The Wine Fairy

The Wine Fairy is reporting from TEXSOM, a great big conference of sommeliers and wine educators in North Texas! I’ve been here for four days, volunteering from dawn to dusk in an effort to broaden my wine knowledge and experience.

This is Part Four of the 2025 TEXSOM Diaries. For previous entries, check out Part One, Two, and Three.

It’s Monday, and the first full day of the TEXSOM Conference. And a full day it is: There are three expo tastings scheduled today in the bright, sunlit convention hall. There’s also a full slate of seminars led by Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, and other luminaries of the field.

The Sommer Camp team has been hustling since last Wednesday to get everything ready for the three-day conference. We’ve polished around 18,000 wineglasses and set up classrooms and conference rooms on two floors. A whole library of signage and handouts is waiting on slotted shelves with labels corresponding to each presenter and agency.

And at last, the bottles are all here. Sommer Campers have been working up to the eleventh hour to organize the massive wine cellar installed in the middle of the Grand Ballroom. The wines for every expo table, every class, every meal come from this central location. Each bottle must be received by TEXSOM staff and meticulously documented–a task made especially thorny this year by tariff chaos and thunderstorm-related delays at DFW Airport.

I’m new to TEXSOM–green as a Cabernet stem, you might say–and I’m not yet trained on cellar management, service, or clerical tasks. I’m assigned to the exhibition floor for the next two days. I’ll be rolling cases of wine to and from the expo tables, emptying spittoons, and doing other odd jobs as needed.

Can we talk about those spit buckets? There are hundreds of them at TEXSOM, and they get heavy use. Far from the jolly, boozy exhibition halls at consumer wine tastings, TEXSOM is a professional conference. Everyone is here to network. There is wine coming at you from every direction, but the need is real to stay clear-headed and steady on your feet.

Sommer Campers have been given clear instructions to taste as much as we want but to scrupulously avoid impairment. And that means that most of the wine here–from the merely good to the truly world-class–will wind up in one of these double-handled plastic tubs.

Monday at TEXSOM: The Main Conference

We begin the workday downstairs with a Sommer Camp team toast (Gusbourne Sparkling Rosé–yum!) at 7:45 AM. Then we break off into our work groups to get ready for the 9 AM seminar block and the day’s first trade tasting.

So many wine people are at the expo tasting: Wine regions, trade organizations, wine schools, importers, authors, and winemakers. As each seminar lets out, the room swells with people swirling, tasting, and swapping info. I’m instructed to keep things tidy and to go chat with vendors and sponsors if their booth is idle.

Overall, however, I’m trying my best to listen and learn. Though the worst of my newbie jittters are gone, there is way more going on here than at other food/wine expos I’ve attended. Every single person knows all the basics of wine and then some. At times, the feeling arises that I may be in a bit over my head.

When I first checked into Sommer Camp on Thursday, I knew exactly one person here at TEXSOM. But inside the exhibition hall here I see lots more familiar faces. My WSET instructor is at the expo! (Dilek Caner MW, who is teaching “Wines and Wine Culture of Turkey” this afternoon.) So are a lot of folks from the Texas wine scene, and several sales reps I recognize from local wine bars.

We wave, we hug–but there’s not much time to stand around and catch up. Each expo tasting lasts just 90 minutes. Attendees are flitting breathlessly around the room, greeting friends and squinting at labels to locate those must-try bottles.

It’d be impossible to describe every booth at TEXSOM, so I’ll focus on a few of my favorites. The Rías Baixas DO booth is one of the most popular in the room. The reps are as cheerful and approachable as the wines themselves.

“Rías Baixas: Home of Albariño” declares their banner, and the table is loaded with well-chilled, aromatic whites that go perfectly with the 95-degree Texas heat. I’m crazy for Albariño and I taste all of them over the three days–from bright and just-bottled to elegantly lees- and barrel-aged.

The Bordeaux booth takes interactivity to an exciting level with photo props and trivia. There’s an Aroma Challenge (they’re tough!) and a Guess the Bordeaux Word flashcard game (even tougher). But some somms are up to it. Sommer Camper Clay hits an impressive streak at one point, and a small crowd gathers to watch him call out Bordeaux appellations that most of us have never even heard of.

One booth over from Bordeaux is the Commonwealth Wine School of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They’ve brought their own game: A blind tasting challenge! Each day, they pour two bagged wines that share a variety. Get the grape and/or regions right, and you can win raffle entries and bragging rights.

I’ve been working hard on my blind tasting in recent months. Yesterday, I aced one call (Chilean Cab) and my confidence is running high enough to nudge me to enter a guess in every round. Three times today, I’ll enter my calls using my phone. In between reveals, I engage in some good-natured ribbing with Sommer Campers who are also playing the game.

At precisely 11:45 AM a TEXSOM staffer carries a “STOP!” sign across the room, and the pouring ends. It’s time for lunch!

Wine for Lunch, Wine for Dinner

There are in fact six conference lunches happening simultaneously, each one on a different theme: A history of Barossa, Russian River Valley, Champagne Taittinger, sub-regions of Touraine! Signs stand on easels outside of each dining room, directing ticket holders to their chosen wine destinations.

Sommer Campers are assigned a lunch according to availability. I get “Wines of Georgia: Natural in Every Shade.” We grab our plates from the buffet and take our seats for a presentation led by Master Sommelier Julie Dalton.

We taste 10 different Georgian wines: Reds in a variety of styles, a dry white, and an amber wine made in qvevri. All are from indigenous grapes. They’re concentrated and intriguing, but the flavors are unfamiliar to me. Julie Dalton anticipates this and offers helpful comparisons: Think of the Tsitska like an Arneis from Piedmont (they’re at the same latitude). Approach the Aleksandrouli perhaps as you would a Beaujolais.

I’m seated between two gentlemen–one who happens to be an MW and one who happens to own a Georgian wine shop. I enjoy my Saperavi and braised short ribs, but refrain from weighing in when the conversation circles back to the wines.

After lunch I work the floor for two more expo tastings, pausing in between to help turn one of the two large seminar rooms for the next day’s sessions. Then once again, it’s meal time.

Monday’s volunteer dinner is sponsored by HERITA USA and features an assortment of food-loving wines from their portfolio. Rollin Soles, pioneering winemaker and founder of Argyle Winery, is in the room discussing the complex challenge of producing wines from northern sites in the Willamette Valley. We taste an elegant Chardonnay, the “RMS” sparkling wines, and two Pinot Noirs from Soles’s current project, ROCO Winery.

Mountain wines are a theme of the night. HERITA USA specializes in northeastern Italy and is also pouring three sparkling wines from Alto Adige: The Kettmeir “Athesis” Brut and Rosé, and Ca’ del Bosco Franciacorta. All are dry and crisp and delightful with the array of savory dishes on the table. Feeling celebratory after a successful Monday, Sommer Campers pass the fizz all around the room. For the first time all day, those white buckets in the center of the table remain mostly empty.

I’m seated with Michele, a fellow Sommer Camper who I’ve been tasting wines with throughout the week. We’ve pushed aside our plates, drained our bubbles, and are currently nerding out over a side-by-side of the two ROCO Pinots. They’re both remarkable bottles. We’re collaborating on descriptors and trying to choose a favorite–because even though there’s still work to do tonight, one of these wines is about to be dessert.

This one smells of caramel, that one of tea leaves. There’s a haunting flavor like the air inside a jar of dried tarragon. Or is it oregano? We reach deep into our creative vocabularies to evoke the fruit ripeness, the tannins, the aromas. I’m having the best time! Then I look up and see the Advanced Sommelier pin that he’s wearing on the fold of his collar. Shit. I hadn’t noticed it before. My face flushes three shades of red–and it’s not because of the wine.

I clam up. He asks why. I tell him. He very kindly reminds me that a pin doesn’t change the person. We’ve been tasting and discussing wine together for days. And we still can.

And truly, that moment encapsulated what my Sommer Camp has been like: Nerve-racking, fun, and generous all at once.

It’s scary to step out of your comfort zone–to approach a stranger, to throw down a tasting note on an unfamiliar bottle. But the people here, with almost no exceptions, have been amazingly warm and accepting. No one’s here to pull rank or throw their weight around. We’re here because we love wine and wine is better when it’s shared with others.

The final 2025 TEXSOM Diaries entry is coming later this week! (Five days, five blog posts–can you believe it? I just experienced way too much to condense it any further.) The fifth installment will be all about Tuesday, the final day of the Main Conference.

Monday wines tasted (selected):

(I didn’t catch all the vintages today–sorry!)

Gusbourne Sparkling Rosé – Kent, England

Paco & Lola “Prime” Albariño Lias – Rías Baixas DO, Spain

*Bodega Garzon Single Vineyard Albariño (2023) – Maldonado, Uruguay

*La Caña Navia Albariño (2023) – Rías Baixas DO, Spain

Villa Mosavali Tsitska (2024) – Imereti PDO, Georgia

Marbano Mtsvane Qvevri Amber (2023) – Kakheti PDO, Georgia

Marbano Asuretuli (2022) – Bolnisi PDO, Georgia

Royal Khvanchkara Aleksandrouli (2022) – Racha PDO, Georgia

Silk Road Kindzmarauli (2021) – Kakheti PDO, Georgia

Dugladze Mukuzani (2021) – Georgia

Vine Ponto Saperavi (2020) – Georgia

D Collection Khvanchkara (2019) – Khvanchkara PDO, Georgia

*Catena Alta Malbec (2021) – Mendoza, Argentina

*Crocus “Le Calcifere” Malbec (2017) – Cahors, France

*DeLoach Russian River Valley Zinfandel (2021) – Sonoma County, California

*Matané Primitivo di Mandura (2021) – Puglia, Italy

ROCO Marsh Estate Vineyard Chardonnay – Yamhill-Carlton District AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon

ROCO Marsh Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir – Yamhill-Carlton District AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon

ROCO “Private Stash” Pinot Noir – Willamette Valley, Oregon

Kettmeir “Athesis” Brut Rosé – Alto Adige DOC, Italy

Kettmeir “Athesis” Brut – Alto Adige DOC, Italy

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 tasted on Monday were provided by TEXSOM, Rías Baixas DO, Vins de Bordeaux, Wines of Georgia, and HERITA USA. Starred wines (*) were tasted blind at the Commonwealth Wine School booth.