St. Louis born William Carroll headed east and grew up in Irvington, NY. William literally went from bus boy to Burgundy expert and everything in-between. He did fine wine sales, studied at Le Cordon Bleu, worked at Restaurant Lasserre in Paris, and headed back to NY for a lengthy stint at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns as Beverage Director. William recently left North Fork Table to become the Beverage Director and Asst. GM at Danny Meyer’s legendary Gramercy Tavern.
Jersey Boy Raj Vaidya has been grinding in the wine business for over 20 years at some of the best restaurants in the country. His longest tenure was with legendary chef Daniel Boulud in NYC where he served as beverage director. Like many Somms, Raj left the floor to join Daniel Johnnes as Director of Operations of Gracie Events, the people behind La Paulee, La Fete du Champagne, La Tablee, and Pressoir wine. Raj is also a fine wine consultant.
Straight out of DC, Rachel Signer attended college in Virginia, headed to New York to get her Master's at the New School and an intensive writing program at CUNY. She settled into freelance writing gigs, while waitressing at various outlets including Vice, Vogue, Eater, The Guardian, and Wine and Spirits before starting her own wine publication, Terre, eventually becoming Pipette. Pipette is on its 9th issue and is an ode to natural wine.
New York born Audrey Frick headed west to pursue music and become a Buff at the Univ. of Colorado. She got the hospitality and wine bug in Boulder at Bobby Stuckey’s Frasca, working her way to the opening team at Tavernetta in Denver. She has worked harvests around the world, found a love for Italian wines, and has an advanced certification from the CMS. The real question is, how do go from playing French Horn to slinging wine?