Howdy from TEXSOM 2025, where I’m taking part in Sommer Camp! I’ll be sharing my experiences here on The Wine Fairy blog. Here’s what I did (and tasted) on my first day of Sommer Camp.
The best way to learn to do something is often just to do it. Or at least, that’s what I told myself before, during, and after registering to work at a giant sommelier convention in Irving, Texas. Now in its 20th year, TEXSOM is one of the biggest gatherings of wine professionals in the United States.
A wine key is in my pocket, waiting to open any bottle that’s handed to me. (If I’ve ever fumbled with a corkscrew, I’m sure I won’t after this weekend.) A clean towel is in my hand, ready to polish the roughly 2000 glasses that are stacked eyebrow-height on dish racks all around the room.
I’m at TEXSOM’s 2025 Sommer Camp, a multi-day volunteer and education program leading up to the TEXSOM Conference. On Sunday afternoon, the Irving Convention Center doors will open, and somms and wine producers from around the world will stream into this 275,000 square-foot exhibit center and hotel.
For three whole days, they will taste, talk, and teach wine. Before that, there’s a lot of work to be done…starting with those glasses.
Irving, Texas is a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth mid-cities, perhaps best known for this futuristic 40-acre complex, the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. It’s a short trip from my home in northwest Dallas.
People have come from other states and even countries to work at Sommer Camp, but I’m lucky enough to be local. Rooms here are pricey–and the convention hotel is booked solid, as is the Southwest-themed Texican Court across the street.
Sure, I might miss out on some after-parties by going home in the evening. But with all the conference wines on offer, I don’t think I’ll be wanting for wine at all this week.
I’ve filled out an online application and attended a brief Zoom meeting about what to expect. I’ve bought new shoes and polos and stretchy black slacks. (Years of working from home has eroded my wardrobe down to sundresses and pajamas.) And I’ve received my schedule, a tidy Excel sheet telling me when and where to report for duty.
I’ve registered for five days, all long shifts. I’m here to learn as much as I can. To soak up knowledge, technique, conversation–and of course, taste some really good wines.
There is a full slate of activities scheduled for the Main Conference days of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Six expo tastings, three wine dinners, and dozens of receptions and seminars are scheduled for those three days–all culminating with the Grand Tasting on Tuesday evening.
Apart from the ticketed Main Conference, there are four days of activities, tastings and educational programs just for Sommer Campers. It’s an amazing enrichment opportunity for wine enthusiasts. For me, it’s also a potent emotional moment–my first real steps back into the food and beverage industry after more than a decade away.
2025 Sommer Camp: Thursday
Today is actually the second day of Sommer Camp–setup began on Wednesday. But my schedule begins on Thursday. I arrive at 7:00 in the morning, wide awake and excited for what the day will bring.
My Sommer Camp begins with breakfast at Texican Court, then I’ll walk over to the main conference hall to start my shift. About a dozen Sommer Campers and TEXSOM staffers are in the room. Feeling nervous, I stuff my mouth with fruit from the buffet and try to listen more than I talk.
I feel a sudden empathy with the children I saw at the bus stop this morning, awkwardly huddled with backpacks and skateboards as the new school year begins. I’m hanging out with the cool wine kids now–and as much as I ever have in my adult life, I want to fit in. To not mess up, to not say something stupid and reveal myself to be a Certified Dumbass of Wine (CDW).
Everyone feels it, I think, at least a little. If not here in the Sommer Camp breakfast lounge, then out in the main hall, where the Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers will shortly be thronging in.
Still chewing on pineapple, I mentally introduce myself. Then I do it again–this time, trying to eliminate the word “just” from my vocabulary. (As in, “just” a student, “just” a WSET Level 2, “just” a blogger, etc.) Someone new approaches me, and I say it for real this time: “Hi, I’m Michelle. I’m a wine writer. It’s my first Sommer Camp.”
An Instagram post circulated to Sommer Campers before the conference warned of Imposter Syndrome. It comes up again in the first morning pep talk. TEXSOM’s founder, Master Sommelier James Tidwell tells us, “You do not need to prove yourself to anyone here.” There are nods around the room. There are a lot of very accomplished people at TEXSOM, and an unfathomable amount of wine facts still floating around out there, uncaptured. It’s hard not to think about those knowledge gaps–even if you know better than to define yourself by them.
I don’t have too much time to sweat about it, because the morning meetings end and I move onto the Grand Ballroom to face all those freshly washed wineglasses.
The work is repetitive, but the mood is jolly. The glassware team lead, Clay, sets out a fresh package of lint-free towels and cues up a peppy 80s playlist. The glass racks are stacked in low piles, and we pull up chairs to cluster around them. (“Like a campfire,” Clay says.) A cache of 18,000 Riedel universal glasses have been brought in to present the wines, and we will be turning them around up to three times during the conference.
Tasting and Learning: A Whirlwind of Wines
One of the biggest draws of Sommer Camp is the amount of tasting and learning opportunities available to campers. Everyone knows that wine can be an all-consuming and budget-busting hobby–even more so when you’re a student trying to taste widely and deeply. But this week, we’re getting the chance to taste expensive, obscure, and just plain delicious wines from around the world.
We’ve been warned against photographing the bottles that are arriving for the Main Conference. Some of those will be tasted blind by conference-goers and certification-seekers. Others are special surprises from presenters and sponsors. But they’re here, row after row on 36-foot tables, displayed like a forbidden treasure in a cave of wonders.
Sommer Campers pace reverently up and down the aisles all day, gawking at vintage Champagne, Barolo, single-vineyard Pinots, and Sauternes. Some bottles are wrapped in foil or tissue paper, their secrets too precious to be spied upon, even behind the scenes.
The polishing team breezes through a couple of stacks of glasses, and before we know it, it’s time for our first wine break. At 9 AM–wine for Second Breakfast, let’s gooooooo!
One corner of the ballroom has been artfully configured as a tasting lounge, with low-slung couches and coffee tables purloined from the convention center’s lobby. On the table is a selection of white wines from Virginia Wine: A Petit Manseng, Viognier, and Chardonnay.
We’ll end up visiting the Virginia tasting table a total of four times over the next two days. Each time, the wines will be swapped out for fresh bottles from some of Virginia’s most promising grapes and AVAs.
As I breathe in the heavenly perfume of my glass of Jefferson Vineyards Viognier, there’s a crash course from TEXSOM staffers on surviving Sommer Camp with your liver and your dignity intact. My nose is distracted, but my ears are listening: Hydrate, wear comfortable shoes, don’t “taste” so much wine that you get loopy, and HYDRATE.
Take a quick sip, scrawl down a quick note–then it’s back to work. The glassware keeps rolling in from the double doors that lead to the kitchen. There are wine shipments to be checked in and verified, and two large conference rooms to be set with wine-tasting stations for almost 100 people each.
Three Part Harmony: Water, Wine, and Food with Acqua Panna
Lunchtime rolls around, and we’re in for another treat: A catered lunch, and a presentation from conference sponsor Acqua Panna and James Beard Award-winning writer Lyn Farmer. The task is to compare and contrast two of their products–still Acqua Panna and sparkling San Pellegrino–and explore food and wine pairings for each.
Now, the Wine Fairy is a frugal sort of person, and so I tend to dodge the bottled-water section of the menu when I dine out. I’m also from Dallas, where heavily chlorinated, wet-dog tasting tap water is a fact of life and you just kind of get used to it.
Some of that awful city water is in a cup in front of each place setting, along with goblets of still and sparkling water, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a Chianti Classico Riserva. To the side is a plate of salt, goat cheese, lemon, and fudge brownie to taste alongside the Acqua Panna, San Pellegrino, and the two wines.
Lyn makes a compelling case about how the taste of wine and food can be enhanced (or badly impacted) by the water that’s on the table. Often overlooked–or even dismissed as a crass upsell–good-quality water can prolong and enhance the pleasure of wine and be an important partner to food in its own right. The goal is balance, complementing flavors, and refreshing the palate for the next bite.
We then taste the drinks and foods in various combinations and learn some basic pairing guidelines. Crisp and minerally Pellegrino goes with rich, spicy, and fatty dishes. Soft and slightly alkaline Panna goes with acidic, mild and fresh foods. (The Wine Fairy prefers intense flavors, salt, and highly aromatic wines…so it makes sense that Pellegrino is my favorite water to enjoy with an elegant meal!) To top it off, we washed down all that water with some young Hunter Valley Semillon and Barolo.
A water station provided by Acqua Panna was available to Sommer Campers as we went through our day. (All the Pellegrino I can drink–whoa!) I approached it with gratitude and a new awareness of the mineral and pH attributes that make it taste and feel the way it does.
After lunch, it was time for–you guessed it–more polishing. There was a quick run-through of how to set up a tasting room for the upcoming conference. We squeezed in another wine break courtesy of Virginia Wines–all Cabernet Franc this time. More polishing, and then the dinner bell rang for our Cool Climate Australia Dinner.
Cool Climate Australia Dinner with Wine Australia
Didn’t we just have a wonderful meal with some excellent wine? Yes? Oh well–time to do it again! (Sigh…I could really get used to this.)
Author Mark Davidson (The Wines of Australia) was in the house with a ridiculously good array of Aussie wines. Tasmania was represented by a vintage rosé sparkler, a Chardonnay, and a Pinot Noir. The Yarra Valley region contributed a vibrant-yet-earthy Gamay and a classically balanced Chardonnay from Dijon clones. And the crowd favorite was arguably a Shiraz-Viognier from Canberra: The 2022 Clonakilla.
Texas is a big place (as we Texans love to say to anyone who will listen)–but Australia is even bigger. That makes for stunning variation in wine styles due to its enormous range of climates. This tasting was a special opportunity to focus in on the premium, cool-climate styles that don’t often make it onto ordinary wine lists.
A Thursday Evening Wine-Down
After dinner, it was back to the dish pit, where James Tidwell led us in a group blind-tasting exercise with a mystery carafe of red. The couple dozen Sommer Campers who were present took turns sharing notes and chatting over what it could (or couldn’t) be inside of our glasses.
Whatever it was, it was delicious. Showing age but retaining fruit, all agreed. The blind wine chosen for Thursday ended up being a 2015 Craggy Range “Le Sol” Syrah from Gimblett Gravels in Hawkes Bay. (I had gone all-in for Australia.)
Though I’m not a skilled blind taster, I’m learning more all the time. And I did pretty well on this bottle–thanks to getting some Northern Rhône and Aussie Syrah/Shiraz in tasting sessions recently and beginning to recognize their differences in the glass. Landing on the grape (and lucking out on the vintage) was enough of a thrill that I didn’t feel too bad for missing on the region.
All in all, it was more than 12 hours of doing wine stuff and time to call for a Lyft. I headed back to Dallas to rest up for next day of Sommer Camp.
Update: Here’s Part Two! (It’s gonna be a few days between entries–my schedule’s packed–but I will have lots more tasty wine stories to share.)
Wines Tasted:
Early Mountain Petit Manseng (2022) – Virginia
Jefferson Vineyards Viognier (2023) – Monticello AVA, Virginia
Michael Shaps Wild Meadow Vineyard Chardonnay (2021) – Monticello AVA, Virginia
Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc (2023) – Marlborough, New Zealand
Badua a Colotibuono Chianti Classico Riserva (2020) – Chianti Classico DOCG, Italy
Tyrell’s Semillon (2024) – Hunter Valley, Australia
Barolo Castiglione Vietti (2021) – Barolo DOCG, Italy
Paradise Springs Brown Bear Vineyard Cabernet Franc (2023) – Shenandoah Valley AVA, Virginia
Pollak Vineyards Cabernet Franc Reserve (2021) – Monticello AVA, Virginia
Veritas Cabernet Franc Reserve (2023) – Monticello AVA, Virginia
House of Arras Vintage Rosé (2008) – Tasmania, Australia
Giant Steps Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay (2021) – Yarra Valley, Australia
Tolpuddle Chardonnay (2023) – Tasmania, Australia
Timo Mayer Gamay (2022) – Yarra Valley, Australia
Bindi “Dixon” Pinot Noir (2023) – Macedon Ranges, Australia
Sailor Seeks Horse Pinot Noir (2022) – Tasmania, Australia
Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier (2022) – Canberra, Australia
Craggy Range “Le Sol” Syrah (2015) – Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Sponsor disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products in exchange for this post. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
Wines were provided to Sommer Campers through TEXSOM partnerships with Virginia Wine, Broadbent Selections, Dalla Terra Winery Direct, and Wine Australia. Water was provided to Sommer Campers through a partnership with Acqua Panna.
Leave a Comment