‘Wine Girl’ Memoir Traces Victoria James’ Path to Becoming America’s Youngest Sommelier

When beverage director and sommelier Victoria James first proposed her memoir to her agent, the world was a different place. #MeToo hadn’t yet happened, carving open a space for culture-wide conversation around misconduct and sexism in various workspaces. “It was something I always wanted to write about, I just didn’t think for awhile that anyone really cared, to be honest,” says James a few days before the late March release of her book “Wine Girl.” “I think women’s stories are not often believed, and that was sort of ingrained in me.” So James, who at 21 became America’s youngest sommelier working in New York’s fine-dining restaurant world, put the idea of sharing her own story on hold. She instead made her literary debut in 2017 with her illustrated wine guide, “Drink Pink: A Celebration of Rosé.” “And then when the whole Mario Batali scandal happened in the restaurant world, my agent called me up and was like, ‘OK, I think they’re ready for your story.'” The book takes readers through her tumultuous upbringing and first jobs in the service industry as a teenager — where she found a sort of refuge — before landing in New York during college, where she became fascinated with

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