Victoria James
Victoria James is the Executive Director of Beverage and a Partner at Gracious Hospitality Management, the restaurant group behind Michelin-starred COTE Korean Steakhouse in NYC, Miami, Singapore, and Vegas. Plus the cocktail bar, UNDERCOTE, and Michelin-rated fancy fried chicken spot, COQODAQ, where she built the largest Champagne list in America. In 2026 they will have multiple openings in the iconic 550 Madison building including a Magnum Opus beverage concept which Victoria is spearheading. Her beverage programs have received a James Beard nomination for “Outstanding Wine Program” two years in a row and she received the rare Michelin Sommelier of the Year Award in 2022.
She has worked in restaurants since she was thirteen, fell in love with wine while bartending in college and when she was twenty-one became certified as a sommelier, the youngest in the country. Victoria’s name has appeared on many notable lists: Forbes “30 Under 30,” Food & Wine’s “Sommelier of the Year,” Zagat’s “30 Under 30,” Wine Enthusiast’s “40 Under 40,” as well as “Beverage Director of the Year,” Wine & Spirits’ “Best New Sommeliers,” and most recently she was named Esquire’s Beverage Director of the Year and won the Cherry Bombe Trailblazer award.
She is the author of DRINK PINK, A Celebration of Rosé, and the national bestseller about her coming-of-age in the wine world, WINE GIRL, The Trials and Triumphs of America’s Youngest Sommelier, which was a Fortnum & Mason Drink Book Winner and recipient of the Roederer Chairman’s Award. She is also a contributing writer to Esquire, Forbes, and Bon Appétit. She has a bestselling Substack, Wine, Restaurants, People, that she started in June of 2025 and has already amassed a following of 14,000 readers, and has been endorsed and mentioned in New York Magazine, Food & Wine, and Emily Sunderberg’s Feed Me.
In 2018 she co-founded WINE EMPOWERED, a 501c3 non-profit that diversifies the hospitality industry by offering tuition-free wine classes to women and BIPOC in hospitality, and believes wine is for all.
