Keith Wallace, Founder of The Wine School of Philadelphia, has awarded Race Street Café’s Owner Stacy Wessel as the 2024 Sommelier Student of the Year. In celebration of Wessel’s achievement, Wallace will provide complimentary glasses of sparkling wine to all dinner guests 21 years of age and older at Wessel’s café, located at 208 Race Street in Old City, between Monday, April 15 and Sunday, April 21.
Veteran Philadelphia restaurateur Stacy Wessel earned the award after several years of grinding away at her Advanced Sommelier certification. Wessel continued to attend class throughout the pandemic, while also working 60+ hour weeks at Race Street Café and raising her two teenage daughters. As a fellow small business owner, Wallace was inspired by Wessel’s ability to navigate through the unknowns of the pandemic while keeping her loyal employees by her side for more than a decade.
“She earned the Sommelier Student of the Year honors partly because she is consistently one of our top students, semester in and semester out,” said Wallace. “More importantly, in our opinion, she is a quiet force of nature who is continually helping others. Honestly, who else would close her restaurant to host a memorial service for another student’s dog? Stacy is simply a total badass, and we love her to pieces.”
Wessel becomes the third recipient of this award, as Wallace and his business partner and life partner Alana Zerbe began this award program towards the end of the pandemic to formally recognize their exceptional students. To be considered for the award, students must meet certain criteria, which includes ranking in the top of the Advanced Sommelier cohort, being active in the food and wine business, embodying the best of the wine trade, embracing the diversity of The Wine School, and earning the respect of their classmates. Previous Sommelier Students of the Year include Michael Kraemer of Alpen Rose and Stephanie Waters, owner of The Wine Jawn LLC.
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Marilyn Johnson
Food enthusiast. Travel lover. Social media maven. Independent Journalist. Food marketing/PR. https://sogoodpr.com/ https://original.newsbreak.com/@marilyn-johnson-1587690 https://southjerseyfoodscene.com/ Email: phillygrub@gmail.com
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