We welcome local wine royalty to the studio in the form of MW Caroline Hermann. Caroline is one of 149 women and 56 Americans to have earned the highly coveted Master of Wine certification. She brings a unique perspective to the industry as a practicing attorney who found a second life studying wine in her spare time and now balances her day job as a government lawyer with teaching duties at the Capital Wine School. We trade esoteric Piedmontese reds from the grapes Ruché and Grignolino while considering the enduring charm and staggering diversity of Italian wine. Caroline discusses growing up in a military family of oenophiles, falling into wine as a welcome respite from her legal work, and deciding to go after the industry's highest standard. We close with one of Tennyson's most widely anthologized poems, and Caroline shines a light on the process of importing and distributing wines throughout 50-plus independently regulated states and territories.