🍷 SOMMIT

Because enjoying wine shouldn’t require a degree—or make you feel inadequate with a $15 budget.

Your friendly, judgment-free sommelier who helps with pairings, recommendations, and wine knowledge—whether you’re spending $12 or $120, hosting a dinner party or just making Tuesday dinner.

|🧪The Test| 📗The Story | 📌Problems | 🏠 Solution | 🎯Impact |🚦Try |

The Experiment

📋 Hypothesis Tested

Can AI democratize gatekept expertise?
Yes—if tone and accessibility are prioritized over showing off knowledge.

🧪 How I Tested It

Built budget-agnostic wine advisor, tested tone calibration (friendly vs. authoritative), validated with wine novices AND enthusiasts.

✓ What Worked

Budget validation ($15 = $150 in treatment), context-driven advice, learning without judgment

✗ What Didn’t

Testers were disappointed that it was not actionable/shoppable, accounting for where they shop. Test users also wanted to see Sommit applied to broader entertaining categories.

💡 Key Insight

Democratizing expertise isn’t dumbing it down—it’s making it approachable. You can teach wine without gatekeeping language.

⛴️ Recent Enhancements

Sommit asks for location and provides shoppable links for recommended wines.

🔄 Next Evolution

Full entertaining companion (cheese, cocktails, occasion planning)

Deeper Insight:

Sommit proves that you don’t need to dumb down expertise to make it accessible. You need to communicate it differently—with empathy, context, and an understanding that everyone starts somewhere.

That’s not just good AI design. That’s good product design, period.

📖 Read the Full Experiment Setup & Results

What I believed:

  • Wine expertise has been artificially gatekept through pretentious language
  • Most people just want to enjoy wine, not become sommeliers
  • Budget shouldn’t determine quality of advice
  • AI can remove the intimidation factor from specialized domains

What I was testing:

  • Can AI make wine recommendations without being pretentious?
  • Does budget-agnostic advice work (treating $15 and $150 bottles equally)?
  • Will people actually use it, or is wine shopping too personal?
  • Can you teach wine concepts without making people feel stupid?

The Test / How I Built It

Methodology:

  1. Self-observation – Documented my own wine aisle anxiety
  2. User interviews – Asked friends about wine shopping pain points
  3. Competitive analysis – Tested existing wine apps and sommeliers
  4. Tone calibration – Iterated on friendly vs. authoritative voice
  5. Real-world testing – Used for actual dinner parties and grocery runs
  6. Feedback loops – Asked users what felt helpful vs. judgmental

What I built:

  • Custom GPT trained on wine knowledge but with accessible language
  • Budget-aware recommendation engine
  • Pairing guidance based on actual occasions (not just “what wine with salmon”)
  • Educational mode that explains why without lecturing
  • No wine snob jargon allowed

Testing approach:

  • Tested with wine novices AND wine enthusiasts
  • Used it myself for parties, gifts, dinners
  • Tracked which recommendations people actually bought
  • Measured if users came back for more advice

✨Key Insights & Learnings

✓ What Worked:

Budget validation – People loved that $15 recommendations were treated as seriously as $50 ones

Context-driven advice – “Dinner party for 8, budget $100 total” worked better than generic pairings

Learning without judgment – Explaining why wines pair with foods without making users feel dumb

Confidence building – Each successful recommendation made users more adventurous

Accessibility > expertise – Users preferred approachable over authoritative

✗ What Didn’t Work Initially:

  • Too much technical detail (tannins, terroir) scared off beginners
  • Recommendations without “why” felt arbitrary
  • Assuming users knew wine regions or grape varieties
  • Not accounting for where they’re actually shopping (Costco ≠ boutique wine shop)

🔍 Unexpected Discoveries:

  • Users wanted cheese pairing advice as much as wine
  • Gift giving was a major use case I hadn’t anticipated
  • People cared more about “will my guests like this” than “is this objectively good”
  • The entertainment/hosting aspect matters more than the wine itself
  • Some users became MORE interested in wine after using Sommit (gateway effect)

What I’d Do Differently / Next Steps

  • If I were building v2.0:
    • Expand to full entertaining companion (cheese, charcuterie, cocktails)
    • Add visual recognition (scan wine label for instant info)
    • Include occasion-based templates (“hosting book club,” “romantic dinner”)
    • Partner with retailers for real-time availability
    • Build preference profile (learn user’s taste over time)
  • Metrics I’d track:
    • Recommendation acceptance rate (did they buy it?)
    • Return usage (one-time or recurring?)
    • User confidence growth (measured through question complexity)
    • Cross-category expansion (wine → cheese → cocktails)
    • Word-of-mouth referrals
  • Scalability questions:
    • Can this model work for other gatekept domains (art, fashion, spirits)?
    • What’s the business model (affiliate, subscription, advertising)?
    • How do we maintain quality as wine knowledge evolves?
    • Could we partner with wine brands or retailers?

📔The Story behind Sommit

When Expertise Becomes Gatekeeping

I built Sommit because I love wine—not in a precious, swirl-and-sniff way, but in the way that makes travel richer, dinner parties more memorable, and Tuesday night pasta a little more special.

I’m not a wine novice. I’ve traveled to wine regions, attended tastings, read books. I’ve even fantasized about studying to become a sommelier if I ever retired from tech—not to work in a restaurant, but to level up my entertaining game.

But even with all that exposure, I still feel anxious in the wine aisle.

Standing in front of hundreds of bottles, planning a dinner party or choosing wine for a special meal, the same questions loop in my head:

✦ Am I choosing the right one?
✦ Is there a better pairing I’m missing because I don’t know to look for it?
✦ Am I stuck in my own wine bubble, buying the same familiar labels?

If I feel that way—someone who’s read the books, visited the vineyards, and genuinely loves wine—what about everyone else?

That’s when I realized: wine culture has an accessibility problem. It’s wrapped in gatekeeping language, intimidating terminology, and the subtle message that if you don’t know enough, you don’t belong.

But wine shouldn’t be stressful. It should be enjoyable.

So I built Sommit—the wine advisor I wish existed. One that makes expertise accessible without pretension, works with any budget, and helps you discover wines you’ll actually love.

📌 The Real Problems Sommit Solves

Wine Culture Is Intimidating

  • Sommelier language feels exclusionary (terroir, tannins, bouquet)
  • Price creates anxiety: “Should I spend more? Will $15 wine embarrass me?”
  • Fear of “getting it wrong” in front of others
  • Gatekeeping disguised as expertise

The Accessibility Gap

Wine expertise has traditionally been:

  • Expensive (sommelier consultations, wine clubs)
  • Intimidating (wine shops with judgmental staff)
  • Inconsistent (advice varies wildly)
  • Exclusionary (assumes prior knowledge)

Information Overload Without Context

When you search “wine for salmon,” you get:

  • 50 conflicting recommendations
  • Technical language that doesn’t help
  • No consideration of your budget or where you’re shopping
  • Advice from people with $100 bottle tastes and $20 budgets

What’s Really at Stake

It’s not just about choosing wine. It’s about:

  • Confidence: Feeling comfortable making choices
  • Inclusion: Accessing expertise without gatekeeping
  • Enjoyment: Actually liking what you drink, not what you’re “supposed” to like
  • Value: Making smart choices at any budget

🍷The Sommit Approach

1. Budget-Aware Recommendations Sommit never judges your budget:

  • $12 bottle? Great. Here’s what to look for.
  • $120 bottle? Here’s why it’s special.
  • No shame. No pretension. Just honest guidance.

3. Plain Language Explanations No gatekeeping jargon:

  • “This wine is fruity and light” (not “vibrant with notes of cassis”)
  • “Goes well with rich foods” (not “pairs beautifully with duck confit”)
  • “Good value for the price” (not “an approachable entry point”)

2. Context-Driven Advice Sommit asks what matters:

  • What are you pairing it with?
  • Who’s it for (date night vs. party vs. just you)?
  • Where are you shopping (Costco vs. boutique wine shop)?
  • What do you actually like (not what you “should” like)?

4. Learning Without Judgment Sommit teaches you why:

  • Why this wine works with that food
  • Why price doesn’t always equal quality
  • Why your taste preferences are valid
  • Why wine rules can be broken

Comparison: Traditional Sommelier vs. Sommit

Traditional SommelierSommit
Often intimidatingAlways approachable
May judge budget choicesBudget-agnostic advice
Restaurant/shop dependentAvailable 24/7 anywhere
Inconsistent recommendationsConsistent, reliable guidance
Assumes wine knowledgeExplains everything
Focused on “right” answersFocused on YOUR preferences
Expensive or inaccessibleFree, immediate access

🎯 Why This Matters

Market Landscape:

  • The global wine industry is a multi-billion dollar sector, projected to grow to over $456 billion by 2028
  • Millennials are wine’s most engaged demographic—yet they still need guidance:
    • Most adventurous and frequent consumers – 73% enjoy trying new or different wine styles regularly (vs. 58% overall), and 57% drink wine two or more days per week (vs. 46% of all regular wine drinkers)
    • Improving spending power, but facing accessibility barriers – Despite financial willingness to invest in wine, they lack accessible expertise to navigate overwhelming choices and intimidating wine culture
    • The opportunity: Despite being the most engaged demographic, Millennials still face the same wine aisle anxiety—too many choices, intimidating terminology, and uncertainty about what to try next. Sommit bridges this gap by making wine exploration accessible, judgment-free, and budget-aware.

For Wine Novices:

  • Learn without feeling stupid
  • Build confidence gradually
  • Understand why wines pair with foods
  • Develop your palate, not someone else’s

For Budget-Conscious Shoppers:

  • Get the best wine for YOUR budget
  • No shame about price point
  • Value-focused recommendations
  • Learn what to look for at any price

For Busy Hosts:

  • Quick pairing advice for dinner parties
  • Guidance for buying multiple bottles
  • Cheese board and appetizer pairing
  • Confidence when entertaining

✨ What Sommit Demonstrates

Democratizing Expertise

  • Making specialized knowledge accessible to everyone
  • Removing barriers to entry (cost, intimidation, jargon)
  • Validating user preferences vs. imposing “correct” taste
  • Building confidence through education, not gatekeeping

Budget-Aware Product Design

  • Not all users have the same resources
  • Value exists at every price point
  • Product should serve all users, not just affluent ones
  • Accessibility is a design principle, not an afterthought

Tone Calibration as Core Feature

  • Accessibility benefits everyone, not just beginners
  • Expertise shouldn’t require exclusionary language
  • Good design makes complex topics understandable
  • AI can democratize knowledge traditionally held by few

Breaking Down Domain Gatekeeping

  • Approachable vs. authoritative balance
  • Friendly without being condescending
  • Knowledgeable without being pretentious
  • The how you communicate is as important as what

🚦 Try Sommit (Beta)

Current Features

✦ Wine Pairing Recommendations: Food, occasion, budget-aware
✦ Plain Language Guidance: No pretentious jargon
✦ Budget-Agnostic Advice: $12 to $120, all treated equally
✦ Learning Mode: Understand why wines pair with foods
✦ 24/7 Availability: Help whenever you’re shopping or planning

What’s Coming (Future Features)

✦ Preference Learning: Sommit remembers what you like
✦ Full Entertaining Companion: Cheese boards, charcuterie, cocktails
✦ Visual Recognition: Photo of a wine label → instant info
✦ Regional Guides: “I’m traveling to Napa, what should I try?”
✦ Celebration Planning: “Hosting 12 people, what should I buy?”

🍷Want to try Sommit for:

✓ Your next dinner party

✓ Wine shopping on a budget

✓ Learning about wine without judgment

✓ Impressing your friends (without pretension)

📧 Email me: maurakrandall@gmail.com
Subject: “Sommit Beta Access Request”

Currently accepting beta users. Tell me about your wine challenges—I’d love to hear what you’re struggling with!

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Built by The Triad: Maura (Product), CP (Structure), Soph (Synthesis)

© 2025 Maura Krandall | All apps MIT licensed