This feature is part of our 2024 Next Wave Awards.
Although her content features enviable bottles from producers like Keller, Jacques Selosse, and Dauvissat, Eun Hee Kwon’s social media presence makes wine education feel accessible to all. Over just two years in the industry, the graphic designer-turned-sommelier has held positions at some of New York City’s top restaurants and won over a broad audience of wine lovers with her relatable videos on Instagram and TikTok — and she’s just getting started.
Kwon worked in the graphic design world for seven years, but after facing layoffs twice during the pandemic in 2020, she decided to give her long-standing interest in wine a real shot. She dove head first into certification courses, tracking her journey on social media along the way. Her previous experience editing TikToks for her design firm came in handy, as her beautifully curated videos — that often feature detailed illustrations — captivated curious wine lovers across the internet.
Credit: Jeff Brown
Her content ranges from region overviews and producer profiles to answering questions like “Why are some wines so expensive?” Kwon also frequently posts “week in the life” videos sharing exactly what it’s like to be a sommelier in New York City, providing a rare insight into what can sometimes be an esoteric position.
“My previous job forced me to explore TikTok as I worked for a brand where the main demographic and target audience was Gen Z,” Kwon says. “So I decided to use the tools I learned for that job and make some videos about what I was studying at the time and my journey into wine.” Kwon’s story resonated with so many people who also took time during the pandemic to reevaluate their careers. Her followers felt they were taking the plunge right alongside her, and her accounts quickly amassed tens of thousands of followers, reaching 74K on TikTok within just a couple of years.
Coinciding with this rise to #winetok fame, Kwon completed her certified sommelier exam with the Court of Master Sommeliers and promptly scored her first somm position on the opening team of Manhattan’s Naro, a restaurant from the esteemed group behind two-Michelin-star Korean fine-dining restaurant Atomix. She then worked at SoHo’s famed French haunt Le Coucou, and credits the restaurant’s deep list of classic French wines with laying the groundwork for her wine knowledge.
“Since it’s so unapologetically French, Le Coucou’s list has so many great producers and verticals of special cuvées,” Kwon says. “That’s where I really could establish my base of classic French wine.” As such, when Kwon started a new role as sommelier at Kent Hospitality Group’s two-Michelin-star Saga earlier this year, she felt prepared to take on a more comprehensive list.
Credit: Jeff Brown
“Le Coucou really set me up for success when I came to Saga, which has a more global wine list,” she says. Now, Kwon works 63 floors above Manhattan with Saga’s extraordinary 700-plus bottle program, recommending pairings from sought-after, back-vintage Burgundies that stretch beyond the $1,000 mark, to cult German Rieslings and off-the-beaten-path Spanish whites. The restaurant’s $298 tasting menu changes seasonally, and each iteration brings a new opportunity for Kwon and Saga’s team of sommeliers to explore a world of pairing possibilities. The restaurant offers two different pairing menus for guests to choose from, one more tied to benchmark wines and another with more adventurous pours that allows the team to play with unexpected matches from up-and-coming regions and producers.
Even though Kwon now slings her fair share of rare bottles on the floor at Saga, she still works to make wine more accessible to everyone through both her online platform and pop-ups in her spare time. Expanding her social media presence to in-person events was an important step to connecting with other wine lovers, she says, getting to share bottles and information in real time.
“I think that the curiosity is there, but what turns off a lot of people is the feeling like there’s gatekeeping,” Kwon says. On both her page and in-person events, it’s important to Kwon to create an environment and energy where all attendees feel comfortable asking questions so people at any level of wine knowledge can get in on the fun. “It’s been really rewarding to have followers say that it’s nice to have someone break it down for them,” she says.
Credit: Jeff Brown
This year, she has curated events from intimate Sunday Supper Club dinners to more casual wine bar hangs. This past May, Kwon and fellow sommelier Ren Peir launched a series of events with restaurants and brands like Nowon, Nudibranch, Solo Diner, and The Monkey King. Proceeds went to NYC-based AAPI nonprofits to honor AAPI Heritage Month.
Supporting the AAPI community has been particularly crucial to Kwon, who found a lack of diversity when she entered the industry. “It’s important to feel like I’m a contribution to that diversity as a small Asian woman working in wine,” she says. “That’s my ultimate goal: visibility and representation.”
The article Next Wave Awards Sommelier of the Year: Eun Hee Kwon appeared first on VinePair.