In Person of Interest we talk to the people catching our eye right now about their projects past and present. Next up, we chat with Amari Collins, a wine caterer, educator, and wine world content creator.
Amari Collins is tired of wine speak, exhausted by pretense, and dedicated to comfort. She films her typical Vin Dealer post on a tar roof outside her bedroom window, dancing, often without pants. She describes qvevri, a traditional earthenware vessel used in Georgian wines, as “a big ass clay pot.” The wine she’s sipping, a Saperavi, “is Juicy Couture…with slightly naughty vibes.” Drinking with Collins is like hanging out with your bestie, not a wine guru.
As Vin Dealer on TikTok and Instagram and founder of wine-fueled dance parties dubbed Swirl School, she reaches 22K followers, wine lovers without traditional knowledge who feel seen and included thanks to her “you got this, gurl” vibe. You won’t hear Collins describe wines as reminiscent of brioche or leather. Instead, a Chardonnay is “a beachy blonde like Gwyneth Paltrow,” while Riesling evokes plastic bouncy house vibes. To her, a natural wine smells like armpit, while pét-nat “is giving Seth Rogen in The Studio,” descriptions that resonate with legions of followers who are most likely opening bottles of wine to pair with tuna melts while bingeing Heated Rivalry.
We spoke to Collins about the reason she dances without pants, why wine is best described using memories, and the way it feels to be seen as a Black person in an industry typically dominated by white people.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Tell me a bit about your background. Where did you grow up?
I’m from Silicon Valley; my family all worked in tech. Growing up there in the late ’90s, I had a creative hippy dad. In the speech he gave at my wedding, he said we grew up together. It was true. Everything he did I wanted to do and wine was a part of that journey.
Your dad got you into wine?
Yes, he was getting his [certification from] the Wine & Spirit Education Trust when I was in my early teens and we studied together. He would be tasting and be like, try this! We loved dissecting wines and food together. That’s where it started. He was curious about wine, he wanted to be around it, but I am living his dream.
How did you find yourself working in wine?
I was originally a dancer and thought I was going to go to school for that, but I pivoted to film and ended up in LA working in casting. I just loved it and went to school for communications and film in NYC and worked at The View for a year. I sort of just fell into the natural wine scene. There were only a few natural wine shops then. I would walk into stores and pick bottles and they would say “You have good taste, and do you want a job?’ People would beg for me to work for them and that wasn’t happening in any other industry, so after the pandemic, I got into wine sales. The wines I couldn’t sell, I’d flip to my friends. Then I started working at Radicle, this funky wine shop in Clinton Hill.
These highly curated bottles are asking to be poured at your next dinner party.
