Sommelier
(The French Culinary Institute)
“As a wine sommelier, my goal is to help people enjoy wine. Enhancing their experience with wine is an individual thing and I truly enjoy both guiding a new wine drinker or introducing a seasoned aficionado to a new wine.”
It’s a long way from high school in Eureka California to a marketing career working for some of the largest hardware and software tech companies in the world. But armed with an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BS from Cal Poly, Vicky set out to the mecca of tech for a long career. Silicon Valley was also an ideal location to visit wine country in Napa, Sonoma, Livermore and Lodi. With each visit Vicky took in the wine, the history and quickly decided that she liked this. On further visits to Mendoza, Argentina, and along the Rhine in Europe it became clearer to Vicky and her husband Pedro that they wanted to make winemaking their life. This desire directly fueled her accomplishment as a certified sommelier with the prestigious French Culinary Institute. Finally, with long family roots in SLO county, Paso Robles became the obvious place to launch a second career in wine. Now with Vino Vargas, Vicky uses her wine knowledge to create memorable wines and all of the pairings that help to set them apart.