Article by media partner Cuisine Noir, the country’s first Black culinary lifestyle outlet since 2009 dedicated to connecting the African diaspora through food, drink and travel.
When civil engineer Cha McCoy traveled to Italy for her graduate education, she couldn’t have imagined that she would return home to Harlem with a deep appreciation for wine. This new calling set her on a path to become an accomplished sommelier, wine entrepreneur, and now author of “Wine Pairings for the People: The Communion of Wine, Food, and Culture from Africa,” her debut book, rooted in her mission to make wine more accessible and inclusive for her community.
“My souvenir from Italy was my appreciation for wine,” McCoy shares. “Italy was the first place where I was developing a palate for wine, and able to notice the differences between varietals.”
From Civil Engineer to Sommelier
After starting her career in civil engineering, McCoy left the United States to pursue a master’s degree in international finance in Italy. When she returned home to New York, she reentered corporate America, but held on to her newfound passion for wine through a part-time gig at The Winery, a wine shop in Harlem.
At this shop, she found a wine mentor in her manager, Eric White, who began showing her the ropes and exposing her to more opportunities to learn about the wine industry.
“Eric created a safe space to test and train my palate,” McCoy says. After years of working and learning alongside him, she shared that she wanted to become a sommelier. McCoy says, “I knew that I didn’t want to focus on being a higher-level engineer but instead started looking at wine as more than a hobby and as a new career path.”
With her mentor’s support, she set an ambitious goal to pass the Certified Sommelier Exam, one of the Court of Master Sommeliers’ most demanding tests that required intense discipline and endurance.
While preparing for the exams, McCoy continued working part-time at The Winery and served as a teaching assistant for workshops at local wine institutions. She credits these hands-on experiences with sharpening her skills and deepening her understanding of wine.
Passing the exams was tough, but breaking into New York’s competitive restaurant scene proved even harder. McCoy tried every angle she could, leveraging her experience in Italy to appeal to Italian restaurants, but the search led to more rejections than offers. Still, she refused to give up.
