time. So I was like creating Pocket Somm, but also like learning how to, you know, readjust to this new. Landscape and my vision still changes all the time, but in the beginning it was more shocking. Now I kind of know what to expect and I still have highs and lows with it because it will continue to decline. Like, I love my little 8% of like, she's so primo. So like, as that goes, but I'm also, I've met so many people with, I have, like I said, I have a blind and low vision meetup group every month and there's so many people that have my exact disease that are completely blind. They're 10 to 15 years older than me. And they're so cool and they're living such happy lives and they've completely readjusted and they have, you know, just so normalized. So it took some time for me to normalize my own disease. And so yeah, the beer store, something about working in like this, like selling really like culty champagne out of like this laid back, like all of the guys have like tattoos and long beards and, but they're nerdy in their own way and they, they understand beer in a way that I couldn't relate. And so now, you know, we do a monthly beer and wine class for the staff and it's, and a lot of the guys that work there are part-time brewers that are just hanging out. So it's been an incredible experience. So I partnered with them and then I partnered with a, a DC e-commerce company and that's how I know we're gonna talk about it, but that's how I sell wine nationally. So if you ever wanna talk about, you know, selling wine through other people's businesses, like obviously I make other people money, which is why they want to work with me, but I also make myself money. So. Right. No, I mean, it works for you and that, that's smart. That's how you good at it. And that's how, like, you just like, hey, can I do this? And like, we're not gonna make you any money. Like, yeah, there's gotta be a reason for it. Yeah. And it takes some time for me to like prove myself, like, hey, let me in. I'm gonna make you money. You're gonna make me money. And everyone's gonna have fun and we're gonna do it, you know, with integrity. That's a big, big part of my authenticity and integrity are pretty big ethos of mine. Yeah. I did wanna talk one other thing that I, I wasn't prepared for with the, the questions, but I love that you highlighted it was like, With working with these craft beer guys, I wonder if that also has an impact on like the way people see wine when they come into the store.'Cause I think a lot of people are very intimidated by wine in a way that they're not intimidated by craft beer. Right. Even though these guys are just as like nerdy, like you said, about their beer and they, they know about it, it's far less intimidating for someone to walk in and, and question about the beer, to ask for a recommendation. I find versus like wine. And I wonder if like being in that shop and being with the craft beer, it kind of has that effect on the wine where it makes it a little less intimidating for folks. Wait, I know you think this is an ad, but it's not. So don't hit skip. I have a small favor to ask. Here's the truth. I will never charge you to listen to this show, but every episode takes time and money to create. So if this podcast has helped you pick a better bottle, learn something new, or just kept you company, would you consider becoming a paid subscriber? You can show your support for just $3, $5, $8, or $10 a month. To say thanks, every single supporter gets a shout out on the next episode I record. And if you choose the $10 tier, you actually get to pick a future episode topic. Setting up a subscription is a great way to show your love for the show. Just click the link in the description right now. Thank you for listening, supporting, and being part of my wine-loving community. Now let's get back to the show. It depends. I think there's all different types of wine drinkers. I like have different categories, but it is a little difficult to sell wine out of a place that's called Greenville Beer Exchange. It was kind of funny. I did win, I won best wine store in the upstate of the Carolinas. And so like when, when it won, it was like Greenville Beer Exchange, cuz you have to win under the license it's under. So people just thought it was like a mistake. Okay. Pocket Son within the Green Well Beer Exchange. Yeah. Kind of a mouthful, but locally it works. But that's why I really wanted to do being able to, I, I had the wine club is just a part of it. I could do just like an online wine shop. It's just e-com in general, e-commerce of just shipping wine so that I could actually put it under Pocket Son's brand name. But yes. Beer drinkers, even in its most expensive, I'm thinking like Cantillon, like a lambic that, or a sour that's really iconic, they're still like $30, $40 and that's like a ton of money for a craft beer. So, and I happen to specialize in champagne. That's, I'm kind of the bubbles girl. Girl, where champagne is my favorite. I have 50 SKUs of champagne in my shop. So a little bit of it, so like half of the shop is champagne and then I do keep some like you know, pet nets and real natty. I love real like weird natty stuff. And the beer drinkers love that cuz they already love lambics and gose and sours. But most of my wine is pretty clean. My shtick is very much like organic natural wine with no flaws, like just wine made pristinely from beautiful places on the earth that doesn't have a lot of manipulation, but also tastes like wine. Yeah, I love that. Okay, well let's dive into then. So Pocket Somm is what, is what you created. This is the brand that you have. Yeah. From what I was reading, so I got like a lot of it, you know, there's a wine club seems to be like kind of the main shtick of it. Can you tell us a little bit about what it is and what makes it different from, you know, first other wine brands in general and what makes the club different from other wine clubs? Well, thank you. So Pocket Somm has been just, you know, my creative redefinition of my career. It is a retail partnership. I do a lot of private tastings. I also have like a little Like almost like a hospitality group, if you will. There's like 7 different chefs I work with. I have 5 other sommeliers, bartenders. So I almost do like a concierge. Like people in my town really know and trust my taste and my ability to throw a good party, I guess, with good food and good wine. So I've been just kind of like every, every route that you can take as a private sommelier, I've been kind of exploring to figure out like what is my next step and how to keep And I'm trying not to go get a real job. So yeah, the wine club is definitely where I'm focusing now. It's kind of my newest venture working in e-com in general. And, uh, being able to go outside of my local community, give people access to Pocket Somm, which is my brand. My personal brand is just to cut through the noise of commercial food and wine. There is a lot that people don't tell you about what goes into your wine. There's no ingredient labels. There's a lot of marketing. There's just a lot of about wine that I didn't know until I knew, and now I'm I'm kind of like, I feel like I found like the secret. I just wanna tell everybody and tell all my friends and you don't have to have hangovers. Like you can drink wine that's, you know, $20 and organic and delicious. And so I also definitely specialize in kind of cultier wines, but not cult wines like Koche and Loire and, you know, Reyes, but like cults, like, you know, Non-Claires and Kimaro and Vermentos, like just like things that are anywhere between $30 and $40 on a shelf that are outstanding and then made, you know, I guess you could use a buzzword organically, but I like to use the word agrarian or just farmed. They care about the ecosystem. They care about the people who work their land. They care about the juice. They're not putting a lot of additives or manipulation or sulfur in their wine. So Pocket Somm really is just if, like, if you like that kind of stuff, this is the brand for you. And I'm going to select those wines and then my wine club, I record myself talking about the wines. I want it to be like I'm your sommelier at your table. I'm just at your dinner table and I'm on your cell phone. I'm in your pocket. Oh, I like it. I like it. Okay. Can you tell us a little bit about, I feel like a good way to kind of introduce folks to this who are listening, right? If trying to decide if this is a good club for them, is this something they'd want to join? Are these the wines they'd like? Can you highlight kind of some of your favorite wines that have gone in these boxes before? Ooh, yes. So I really love Spanish wine, French wine, Italian in the United States. I really also love, you know, Greek, Croatian, Slovenian, really all over. But the cool climate, you'll see a lot of more cool climate wines and you're gonna see a lot of great varieties that the market sometimes doesn't put on their list because they're unheard of. And people sometimes don't wanna try a wine they've never heard of. They don't wanna spend money and then not like something, so. I try to put wines that I know are pretty crowd-friendly, but phenomenal. So like one of the wines I put in, I was super excited, is Guimaro. The grape is Mencía, or locally they pronounce it Minthea. It's from Ibera Sacra. It's like a beefier Pinot or like a beefier Gamay, but still really ethereal and bright and has all these like mineral qualities and herb qualities. And when you see the place that it's from, it's like absolutely stunning. You can't even drive a car up there. Mm-hmm. A wine from California that I put in that I love is John Lockwood's Infield. I put in his 100% Cabernet Franc from Sonoma. Vangi di Ciala is in Friuli in the northeast part of Italy. I put in like a Refosco blend, which is just a red grape in northeastern Italy. As far, I also have a, a entire like champagne sector of my wine club that I call the Special Club. It's not all club bottlings, but I put in Florian Laval, which is the very famed champagne maker, Georges Laval's son, or Noac, which is like Meunier, which is a grape within champagne in the Val-de-la-Marne. So you're really just trying different families and different, different farms, and you'll, you'll really find discovering, do you like this property the way this person makes wine? And then hopefully you can then explore more wines by that winery or just try something new. So all of the wines that I put in. They all have the same like ethos of, you know, thoughtfully farmed, no additives, no major sulfur or manipulation. And so you can taste the place and then the grape that the wine, the, the grape usually is indigenous to that place. A lot of times we plant wine grapes for the market. These are wines that have just been farmed there by families for generations. Those are the wines I kind of seek to introduce. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, it's like it's meant to be there. That was like, it's been there and that's why it does well there. And then it ends up tasting great, honestly. You don't have to do that much work to it for it to taste amazing. I agree. I think that what you just said, like, really hits the nail on its head. When the wine is farmed really well, you don't have to manipulate. And it's not even just farmed really well, it's, it's the place that it's from as well. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. Now, if you wanna learn more about Amy's brand Pocket Somm, or are curious to learn more about the wine clubs and potentially join, Be sure to visit her website. That is pocketsomgvl.com. I will put the link in the show notes. And if you want to join her club, if those wines sound like wines you love, which honestly they are exactly right up my alley, so I will be looking at this. Be sure to use code Cork Fizz. That's C O R K F I Z Z for fifteen dollars off your first order when you sign up for the subscription. So you need to sign up for the subscription, not the one time, to get that special offer. Of course, if you love this episode as much as I did, please rate it, leave a review. Let me know if you enjoyed hearing Amy's story and if there are any other people you'd like me to interview. And if you wanna show additional support to the show, you can become a paid subscriber. Click the link in the show notes, become a monthly supporter. It's $10 or less a month. You'll get a shout out in the next episode. And you'll get access to exclusive content. That I record. And if you choose the $10 a month option, you get to choose a topic for a future episode. In next week's episode, you'll hear part 2 of my interview with Amy, where we talk about why Amy prefers to use the word agrarian rather than natural when referring to the wines she champions in her club, how to hunt down under-the-radar wines, a little extra info on champagne since she is a lover of all things champagne, and so much more. Thanks again for listening. And if you wanna learn more about wine, come follow me @corkandfizz on Instagram. Cheers. Cheers.