The Juice® Voices

Sarah Looper

Sarah Looper is a sommelier and wine educator with over twenty-five years in the food and wine world. She holds the WSET Diploma, is a Certified Wine Educator through the Society of Wine Educators, and is a candidate for the Master Sommelier Diploma with the Court of Master Sommeliers — the highest distinction a professional can attain in fine wine and beverage service. Sarah is also an Italian Wine Ambassador, a Wine Enthusiast Future 40 Tastemaker (2025), and a Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Award Nominee (2025)

Sarah grew up in a raucous Long Island household with five siblings, where her mother's severe nut and legume allergy meant every kid learned to cook young. At eight years old, Sarah tasted her sister's homemade Béchamel and sparks flew — she fell instantly and madly in love, pouring it over broccoli, spaghetti, basically anything that held still long enough. Family lore has it that sometimes she taste-tested it so much during the cooking process that there was none left for dinner. She became a self-described flavor craver, forking bites off her siblings' plates at restaurants just to try what they'd ordered. Even her first job — serving breakfast at boarding school — became an experiment station, where she'd talk up her latest oatmeal hack to classmates before heading off with a cheerful "see you in French."

That craving followed her into some of New York's finest dining rooms, but it wasn't until she landed at Union Square Café that she actually started to "get" wine, thanks to pre-shift tastings with the restaurant's wine director. Determined to know more, she talked her way into a job as morning Wine Steward at The Culinary Institute of America — tending 35,000 bottles across two cellars before her pastry classes even started. Faced with that responsibility, Sarah realized she knew absolutely nothing about wine, so she took bottles home to study and came back for grilling sessions that always ended with the same question: "Was the wine delicious?" That question has anchored her palate ever since.

From there: New York sommelier gigs, wine retail, import and distribution, journalism, a first trip to Barolo that hit like the Béchamel all over again, and nearly a decade teaching wine and cheese pairings at Murray's Cheese. Today Sarah pours as a sommelier at il Buco in New York City and teaches the internet as @loopersomm, the self-proclaimed #sommforeveryone — bringing her down-to-earth, humorous style to help people unravel the mystique of wine.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loopersomm/
SocialSomm: https://socialsomm.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@loopersomm
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@loopersomm
RecLeague: https://loopersomm.recleague.com/
Website: https://www.loopersomm.com
Tasting Journal: https://shoploopersomm.com