For this issue of The Fizz, I spoke with the learned and dedicated Alisha Blackwell-Calvert. Alisha is an Advanced Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, Beverage Director at Madrina, and judge at TexSom, and many other wine competitions around the country. She’s also a part-time meadmaker, wine industry mentor, and dedicated student in the world of wine, studying for her Master Sommelier exam—a long-term goal she’s been moving toward since the start of her career.

What really excited me about Alisha’s work is her wine list at Madrina (click pdf), which showcases what is, to me, a brand new way of highlighting domestic wines to wine drinkers. Paired with their Italian counterparts, Alisha surfaces myriad domestic wines from states like Arizona, Virginia, Oregon, New York, California, and others. This method of pairing lesser-known wines and regions with more familiar Italian varieties opens up the world of wine to Madrina’s guests, and may be a method other sommeliers can see success with throughout the country. I’m excited to share Alisha’s story here, and keep up with her future success.

Margot: Did you grow up in St. Louis?

Alisha Blackwell-Calvert: Yeah not only did I grow up in St. Louis, but I grew up in Webster Groves which is the small municipality where the restaurant is. I'm right back home.

Margot: Was wine a big part of your life growing up?

Alisha: Wine was not a big part of my home, actually. Growing up, I never really saw my mom drink a lot. If I saw my dad drink, he was either sipping on whiskey or having a beer. Wine was never part of the dinner table or part of the discussion. Even with house parties and stuff, I didn't see a lot of wine so it was very under the radar for me.

Margot: How did wine come into your life?

Alisha: After college, I came home and started waiting tables and got introduced to wine. The places I was working, wine was part of the conversation. Guests would ask what kind of wine should I pair with this or tell me about the wine list. I didn't have those answers at the time. I take everything I do very seriously so I took the time to start getting answers to these questions. In the early part of my waiting career, we had a sommelier at one of my restaurants, Oceano in Clayton Missouri, and she took the time to open up a bottle of wine for us every Friday or Saturday, talk about it. This is the wine. This is where it comes from. This is what's on the menu that you should pair it with. I really started honing in on the differences and why it's important, and that pairings do make a difference, especially that we work in a seafood restaurant.

I started tasting Cabernets and thinking okay, if we're a seafood restaurant, a lot of people will order a Cabernet, like why is this not the best option for them? Can I offer something better? So this was the beginning of my journey to figure out the why and where and how.

Margot: It's a big jump from working in a restaurant and even working with wine to deciding hey, I'm gonna move to the Court of Master Sommeliers and go this educational route. Were there mentors in your life at that time who introduced you to that or how did you get there?

Alisha: I'm very curious and especially after college, I still had this need to learn things that I still have, thank goodness, but I was craving more knowledge and I found that I was still learning. I was still practicing science. I was working with geography and geology, the biology of the vine, the chemistry of the grapes. I was still geeking out and still in college mode. So I'm taking all of this in.

During this time of discovery, being brought up in the industry, there were big names that I kept hearing like Andrey Ivanov, Brandon Kerne, Patricia Wamhoff—who are these people? What is a sommelier, and why is everyone talking about them? I got to know some of the local somms and became friends and they brought me into their circle. I started tasting and really learning through what's called the grid. I'm like, okay, this is my people. This is what I want. This is my journey. There are so many layers, and it's so complicated in the most alluring way. I was hooked forever.

Margot: That's awesome. Now you're an advanced sommelier. Can you talk about your experience in the Court? How did you move through the Court and what was that like?

Alisha: Yeah, I think I'm one of the lucky women that didn't get harassed through the Court. My experience was very positive, but I know that's my experience, and I know others have a different experience, and I respect what they have to say as well, but fortunately for me all of my interactions have been so positive and encouraging. That's why I'm still staying with the Court and studying for my Master Sommelier exam now, because I found a path in people who I feel believe in me and want to see me succeed, so I'm going to continue on.

I had the fortunate privilege of working in a restaurant where Master Sommeliers would come and dine when they were in town for Court exams. So we're talking about like 2016, 17, 18, in that time period. Every time there was an exam maybe two, three times a year, several Master Sommeliers would be in the restaurant and I would be waiting on them with the upper level staff that we had at the time at Reed's American Table. So this was really cool. It was a big deal because we would make special arrangements, get special wine in, all of this is really exciting.

It's big time people coming to check you out and they're always so they're more relaxed than you think they are. I never knew why I was completely scared to death and intimidated, but people are people, right? They just want to eat and they want to drink good wine. Over the years I got a little more relaxed with having many Master Sommeliers in my presence. You think that would have made me less stressed during my exams, but not really.

Margot: Why choose to move forward in your education to the Master Sommelier level?

Alisha: I have the quest for knowledge and I'm hungry for it. Studying wine and performing my best are instilled in me. I won't feel good about myself if I'm not pushing my personal bar, and having a goal that I'm trying to accomplish and a place I want to go. I've already made up my mind that I want to be a Master Sommelier and I'm going to do what I need to do to achieve that, whether it's studying for the next ten years, working on blind tasting and service, I'm not going to give up because that's my goal.

I know even if I don't make it to Master Sommelier, I am performing my best and giving the highest level and most professional service that I can give. Regardless of what my title may or may not be.

Margot: I'm curious about what you just said around giving that outstanding level of service. You were a James Beard semi finalist for outstanding professional and beverage service. Where does that passion come from? Was there a particular moment in your career where you felt like you really built your vision around what a great sommelier was or what exceptional wine service meant?

Alisha: So it's two parts, right? It is the pursuit of knowledge and with that, my inner core feels joy, but it's also the pursuit of money and it's really that simple. I found out that the more you know and have knowledge of everything you're selling, whether it's the food menu or the wine menu, literally the more money you make.

There was a difference between people who took their job seriously, could give outstanding service and drop tidbits like, oh, I've got this perfect wine for you, or try this Armagnac or I have this really amazing cocktail that'll go great with whatever you're having versus someone who just takes the order and lets whatever happens in your section happen—which there's nothing wrong with that either, but you're not giving the guest something special. You're giving them what they want, which is the minimum you can do, but giving them that wow or that aha moment has a very direct correlation of what happens on that tip line.

Margot: Were there any folks that you worked with, or any service professionals that you looked up to that helped shape your understanding of what excellent service was?

Alisha: Yes. When I worked at Oceano, Mandy Monzyk was our general manager and sommelier, and she got me started. She's so elegant, and she always glides around the floor with a smile on her face. She made being in a restaurant look easy, even though I knew it was hard work. Brilliant woman. She really got that spark going for me.

I started working at two distributors in town, first an Italian importer distributor and then a larger company making a name for myself in restaurants. As a person behind the scenes, because I was in distribution, I got the attention of Andrey Ivanov, who is now a master sommelier, but at that time was an advanced sommelier at Reed's American Table. He really inspired me. After getting top score on my certified sommelier exam and not even being in a restaurant at that time, that was a big deal. I left distribution, got back into restaurants and things really started happening at that point.

Working with people who know more than you and that you look up to makes a really big difference. Andrey still serves as my mentor, even though he's a Master Sommelier in Mexico. Any big life choices, I run past him like what do you think about this? He’s now a good friend.

Margot: It’s great to hear you talk about mentorship and how that's impactful for you because it seems like you have stepped into a big mentoring role yourself in the wine community. You participate in education events. You’re a judge at TexSom. What is your mentorship philosophy when you think about how you show up for folks earlier in their career?

Alisha: My philosophy is give people all of their options. There's other things you can do besides following the Court and being a floor sommelier. You can be a wine writer. You can work in retail. You can be a personal consultant. There's different avenues you can take in the wine world. Especially since I get to travel and see what other people are doing, I have the opportunity to say, hey, there's other avenues you can take. There's other ways you can express yourself as a wine lover.

What is speaking to you? What speaks to your heart? Do you want to be in service? Do you want to be in retail? Giving people the options and nurturing who they are and helping them find their own path on what works for them and what speaks to them is important to me. We all have to find our little place where we're comfortable and my path might not be comfortable or desirable to you. You might have a different path.

Margot: It feels like the wine industry is starting to open up in that sense—you can do this, you can do that. There's all sorts of ways that you can participate in the industry. How do you see the wine industry changing since you've started waiting tables at your first restaurant?

Alisha: The world of wine is becoming more inclusive and more diverse in a couple of different ways. First, there's so many avenues—you can be an educator, you can blog on Instagram or online, and that really wasn't an option when I was getting started. You can express yourself in a visual way and reach more people. For instance, I take André Hueston Mack as an example. He has such a wide reach and can talk to so many different people and a lot of people don't even realize he's also a winemaker and that's how he got his start. He has such a a great following on his online videos where he's talking about wine paired with cheese or, tasting wine from all fifty states. There's all kinds of cool things you can do. He's a really great example of pushing outside of that restaurant floor and doing something really cool.

The world of wine is more diverse in the way it looks and the way the people look. There's more women, people of color, younger folks, people that are older. There are more rainbows of people participating in the story of wine, whereas, when I first got started, everyone was male and white and older. Everyone gets to participate because wine is for everyone.

Margot: You have such a wide domestic range of wines at your current restaurant, Madrina. Why are domestic wines featured so prominently on your list?

Alisha: A lot of this has to do with the concept of Madrina. Madrina is an Italian American restaurant. The concept of the wine list is embracing Italy and America and having that side by side duality. It’s 50/50 domestic and Italian and all of my domestic wines on my list are partnered with an Italian counterpart. The idea is that if you like this, you may like that. So if you like Pinot Gris, you may like Pinot Grigio. If you like this domestic Sauvignon Blanc, you should try this Verdicchio. I hand matched every wine on this list with the closest thing that I could find in Italy that would satisfy that person's palate.

I'm really proud of this and I should brag on this more because it's actually difficult and it takes a very deep understanding of varietals, where they come from, and tasting a bunch of different wines to get there. I think I got a head start with my first major wine job being at an Italian distributor. I set myself up for being comfortable with doing this. I don't think a lot of somms could pull this off successfully. This is my third rendition of the wine list and it's so dialed in, man, it looks great. I'm happy with this and I'm always doing little tweaks now, but I pretty much have the matrix down. It's a work in progress, but I'm pretty darn proud of it.

Margot: It’s very cool—I've never seen it done in that way. Sommeliers are always trying to do their best to make their wine list accessible for folks who are not necessarily the biggest wine drinkers. It’s a mix of figuring out the right tasting note, whether it's more traditionally written or it's more fun—how can we get the wine across so guests are excited about ordering it? I think what you have here is really interesting because you don't offer tasting notes on the list, which we could have a whole conversation about what is a good tasting note, right? You match it in a way that folks say, oh yeah, I've had a Sauvignon Blanc and so let me try this other wine because I feel a bit more secure in knowing that I will probably like it. It's a completely new way of thinking about accessibility on a wine list.

Alisha: Thank you. I really appreciate that. The list is also more or less listed from lightest to fullest bodied. Even if you can just figure that part out, I want something full bodied, or big so I'm going to look at the last 3rd of the wine list and pick something out there and might have little questions about that. With a little explanation, you can hone in on what section of the wine list you should be looking at.

Even on the domestic side of things, as you mentioned before, it's not that easy because I've got a domestic Gruner Veltliner and I represent Virginia and Arizona and I love diversity in a wine list. I hate repetition. Cool things that are outside of California, Washington, Oregon, I've got Virginia, hopefully Maryland soon, Missouri. I try to find things from all over, since I can only stay in this box of something from Italy or America, so I might as well pick the coolest things I can find.

Margot: That's really fantastic. How do you find those wines? How do you stay up on the wines of the United States?

Alisha: I get to judge the TexSom Awards every year. This is my fifth year judging, and I am blessed with being on the infamous panel six. Panel six gets all of the cool stuff, all the geeky stuff in this competition. We get things from Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, the categories that the Master Sommeliers don't want, we get them. I've learned a lot about the world of wine, even just on the domestic side, that there's so much to offer outside of Napa that now I make it part of what I like to represent and showcase on my list.

Margot: I want to talk about the wine awards and judging because this is something that is a little bit unfamiliar to me. Today's wine industry is constantly changing. We have folks planting hybrids and new grape varieties and co-ferments and not following appellation laws and climate change non-grape fruit wines. What role do wine awards play in today's industry?

Alisha: A good judge is open minded and looks at the wine for what it is. I don't fault a wine or a winemaker because they're going outside of the box. You want to add pear to your grapes and make a co-ferment? In some ideology, people won't think that's a world class wine. But I do, I see merit in innovation. At the end of the day, is this something I want to drink? It doesn't have to be a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon to be a gold medal. It can be a co-ferment. It can be a cider. It can be a mead and receive a gold medal in my eyes because you made the best product you can with the produce that you received. Is it a wow? Does it blow me away? Do I want all of my friends to drink it? Is it something I'm excited about? Is it innovative within its category?

But also there's merit in something very classic. A perfect representation of its category I think also deserves a gold medal. So there's different things that I look at and let the wine speak to me and then judge it for what it's trying to say.

Margot: How do you judge these wines? I’m technically curious, is there a judging grid that you use, or how do you think about these wines?

Alisha: I get to judge several competitions and it depends on the competition. At TexSom, it's all about tasting the wine, what it's saying to you, and then making a medal call, gold, silver, bronze or judges selection. All of the wines that we judge at TexSom get sommelier notes attached to it. Whether you don't get a medal or you get a platinum, there's notes from the judges that each winery, each winemaker receives. That's a huge deal, positive or negative. I really enjoy TexSom because it's a learning opportunity for both the judge and the winemaker or winery. Other competitions that I judge, it could be like a point system. You could arrange a 1 to 10 and then come out with a medal that way. There's different ways that each competition does it's judging.

Margot: Very interesting. You’re doing some winemaking yourself—what is your connection to meadmaking?

Alisha: It was 2018, I believe. I got the invitation to judge the National Mead Crafters Competition, which is held here in St. Louis. I first judged their mead competition and then their honey spirits competition. If you know me by now, when I start getting into something, I have to learn more. So I started to dive more into honey and how it becomes a spirit or a beverage.

What do you mean there's different varietals of honey? Hold on. If I'm gonna judge something, I need to know more about it. So I started diving into different honey varietals and what their attributes are. I started going down this rabbit hole. There's other people who feel that way as well, one being Scott Kurtz, who is a local brewer and meadmaker for Bluewood Brewery here in St. Louis. In 2020 when things started shutting down, he reached across the aisle and said, how about we go in together on a mead project? Okay, this sounds cool.

Since 2020, I've been collaborating and contributing to Bluewood Brewery on what's now called Psalm Series. Psalm Series is my geekiness and my exploration of mead by picking out a honey, a grape variety, and the yeast strand and we ferment it. I pick out specific things for their attributes, like for instance, I love Riesling. I want this mead to address Riesling and have some sort of varietal character. We picked local honey, we got some Riesling juice and we use Rüdesheimer yeast, which is a very particular yeast in Germany, to try to mimic the flavors and texture of Mosel Riesling, or actually Rheingau Riesling, since it's Rüdesheimer.

You really get the essence of Riesling, but it's still very honey forward. Psalm Series is an exploration of specifically the pyment category of mead, which is honey plus grape juice or grape must, and then ferment the beverage. I want mead to be accessible flavor wise for the public. If you're already familiar with wine and wine varietals, there's a mead that could fit onto your palate in a really cool way. It's a great way to introduce familiar flavors to a category most people aren't familiar with, and also we try not to make mead too sweet because of this misconception that all mead is really syrupy. We've made some really beautiful dry meads.

Margot: Are they available on market? Can I buy one?

Alisha: Bluewood Brewery does ship, but we focus on the local community because we don't make a lot of it and it sells out pretty quickly. Our Sauvignon Blanc pyment will be released very soon. I got inspired by blueberry lemonade one summer, so we were blending Sauvignon Blanc juice with blueberry blossom honey and mosaic yeast to give it this nice herbaceous note on the backend.

Margot: You're from St. Louis, you're obviously really plugged into the local community. What is the wine scene like there?

Alisha: Restaurant people are really excited about Italian wines and wanting to explore that, which is really great. They're embracing that concept, which makes me very happy. Also on the wine list, I have a rotating selection called Alicia's Global Wines where it's things that aren't domestic or Italian but things like wines from Slovenia or Australia, places I've gone recently around the world, or just really cool wineries that I appreciate, and things I think would round out the list.

Outside of the restaurant itself, the community is becoming more open to things outside of the box. You're seeing more natural wine bars pop up. There's this embrace of lighter, fresher styles and leaning away from the big butter bombs of Chardonnay land that you would expect on everyone's wine list like 20 years ago. There’s a need for finding something new and leaning into freshness, which I think is really cool.

St. Louis is usually about four or five years behind the rest of the U.S. on trends, but it's coming along.

Margot: This is my sign to get down there and head to Madrina! Thanks for your time, I’m excited to root for you during your Master Sommelier journey.

You can support Alisha and her work by coming down to her restaurant, Madrina, in St. Louis, following her on Instagram, and staying in touch.