Sixteen years ago over dinner with friends at a Naples restaurant, Diane Carpenter tasted a wine that changed her life. The stay-at-home mom was poised to discover her next chapter and was ready to be inspired.
“We were at Zoe’s restaurant on 5th Avenue and a friend of ours told us we should try a specific wine. It was a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and in that moment of taste I had an epiphany. I knew what I wanted to do next….study everything about wine,” she says. “The wine in question was a Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon and, to cut a beautiful story short, Paul became my mentor, friend and he is cast in our next Somm Film.”
Diane is co-founder and board member of the new streaming network SommTV, the only network dedicated to food, wine and travel. She is Executive Producer of Somm Films with a fourth film now in production.
After studying wine extensively in New York City and becoming a Certified Specialist of Wine, Diane launched her business, YourWineStylist LLC. She consulted with private clients to help build their cellars and select wine. “Specifically I helped clients ship wine to their own customers/clients during the holiday season. In 2015 my focus pivoted to the winemaking side of the wine world following multiple harvests with Paul Hobbs,” she says. Diane went onto cultivating her own vineyard and wine label, Ross Knoll Vineyard. This year will be their first official production of Rosé and Pinot Noir.
“These days the vineyard is my teacher. Each time I step into my vineyard with my crew or consultant winemaker, I learn something new. I was on the path to becoming a Master of Wine but life took me in a different direction, out of the classroom and into the vineyard,” says Diane.
Back in Naples in their Park Shore Beach home, Diane and her husband David often plan meals that include a wine pairing. What comes first, the menu or the wine? “That depends,” she says. “If we have received a spectacular bottle of wine as a gift from either a winemaker or a friend, we will plan dinner around that bottle as the wine will take center stage. Recently, however, quarantining during Covid we have planned the menu first as my husband, David (who loves to cook) has been discovering new recipes. He recently prepared a cassoulet and we paired it with a Château de Beaucastel 2005."
They also keep red and white Burgundies on hand in their cellar as those varietals, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, pair with so many recipes. For October and through the cooler months, you may find coq au vin, bison, tenderloin and Diane’s homemade au gratin potatoes made with fondue cheese served up. Complementing the heartier meal, they will pour red burgundy, northern Rhone syrah, left bank Bordeaux or Napa/Alexander Valley cabernet sauvignon. “The younger crowd loves my lasagna, with a Barolo or Brunello.”
Diane’s philosophy about food and wine is simply to drink and eat what you love and love what you eat and drink. “Us wine professionals are simply a guide and everyone should own their taste and palate.”
Her work with the production company is a natural path to share this creed.
Somm TV is the first subscription video-on-demand streaming platform and full podcast network in the wine, food, and travel space with exclusive new shows, films, and educational content created from the ground up by the team that made the award-winning SOMM documentary series. SOMM TV is available on every device and smart TV worldwide through the custom app and website. Find an impressive catalog of profiles on vineyards and winemakers, follow sommeliers through blind tasting sessions and travel to stunning destinations meeting chefs and growers along the way. Explore rare and exotic foods with behind-the-scene storytellers worldwide. You can add Somm TV to your watchlist and know that your neighbor here in Naples had her hand in curating the content as well as in the film making.
Reflecting, Diane says, “many women, my age and older, who chose to stay home have struggled to find ‘what’s next.’ I was, quite literarily, saved by a glass of wine! If you have a passion for something, as difficult as it might be, pursue that passion no matter what age you are.”
We will drink to that.
Find Diane
Follow Diane on IG
@YourWineStylist and @Somm_Films
