Behind the Wine List: Lessons from a Vegas Somm with Cristie Norman

Summary

In this lively and insightful episode, sommelier powerhouse Cristie Norman uncorks her path into the wine world—sharing the highs, the hurdles, and how she became a force in the industry at a young age. From her current post at Delilah in Las Vegas, Cristie offers savvy advice on how to talk to your sommelier without sounding like you’re ordering a secret code. We dive into her James Beard Award nomination (now finalist), the creation of the United Sommelier Foundation (cheers to supporting beverage pros in tough times), and wrap things up with Cristie’s must-try wine regions and styles that’ll make your taste buds do a happy dance. 

Takeaways

• Effective communication with sommeliers enhances the dining experience.
• Understanding personal wine preferences is key to helping the Sommelier find the best bottle for you.
• Price transparency is crucial for a comfortable wine selection process.
• The United Sommelier Foundation supports beverage professionals in need.
• Wine education helps consumers articulate their preferences better.
• Bordeaux offers great value and quality at various price points.
• Building trust with customers is essential for sommeliers.

Cristie's Wine Recommendation

Chateau Pontet-Canet 2010

Check out Cristie's Instagram and her Online Wine Course

Transcript

Laurie Forster (00:00.8)
Cristie welcome to The Sipping Point.

Cristie Norman (00:03.5)
Hi Laurie thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to talk to you.

Laurie Forster (00:07.77)
Absolutely. So I love hearing everyone's, guess, call it origin story of how they came to Wine. I came to Wine through a job in software sales. I'm a career changer. I did a little bit later in life. You started out pretty early. So I know people are going to be really excited. How the heck did you decide that this is what you wanted to do with your life?

Cristie Norman (00:30.68)
Well, I was working at a chain restaurant, casual restaurant called Lucille's barbecue, which to this day is the hardest job I ever had by the way, physically. And there was one fancy steakhouse in my hometown. It was very similar to Mastro's concept. And it was the nicest fanciest restaurant I'd ever seen. And a friend of mine was a hostess there. And she told me that the GM loved wine.

Laurie Forster (00:40.569)
Hey.

Cristie Norman (00:54.292)
And I was 18 at the time. I was a server trainer for Lucille's and I really loved being there, but I just really wanted to go into fine dining. And I felt like that was where I should go. And I didn't know how to make that leap. So I started learning about wine to impress the GM. And I was just reading books because I wasn't of age to drink. And so by the time I was 19, I had a pretty solid foundation, went in for an interview and I said that I wanted to be the best server that they ever had.

And they laughed at me and hired me as a bar apprentice and they thought it was so cute. And within a couple months, they promoted me to a food runner and then had expediter. by the time I turned 21, actually a little bit before, it was December, my birthday is in April, they did promote me to be a server. And I was kind of working half and half and as an expediter and as a server. And I said, if I pass my first level Sommelier exam, will you make me a server full time? And they said, yes.

And I took my first level sommelier exam a couple of days after my 21st birthday. And so I had been studying for a few years at that point, just reading mostly, just reading Zraly's Windows of the World, Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia, Wine Bible, those amazing books. And just being interested and asking questions, asking the bartenders to pour me things so I could smell them. I would ask.

Laurie Forster (02:08.889)
Mm-hmm

Laurie Forster (02:17.657)
Hey

Cristie Norman (02:18.072)
can you pour all of the Highland scotches we have and then let me smell them on the bar? And that's really how I learned because I really couldn't taste anything. And then I took my certified shortly after that. And at my intro exam, there are always our master sommeliers that facilitate the exams. And one of the masters was Chris Miller, who had been the wine director of this restaurant called Tobago Beverly Hills before.

Laurie Forster (02:42.478)
Mmm.

Cristie Norman (02:42.878)
And I had heard of a guy named Wolfgang Puck. That sounded familiar. I think I saw him on a can of beans at the grocery store, right? And I was like, I think he's a famous guy. I'm just kidding. I love Wolfgang so much now. But I really wasn't super familiar with his brands just being so young. It wasn't something that I was exposed to. And so I went and applied at Spago Beverly Hills.

Laurie Forster (02:54.586)
Okay.

Cristie Norman (03:07.424)
at 21 as a certified SOM and they ended up hiring me. And I was exposed to, you know, three to 4,000 different SKUs at any given time, you know, 15 to 20,000 bottles when I was working there. So that's how it happened.

Laurie Forster (03:19.67)
So amazing. And now you're the lead sommelier at Delilah at The Wynn in Las Vegas. And so tell us a little bit about that role and maybe how people can best leverage. You sometimes people are intimidated to say anything to the sommelier, but tell me about what you do. And you seem so down to earth and really inviting. So I'm sure you have great tips on how people can leverage people like yourself.

Cristie Norman (03:46.744)
Yeah, absolutely. So here in Vegas, in general, the hotels have one wine director title that oversees all of the operations of the hotel for wine. And then each particular venue, there aren't a whole lot of wine directors here in the city. They're called lead sommeliers, just based on like union rules and things like that. And so essentially, am, you know, in charge of selecting the wines for the program.

making sure that all of the functions stay functioning for a restaurant obviously with guidance from leadership and whatnot and you know different objectives that we have as a team, know of sommeliers on the property, but we have six sommeliers working at Delilah specifically. So we have a really big team. I'm super grateful and you know, it's mostly inventory management. So I always joke that most of my job is working on spreadsheets and

You know, that's the truth. I'm just mostly doing procurement, you know, trying to find things that are of interest. know, Nevada is a, it seems like a really big market, but it's actually pretty small. And so we don't get as much as let's say California, New York, right. And so getting the product here often is the biggest challenge that I'm facing and making sure we have continuity in that product. But of course I am on the floor as well. So

you know, we get to sort of guess that's always the best part of my day, to be honest, is actually being able to talk to people about all of these wines that we have found and spent all this time getting. I always say that, you know, some people have had experiences with sommeliers, you know, maybe I think because of a disconnect in communication, right? If you are wearing a $20,000 watch,

Laurie Forster (05:17.101)
Right.

Cristie Norman (05:32.322)
don't be surprised if the sommelier recommends a bottle that's $2,000. Right? I mean, just if your bag is 30,000 on the table, you don't be surprised if they recommend something more expensive, because that seems like what's in your taste in the wheelhouse. Right? But I always but there are billionaires who I know won't spend more than $100 on a bottle of wine. And that's perfectly fine. It's just whatever, you know, value set that you have around wine. And I always say giving a price point is extremely helpful. So if you said

Hey, my budget is $100 or $150. We have plenty of things in those price points. We also have things that go up to, you know, $95,000, right, for a bottle of wine. And, you know, we have everything in between. And, you know, I always appreciate when people are really communicative about budget, if they feel comfortable. If they're on a date, let's say, and they don't want the other person or the other people at the table to see, it's always welcome, you know, for them to point, you know, with their finger, like the price of something and say, I want to keep it around here.

And then, you know, maybe we have a little bit of flexibility, you know, just, yes. And then also being able to accurately describe what they want is challenging, right? Especially a lot of people will say things that are opposite of each other. So they'll say that they like very smooth, luscious wines, which tells me that they like, you know, fuller bodied, higher alcohol, maybe a little bit of residual sugar from like a riper area.

Laurie Forster (06:33.55)
Yes.

Cristie Norman (06:57.966)
which can be come off as a little bit sweet, let's say. And then they will say something like, I like Barolo, which is the opposite of that, where it's high tannin high. Yeah, and you can like both, right? There's not a problem with that. But I think, you know, being able to identify and saying, you know, I like this wine, it's always very helpful when someone says like, I love Flaccianello or I love Tignanello but I want to spend around here today. And perfect, that is super helpful because I know.

Laurie Forster (07:05.498)
I love Barolo, by the way. Yeah.

Cristie Norman (07:27.138)
And then also, you know, I always ask people, you know, if I'm really unclear about what they're saying, I'll say, how do you take your coffee in the morning? Because if they take it black and they say that they want Pinot Noir, I'm like, hey, let's try some burgundy, right? Or let's try, you know, maybe a cooler climate variety, maybe it's in the same wheelhouse. But I know that

Laurie Forster (07:35.875)
Mmm.

Laurie Forster (07:41.444)
Right.

Cristie Norman (07:50.146)
they could be open to a European variety. Because a lot of American wine drinkers do prefer like a richer, sweeter style just because that's our palate, right? So.

Laurie Forster (08:00.922)
I love that. Yeah. And I try to teach people, you know, one to trust their own taste because people feel like they're, you know, they're just insecure about saying what they love sometimes, but they do need a little bit of language because we're taught a certain way to describe a wine. And so I used to work at Astor Wines in New York City. I don't know if you've ever been, but it's it's a huge store and people would say,

I'm looking for a very sweet white wine and I love Chardonnay. And I'm like, sweet. It's not at all sweet, but it can be fruity. So fruity and dry and sweet, it can be very confusing. So I love that you're kind of helping people along with the language and then inquiring to see, you really mean that? Because we have different ways. So I think the best thing about wine education, and I know you do a great online.

wine course for people who are looking to kind of move their needle along with their language and learning about wine is being able to describe what you love. And it sounds like to you, that's the greatest gift when you have a consumer that can at least say, you know, I love medium bodied wines with crisp acidity and lots of citrus fruit or peaches or whatever it is that can help you get them something without maybe giving them what they drink every day.

Cristie Norman (09:22.068)
Absolutely. And then also too when the wine is really good, it doesn't matter if it's necessarily the style that you typically drink to. So it's like, when you don't know somebody, you have to kind of stay in the wheelhouse that they feel comfortable. But one of my clients, he's amazing. He's from Mexico City, and he loves hundred acre, which is, you know, a top cab from Napa. And very expensive, as well. It's definitely on the higher end and

Laurie Forster (09:41.998)
Mmm.

Cristie Norman (09:49.198)
he was like, I want to drink crisp white wine today. And I was like, cool, let's do some Raveneau And Raveneau is like the 100 % opposite, I would say of a rich Napa cab. And he loves it and can't get enough of it. And he drinks both he starts with Raveneau and then he ends with 100 acre and it's so funny because you know, if the wine is really of great quality, you can taste it and you do you should trust yourself. And you know, it is

Laurie Forster (09:54.371)
Nice.

Cristie Norman (10:16.494)
hard when somebody has you on the spot and it's like the words don't come come out super easily. I actually have a damaged Broca's area from a car accident, which is the part of your brain that helps you recall words. And so it's something that I'm very aware of. And I try not to like put people on spot like if they are kind of feening to say something like, oh, I love this wine, then of course, I'm going to like prompt them for that. But I try not to because it's like makes people uncomfortable. So you're like, I don't remember I drink Josh and, you know, Josh at home. I'm like, great, perfect. Got it.

Laurie Forster (10:27.779)
Laurie Forster (10:43.096)
Hey

Right.

Cristie Norman (10:47.432)
You don't have to say anything more.

Laurie Forster (10:49.688)
Right, and I always tell people take pictures because that is so helpful. Just have a little album on your mobile phone and people say, I had a blue label with a bird and I'm like, gosh.

Cristie Norman (11:01.272)
you know, it's so funny is sometimes I can totally recognize what it is, though, or even like a corner of a label. I had this idea the other day I was in my wine cellar and I thought it would be like a fun sommelier game to just only be able to see the capsules. Like, and to can you identify the wine by the capsule and I'm pretty like I could do a lot of them. You know what I mean? Like, I was like, that would be a fun idea. But even Yeah, like a corner of a label and a picture even if it's like the main focus is like the steak dinner, but then there's like a little edge.

Laurie Forster (11:15.148)
Ooh.

Laurie Forster (11:21.69)
That's great.

Cristie Norman (11:30.892)
I'm like, yeah, that's Macedo

Laurie Forster (11:33.58)
Yeah, love that. When I did my intro, Somm through the court, one of our teachers told this story about a young couple that came into his restaurant. And the gentleman who I guess was going to be paying the tab started to look pretty nervous when he was, you know, perusing the wine list. And when he came over, he ordered the corkage. And it was the corkage fee that was listed at the bottom, which was, you know,

Cristie Norman (11:58.382)
fitness.

Laurie Forster (12:02.81)
$25, $50, whatever it was. And it was so lovely though, he said, he came back out and he said, you know what, we're sold out of the Corkage tonight, but let me suggest this wine. And it was a wine in that price range that maybe was on there by the glass or maybe even not even something on the list, but was still available to be purchased. And I love that idea of, you know, it's not about what we know more than the consumer. It's about, you know, just everyone feeling good.

about the experience and then the next time they come in, they trust you even more. It sounds like that's what you're going for.

Cristie Norman (12:38.638)
Absolutely. Like we want continuity and you know, it's it's amazing that we have the clients that come in and spend, you know, $5,000 on a bottle. But it's also you know, we value people that come in and order a bottle of Pinot Grigio the same amount, you know, it's like the same amount of labor to you know, to serve a bottle of wine to two people, right? Pretty much and like if we're decanting, whatever, but it's all the same to me like

Laurie Forster (13:08.344)
That's great.

Cristie Norman (13:08.718)
And so it's and it's fun, you know, and I love I think what people don't realize as well is when you do order with a sommelier, then you get to have this other person who's constantly aware of everything going on at your table. So if your entrees maybe are taking a little bit longer than they should, or, you know, possibly, you know, if they notice a facial expression, maybe you can't find the bathroom, you know, you just have like another touch point. And it's like this other level of service that that you wouldn't necessarily

get, you know, because, you know, maybe we'll have one sommelier for 100 guests, let's say, you know, in the evening or 200 guests, you know, who knows, based on the cover calendar of that particular restaurant. But, you know, when you're a wine table, you are now the center of my universe, you know.

Laurie Forster (13:54.842)
Yeah. And I'd love that you just to reinforce what you said earlier, that people should not be embarrassed to say what their price point is. think that that is a big hang up for, I mean, you know, even myself, I mean, just to say, you know, I don't want to spend more than $100 on a bottle tonight, or maybe it's 75 or, you know, 1000 or whatever your price point is. But there's something about price talking price in America that people are very uncomfortable about.

Cristie Norman (14:03.526)
God.

Yes.

Cristie Norman (14:21.858)
I agree. I was just about to say a lot of people from other countries do not shy away from that at all. And you know, in my travels, it's like people are very direct about what they're happy to spend or whatever. And yeah, it's definitely an American thing. Or I don't know maybe if it's a West Coast thing or you're on the East Coast, right? You're you're Yeah, yeah. So I think it's so interesting. But I would love if people felt more comfortable at least sharing on the page so that I can even get a ballpark.

Laurie Forster (14:28.132)
Right.

Laurie Forster (14:39.971)
Yeah, I'm on the East Coast.

Cristie Norman (14:51.13)
Because ultimately I don't want to get somebody into an energetic state of yes I think you know a lot of people will as Salespeople they want to push people but then sometimes you have buyers regret right and I don't like to do that I want someone to feel completely in control and comfortable and I want it to be a conversation I want there to be different options given to them

Laurie Forster (14:51.513)
Yes.

Laurie Forster (15:06.094)
Mm-hmm.

Cristie Norman (15:16.35)
you know, not every sommelier necessarily feels that way, right? That maybe they they want to drink something and they want you to experience that. And so they get really excited. But I always try to be really thoughtful because I think as I was a very young woman in the industry, too, I cared so much about getting the right wine to the right guest I really stressed out about it. And it's funny because so many of my counterparts who've been in the business longer, you know, they'll be like, I just do that one.

And I'm like, but that's not exactly what they're asking for. And they're like, yeah, but they're going to love it. And then they, open the wine and the guest loves it. Right. And so I think part of me like also overthinks because I always wanted to get the exact right wine for the right person.

Laurie Forster (15:44.314)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (15:52.355)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (15:59.802)
An overachiever. And speaking of, I just wanted to congratulate you on your James Beard nomination. I know that must be thrilling. Any thoughts or anything you want to share about that? It's been a long time coming, I'm sure.

Cristie Norman (16:16.526)
Thank you. Actually, you know, it really wasn't on my bingo card. That's for sure. You know, I, it was a new category this year. So it was outstanding beverage professional and service. And essentially it's what I, what I understood from the press release and the description was a person who is an outstanding mentor to other professionals in the business. It creates an environment of hospitality.

I think, you know, in the restaurant, outside the restaurant and other endeavors, that sort of thing. And yeah, just so humble and so grateful. We're recording this actually the day before I find out if I made finals. So I find out tomorrow. I know.

Laurie Forster (16:57.7)
Fingers crossed for you. You'll have to let me know. And speaking of amazing things, you created the United Sommelier Foundation, which is this great charity that helps beverage professionals who are in crisis. Tell me a little bit about what, because that's such a huge endeavor, in addition to your full-time job, what motivated you to do that? you've given out almost $2 million.

in aid since its foundation. So tell us a little bit about that.

Cristie Norman (17:31.074)
Yeah, so I was hosting master classes and blind tasting groups at Spago. So Spago was kind enough to let me host and we had lots of bottles obviously to choose from and basically they would just sell it to us at cost so that we could share you know the burden which is not typical you know usually when you go to tasting group you have to buy things at retail bring them in it's much more expensive. And you know they were allowing us to to do this and facilitate education.

and really at a very affordable price for young people that were coming up in the business. And I was hosting a master class with Chris Blanchard and it was slated to be on March 16th. So we were gonna taste like five decades of Vine Hill Ranch, think, or maybe it was three decades, I can't remember, but Vine Hill Ranch, the vineyard, and then they had sold fruit to other producers like over the years. And so I had...

one bottle I think of each or maybe it was two and we had 35 attendees. Yeah, it must have been two bottles of each. We had 35 attendees which was max for the class based on the amount of wine and restaurant shutdown. And so we had to cancel the class. So it down on Sunday and our class was supposed to be Monday morning. Everybody had confirmed. We did cancel it and on St. Patrick's Day, Chris texted me and said, hey, what are we going to do for the Somm community? And I was

Laurie Forster (18:45.794)
Cristie Norman (18:53.55)
facilitating all this education and I called it the LA Psalm Community. And we had people driving up from San Diego for our master classes. We had people driving down from Santa Barbara. So that's a big area. It's like most of Southern California pretty much. And we had people from all of the top restaurants. Because basically I didn't bar distributors from coming, which was very atypical. And the distributors...

Laurie Forster (19:06.307)
right.

Cristie Norman (19:18.572)
that were, you know, studying for exams, they really just wanted to be there. They weren't interested in like selling to us during this time, it was just more bonding and studying. And they ended up inviting all of their accounts. And so I had all these wine directors from every high end restaurant in the whole city about like, I mean, that my roster is crazy. And we were so I just had so many people reaching out saying I lost my job.

furloughed, I'm this and it was like the Somms first and then it was distributors and then it was, you know, so on and so forth. And, you know, Chris said, what are we going to do? And I said, all right, let me just make some calls. And so I started calling people around the country that I felt were really well respected and people that I knew very well in my network. And we started

raising funds and we started GoFundMe and I actually didn't want to start a charity there was zero because I'd always done everything like very rogue, you know, I just you know, it's like, yeah, let's just like host a virtual masterclass or whatever, you know, and I didn't feel like formalizing it was necessary. And then you know, they convinced me I still voted no.

Laurie Forster (20:18.094)
Yeah.

Cristie Norman (20:31.18)
when we voted to become a charitable organization. But having a 501c3 and actually doing all of the processes and stuff and not just having a GoFundMe, there's so many benefits to it. And that was just me being a 25 year old that, you know, didn't want rules and stuff. And I am the president and co-founder and Chris was the treasurer at the time, but we still have a great relationship and he still helps out here and there as an emeritus board member.

And we just celebrated our five year anniversary, which is absolutely insane. yeah, so during COVID, that was obviously a very big time for us. So we give out $500 cash grants, essentially like checks or Zelle, know, if there's like a situation where someone doesn't have an address that they can send something to, we do Zelle on occasion. And then it was like one disaster after another, right? And then we also have a higher level of funding that's paid directly to

Laurie Forster (21:03.48)
That is.

Cristie Norman (21:26.926)
their bills. So let's say something that we'll do often is like a month of rent, right? And we'll actually pay the landlord. And so we're not paying that to the candidate in particular. you know, hospital bills, big one, like, this person works as a sommelier at a Michelin star restaurant, but they don't qualify for insurance because they don't, they don't work 32 hours a week in New York, they only work 30 hours a week, right? Whatever in whatever city and you know, they had, you know,

Laurie Forster (21:52.506)
Mmm.

Cristie Norman (21:56.756)
a chronic illness or they had an accident happen. Somebody, you know, broke multiple limbs at the same time on the first day of starting a new job in a new city. mean, crazy things that are vetable, like actual situations, domestic violence situations where someone has to get out in a short amount of time, right. And you know, has evidence of this like critical situation. Hurricanes, you know, we just paid out hurricanes, Helene Milton and LA fires, right. I mean, we probably gave out at least 150,000.

Laurie Forster (22:08.653)
Right?

Laurie Forster (22:26.692)
Wow.

Cristie Norman (22:26.865)
I don't know what exactly the dollar amount specifically, but it's in the range of 150,000 for those disasters together.

Laurie Forster (22:34.254)
And what are the ways people can get involved? I know obviously people can apply for scholarship or assistance, if you will, but can people also donate to the fund and how does that work?

Cristie Norman (22:39.788)
Yeah, absolutely.

Cristie Norman (22:46.862)
Yeah, so we have a donation link on our website. So we provide tax letters and whatnot for charitable purposes. You know, if that's something of interest, we also have an email on the site so you can get in touch with us if you'd like to do it as a check or directly and whatnot. But we are starting a dinner series in different cities among the US at

you know, restaurants that we are passionate about and have relationships with. And, you know, doing in-person events. We also do an online auction every year and, you know, utilizing these amazing relationships with wineries because the wineries have been the ones that have really stepped up and distributors and, you know, importers. But I would say it's mostly individual wineries that have said we want to prioritize this and have really supported us.

And then of course, individuals, know, we've, were so blessed, you know, at the, especially at the beginning when we were even just to GoFundMe. I remember, you know, when Michelle from Laurent Perrier put a big donation through our GoFundMe and I was like, my gosh, like people care. People actually, actually do care. But, you know, we're United Somms at United Somms on Instagram. And so all of our Linktree things are on there. So you can find where to donate info about us, you know, testimonials, that sort of thing.

Laurie Forster (24:11.162)
Great, awesome. So since we have you here, I thought maybe the listeners might want to know, is there any specific wine region you're super into right now or types of wines? Like if people are looking to spice up their wine rack, because we all get into a rut, it just happens. What are you into? What are you suggesting people check out now that we're in April, we're kind of heading?

heading into spring here, holy rolling into summer, which we love here in this part of the world. What are your suggestions?

Cristie Norman (24:43.47)
So two Fridays ago, I had 2010 Pontet-Canet out of three liter and it made me want to cry. And I, we were also drinking or tasting 90 Lafite that night and 2010 Pontet-Canet outperformed 90 Lafite for me that night. Like without a doubt. Yeah, it was stunning. It was stunning. And I drink so much Bordeaux, you have no idea.

Laurie Forster (25:03.897)
Wow.

Cristie Norman (25:13.102)
And Pontet-Canet I don't know, I can't even is it a fifth growth? I feel like it's a fifth growth. But it's the but it's performing at a level that is ridiculous. And 2010. I mean, I drink lots of different vintages Pontet-Canet and 2010. Right at this moment, you should drink it if you can. 18 is also really great to want something a little younger and maybe more accessible but

Laurie Forster (25:33.827)
Okay.

Cristie Norman (25:37.516)
Yeah, I almost was in tears. I actually got one of our managers in training in trouble because I was like, I was locked in telling him about Pontet-Canet in the middle of service on a Friday night. you know, they were like, he can't talk to you about wine right now. And I'm like, but it's important. my God, this wine is so good.

Laurie Forster (25:55.834)
I mean, I feel like even at some of the lesser levels in Bordeaux, there's so much great wine and great value out there because they make so much wine. And so, of course, the growths are going to be at a certain price point, but some of the more general regions of Bordeaux classifications, I feel like you can find some really great stuff that...

over delivers for the price. Do you also visit those levels or are kind of sticking with the growths Yeah.

Cristie Norman (26:25.87)
Oh yeah, no, 100%. I always have a ton of second through fifth growths. Always. Yeah. It's pretty much my entire menu, I feel like, second through fifths. And then obviously we have first growths and some verticals of those. I mean, it's much more fun and interesting sometimes when you find something where you're like, oh my God, this is amazing, 2000 Lynch Bages Right? It's like.

Laurie Forster (26:32.206)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (26:48.921)
Right?

Cristie Norman (26:49.818)
that makes me excited because there's always people that are going to come and drink first growths absolutely and they should like they're really good right it's just fact matter but when you find something that's that you wouldn't expect to be that good that's when it's exciting you know I get like it tickles me yeah

Laurie Forster (26:56.751)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (27:04.558)
love that. It tickles me. So if folks want to find out more about your online wine class or connect with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Cristie Norman (27:17.528)
Well, I'm on Instagram. That's my primary platform that I use, but it's Cristie Normansom. It's Cristie without an H, C-R-I-S-T-I-E, N-O-R-M-A-N, underscore S-O-M-M. And if you just Google the online winecourse.com, then you can start.

Laurie Forster (27:35.066)
Perfect. And I'll provide links on my show page. I will be keeping my fingers crossed, praying, whatever needs to be done for you for tomorrow's decision. But whether or not you win, you're nominated, what a huge honor. And being so young and being so accomplished, I'm just so thrilled to have you, Cristie. Thank you for being on The Sipping Point. And I just want to say, cheers.

Cristie Norman (28:02.894)
Thank you so much.

Laurie Forster (28:04.772)
Thank you. Awesome.