Meet Samara Kaufman, Owner and Sommelier at Cinagro Wine Experience.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Tell us a little about yourself. | I grew up in California and went to Chico State in Northern California. This is where my wine background comes from. When I was in college, I had these grape vines growing along the fencing in my backyard. I thought it was some sort of invasive berry that was going to destroy the vegetable garden that I had growing. So, I brought the grapes into the agricultural department and they said that is old vine zinfandel- where did you get it? I said it’s in my backyard! And from there they got me excited about taking a wine making course and then I got into wine marketing. After I graduated I didn’t initially pursue the wine business. I was a strategist for non-profits for 15 years in New York City. Then I moved to Atlanta with my family about 3 years ago. When we moved here, I started my wine business. I thought Atlanta presented a great opportunity to return to wine and doing something that I loved. I wanted to start something new, since I was in a new place and had two young kids, so I wanted something flexible. My two children are Lucy, 5 and Asher, 3. My husband is Brian. |
| How long have you lived or worked in Brookhaven? | We have lived in Brookhaven about 2 years. When we first moved to Atlanta we lived temporarily in North Buckhead, until a former coworker from New York told me about Ashford Park. She told me about a new home being built right near her and we fell in love with the plans for the house and that was that. Then, about three months after we signed the contract to build our home, my husband was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer. So here we had two toddlers, building a home, and dealing with cancer, but we did it. We ended up making a few interesting design choices which were probably due to the cancer! It was a crazy year, but we got through it, moved in and my husband now has no evidence of disease. He’s doing very well. |
| What inspired you or led you to your current career? | A few different things inspired me. The initial seed was planted by growing up in a Jewish household where wine is served every Friday night. I also took a gap year and I lived in a kibbutz in Israel. I have always been a natural, nature loving, hippy type person, and a vegetarian for most of my life. So, the idea of living on a socialist, communal farm was very interesting to me. The kibbutz I lived on had a hotel, so once I learned to speak a little bit of Hebrew they put me in the bar as a bartender. I’m a people person, so I just loved it. I loved making drinks, talking to people and learning about the wine. So, my first foray into wine involved Israeli wine. All of that was part of my inspiration, as was being from California. The thing I love about wine is that you can always learn and study it. You can never know everything- you are always learning something new. It’s also where history, culture, art, science, agriculture and food all come together. For every bottle and every grape, there is a story going back thousands of years which explains the origins of that particular grape and vineyard. Getting into that story includes lessons in history and science; even into language. I love learning all of that! |
| What is your favorite restaurant in Brookhaven and what do you love there? | My favorite restaurant in Brookhaven is Vero. Most people don’t know this, but their dough is made from fermented sourdough. It has all these nutritional benefits that people are not aware of. I think they put a lot of love into how their pizzas are made. This yeast allows their pizza to pair nicely with wine. When we go, I like to make my own pizza. I get a traditional margarita and then I add ricotta, rapini or baby broccoli and it pairs well with a Pinot Noir or a Cab Franc. Their beet salad is also really good. |
| Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Brookhaven? | I’ve met so many interesting people here, but I think my friend Steven Herman. He is the chef of Vero and the Chef de cuisine of the Word of Mouth restaurant group. Steven’s friendly, humble and down to earth. He is the executive chef of all these restaurants that, not for nothing, have really been part of what has made Brookhaven. Haven, Vero, Valenza & now Arnette’s are often on people’s list of favorite restaurants. Any time you walk into any of them- they are packed. I just think Steven is fascinating and so humble. |
| If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why? | I have two- One is Iceland and the other is South Africa. I really want to see the Northern Lights and I hope to be able to do it soon as our next big trip. South Africa is really doing a lot in the world for natural, biodynamic and organic wines. I love the wines that come from that region. I‘d love to stay for a few weeks to drink wine, learn more about the land and their people. They have been through so much politically, so I’d love to learn more about South Africa. |
| What is your favorite movie? | The Usual Suspects- I just love that movie so much and have watched it so many times. |
| What is your favorite music or band? | I like a lot of music- probably my favorite of all time would be The Beatles or Thelonious Monk. In fact, my daughter is named after a Beatles song and my son is named after Johnny Cash song. |
| What is your favorite show to binge watch? | 100%, the Handmaids Tale. I just can’t stop watching it. I also love The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, mostly because of the clothing and she is so funny. |
| What is something on your bucket list? | I would love to travel the country and live in an RV with my kids, my husband and our dog for a year. I would also love to have my own wine store one day. That’s what I’m working towards with my new retail partner and wine club. Maybe I’d put it in Chamblee since Brookhaven already has Brookhaven Wines. I would love to do that. |
| What store do you most frequent in Brookhaven? | Brookhaven Wines. It’s so great to have them in the neighborhood. Jeff and Eddie do a good job of having a great selection and are so knowledgeable. They are also starting to bring in a lot of organic and biodynamic wines, so I love that. |
| What is your favorite thing or something unique about Brookhaven? | I have lived both in Southern & Northern California, New York, Austin, but Brookhaven is my favorite place that I have lived. The reason is that I love how warm and social everyone is. This is a community of people who want to get together and get to know each other. In New York City, people could live for 15 years in an apartment building, and never have said more than a sentence to their next door neighbor. Here, I feel like our neighbors are some of our closest friends. Our neighborhood just has so much community. The Farmers’ Market and restaurants on Dresden; it’s a place where people from all walks of life are out enjoying themselves. |
| What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you? | I seem really extroverted because I’m very social, but I’m actually introverted. I don’t always gain energy from being with large groups of people and prefer to be one on one. I love to be the one who is responsible for the success of the party. I don’t want to be the one at the party socializing. I’d rather be telling you about the wine and making sure you’re having a great time. |
| What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word Home? | Cozy, love and family |
| Tell us more about your company. | My company is called Cinagro Wine Experience because cinagro is organic spelled backwards. We are a wine education company the offers wine tasting events. We host them in people’s homes for things like a girls night or couples get-together. We also handle corporate and networking events of all sizes. I offer as much or as little of the party as you want, and I work exclusively with an amazing chef. An ideal number of couples is 3-7 couples for an in-home party. You can have me come with just the wine, and then I give you easy to make recipes to pair with the wines. Sometimes I’ll do a beautiful charcuterie and the wine or I can bring Chef Nona in from Sizzling Peach to do the catering. My tasting fee is roughly $350, depending on the type of event, plus the cost of wine. I also have a wine club in partnership with CellarFiller. It’s an organic and biodynamic wine club offering six bottles for under $150. I also sell the wines a-la-carte. |
