Episode 2517

EP. 2517 Sarah Looper | Voices with Cynthia Chaplin

Voices

November 5, 2025

2489.208

Cynthia Chaplin

Episode Summary

**Content Analysis** **Key Themes (max 5 points)** 1. Democratization of wine education through accessible, non-intimidating approaches 2. The critical role of storytelling in connecting consumers to wine's human and agricultural origins 3. Challenging industry snobbery and creating inclusive learning environments 4. Leveraging social media to engage younger generations and reshape wine culture 5. Preserving wine's identity as an agricultural product rather than a mere commodity **Summary (max 200 words)** Sarah Looper, owner of LooperSomm in New York, discusses her mission to eliminate wine snobbery and make wine education joyful and accessible. With a background spanning nearly every wine industry role—from sommelier to educator to social media influencer—she emphasizes that formal wine education, while valuable, isn't necessary to appreciate wine. Her initiatives include the Italian Grape Geek (IGG) program (a book, podcast, online course, and tasting experience) and Vino Vocab, which uses manipulated Pinot Grigio samples to demonstrate structural elements like acidity and sweetness. Looper challenges the myth that younger generations aren't interested in wine, noting two-thirds of her TikTok followers are under 30. She advocates for storytelling that highlights winemakers' histories and connections to land, positioning herself as a "matchmaker" between people and place. Critiquing wine's commodification, she stresses that each bottle represents families, history, and community—values that should supersede investment potential. Her approach centers on creating safe, judgment-free educational spaces where "there's no such thing as a stupid question," making wine exploration personal, fun, and deeply human. **Key Takeaways (max 6 points)** - Wine education should prioritize accessibility and joy over rigid formalism and intimidating terminology - Social media is a powerful tool for engaging younger consumers, with 2/3 of Looper's TikTok audience under 30 - Manipulating a single wine's structure (acidity, sweetness) creates effective, memorable learning experiences - The industry must shift from viewing wine as a commodity to honoring its human stories and agricultural roots - Creating "safe spaces" where all questions are welcomed transforms wine education outcomes - Storytelling about winemakers and terroir builds deeper consumer connections than technical specifications alone **Notable Quotes (max 3)** - "Wine is an agricultural product. It will go bad if you let it. It will run out. It will also change your life. And it will sustain you." - "There is no such thing as a stupid question. The only stupid thing you can do is waste your money by not asking me what you want to know." - "I see my role as a matchmaker. I wanna connect people to place to wine." **Follow-up Questions (max 3)** 1. How can traditional wine education institutions adapt their curricula to incorporate Looper's inclusive, experience-based approach while maintaining technical rigor? 2. What specific strategies has the Italian Grape Geek program used to successfully engage consumers with Italy's 600+ native grape varieties? 3. How might the wine industry balance the growing investment market for fine wines with Looper's vision of wine as a living, consumable product meant to be enjoyed rather than stored?

About This Episode

Speaker 1 talks about their interest in learning about the Italian GrapeGeep program, their love for learning and sharing stories, their past experience working in the culinary Institute of America, their desire to pursue culinary school, and their desire to become a culinary employee. They also discuss the importance of organized and profitable programs, maintaining organized and profitable programs, and the importance of social media to reach new and young consumers. They emphasize the need for social media to reach people and build community and the shift in the wine industry that can lead to a shift in the industry.

Transcript

Introducing the Italian GrapeGeep program, a new and original approach to Italian wines. IgG, as it's fondly known, is a book, a podcast, an online theory course, and an in person tasting course. Our pocket sized book briefly introduces eighty grapes with benchmark producers, helping you find and taste these great wines on your own. Space to make your own notes makes the book a personal record of your Italian wine journey. No time to read? We've read the whole book out loud with added insights from Italian wine ambassadors. Listen for free on Italian wine podcast. Obsessed with Italian wine, take the super accessible online theory course, get certified as an Italian grape geek. Want more? Our international eye IGG educators have got your in person tasting course to cap off your full IgG immersion. Go to mama jumbo shrimp dot com and sign up today. And I was like, I can handle this. And she was like, I need you to keep us clean. I want the floors clean. I want it organized. I it it is every day, California, about two thirds of it. And then the back third was Europe. And non domestic wine. She was like, I need you to keep it clean, organized, and you need to inventory it five times a year. And I was like, yes. I got this. And I did not have it. And I but you just keep telling yourself, I got this. I got this. I can do it. And I'm not gonna let her down. I'm not gonna let myself down. Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. I'm Cynthia Chaplin, and this is voices. Every Wednesday, I will be sharing conversations with international wine industry professionals discussing issues in diversity, equity, and inclusion through their personal experiences working in the field of wine. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and rate our show wherever you get your pods. Hello. This is Cynthia Chaplin. And today, I am super happy to have Sarah Looper on voices with me. Sarah is the owner of Luoper Psalm, which I quite like. In New York, and she is a self described influencer, which I also like. So very good use of language at Davoebe. Through all of her social media and her classes and work as a sommelier, she is on a mission to end snobbery and intimidation, get them out of line, and put the joy back in. So anybody who listens to me knows that I am very on board with this as a mission. Sarah wants to make people feel confident and hour and have fun with wine. And I am one hundred percent down for this. So thank you very much for coming on today, Sarah. I appreciate it. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for having me as a guest. Oh, it's a huge, huge, huge pleasure. I I wanna go back through sort of your backstory because it's a fun one. You know, you have this, amazing experience of food in your childhood that's clearly what sort of got you into where you are now, and the stories of you and all your siblings. You had four or five siblings. Oh, five siblings, and we're all from the same mom and dad. Well, I have six children. So I relate to this. Oh my gosh. I relate it to that a lot. Wow. Yeah. Eating together as a family, cooking together as a family, and it's clear that you grew up in a household where food was really central to your family conversations. So how did that whole background around food propel you into wine? This is such an interesting question because my mom, god bless her, like, was not apt in the culinary arts. Like Mine either. An exotic dinner was chicken not cooked all the way through and steamed broccoli? Yeah. I think we lived in the same house. So all six of us, we're all cooks now. We all know how to cook and or bake. And it was, you know, we were it was it was kind of forced on us because our mom is, our parents separated when we were young. And, you know, she she was the director of admissions at the school where we all went. So You know, she sometimes came home later than we did, so it was fun for yourselves and figure out what's good. And the first recipe I ever made, I don't know how I got it into my head, but it was Beshamel. Amazing. Good choice. Excellent. Right? How old were you when you were making Veshima? I think I was eight or nine. Oh my god. And my older sister, Rachel, had received the joy of cooking, the cookbook as a gift for her birthday. And if I was eight, she was twelve. And she started baking when she was eleven or twelve years old. And I just as a younger sister does, you take your older sister's stuff, and you're like, what is this? And how can I ruin it? Or how can I how can I appropriate it and make it mine? Exactly. And I came across this Beshamel, and I was like, what? Is this magic? So I tried it out and it followed the directions because I'm I'm a rule follower and a direction follower, which I think is why baking pastry really, why I gravitated towards it. And I made it, and I were in the middle of basting the the rue and the the milk, the the the base over the clove sided onion with the bay leaf. I my mind exploded. And I was like, this is unlike anything I've ever had in this house. And I was hooked. And we all took turns cooking, And then I started in restaurants when I was, I think, sixteen. I started, waiting tables and busing locally on Long Island. And then I just graduated to nicer restaurants in New York, and I was around better food. And I was like, wow. What have what have I been missing? And that's really how I got hooked into food and ended up at culinary school years later, but for baking and pastry not for savory. Well, it's fascinating. And I I love the story. My similar. You know, I'm in wine. My brother is a chef owner of a restaurant. We those of us who would have starved under our mother's cooking, tend to end up in a world filled with food and wine of our own volition. So it's kind of nice, I know that, you know, you went to Colorado for university, and then as you said, you went to the culinary Institute of America to do baking and pastry, which is kind of like when I'm old, I would really like to do something like that. That's just for me. That sounds that sounds amazing. And you got a basic a baking and pastry certificate there, and I know that that time in your life was really fundamental to how you got into wine. So tell us the story. So I got into wine through food, and I didn't go to the culinary Institute of America thinking, oh, I'm gonna go change this this career, make it into wine. I did not think about that shift at all. I got into baking and pastry because I had pursued acting for five years or so. And it got to a point I was booking stuff. I was working with an agent who would send me out, particularly for TV and film. I was doing a lot of stage work. And anytime I went out for film and TV, I would get callback after callback, but I would never book the job. And it got to a point where I was like, I'm tired of other people telling me when when I can't when I when I can work. It's awful. And I I was like, can I curse on this podcast? Of course. I was like, fuck that. I'm tired of letting other people control my destiny. So and I always loved food. And at the time, I was at Union Square Cafe. And the pastry chef there at the time was Deb Snyder, who, in my opinion, was one of the she left cooking and is now a kindergarten teacher, I believe, but she was one of the top pastry chefs in Manhattan ever, period. I learned how to make the most incredible ice cream from her. And it's it's it's easy to f up ice cream in gelato. It's quite easy. And she She was so patient and so incredible and so immensely talented with flavor and layers of flavor, depth of flavor, taking classic combinations like bananas and peanut butter and elevating a dessert to something that was that was so beyond what you could imagine, what bananas and peanut butter could be. And technique, and I worked with her. I started stodging with her at Unionsquake FA while I was waiting tables. And I was like, wow, I really like this. Let me just go take a couple of culinary classes at, ICE. So I did, and I was the next th