Victoria James, who became the youngest certified sommelier in the United States at the age of 21, is currently the beverage director and partner at Cote, a renowned one-Michelin-star Korean restaurant in New York and Miami. She has received numerous awards, including Food & Wine's 2018 Sommelier of the Year.
Victoria James was born in Washington and approached the industry as a teenager, at the age of 13 to be exact. During college, she began working as a bartender out of economic necessity; curious and determined, she immersed herself in a world from which she had so much to learn that she left college to pursue it full time.
At 21, she became the youngest certified sommelier in the United States, graduating from the Court of Master Sommeliers. From there, she moved to New York, first to Aureole and then to Marea, where she honed and developed her talents. During her career, she even helped open Michael White's Ristorante Morini.
In 2017, she became beverage director at Cote, the renowned Michelin-starred Korean restaurant in Manhattan. There, she is developing a stellar list of more than 1,500 labels. The philosophy behind her selections focuses on organic, biodynamic and sustainable producers, often from small, family-owned wineries. Her catalog has received several nominations, including one from the James Beard Foundation for "Outstanding Beverage Program".
Victoria is also the authoress of two books, "Drink Pink: A Celebration of Rosé", published in 2017, and "Wine Girl" in which she shares her experiences and the difficulties she faced, an international bestseller. In 2019, she co-founded Wine Empowered, a non-profit organization that offers free courses to women and ethnic minorities with the goal of making the wine industry more inclusive and diverse. Through this initiative, she has helped train a new generation of professionals and opened doors for those who have often been excluded.
