Sara Floyd M.S.

Years of Participation

2006-2010, 2014-2018, 2022-2023

Sara Floyd has had a varied and colorful career in the wine business, launching her wine career working as an assistant to Larry Stone, the "dean" of American sommeliers, at Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco. Ms. Floyd then became Wine Director for the Vertigo Restaurant, where she developed an award-winning wine list and worked with some of the top chefs of the city. In 1998, Ms. Floyd concluded her active restaurant work as the Wine Director for Wolfgang Puck's Postrio, the most high profile and elegant restaurant of its era in San Francisco.

After just two years at this post, Martine Saunier of Martine’s Wines selected Ms. Floyd to run her National Sales. It was at Martine’s Wines where it became obvious where her future was in the marketing and sales of wines.

Looking to make her own mark in the wine world, in 2001, Ms. Floyd launched Swirl Wine Brokers in San Francisco. Swirl is a state-wide distributor and broker that carefully selects and represents wines from California, Washington, Oregon, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, and Austria. It has also been innovative in seeking out wines from Hungry, Switzerland, and Macedonia.

Ms. Floyd has also been the National Sales Director for Jorge Ordonez wines. She assisted Mr. Ordonez in the sampling and blending of many of the wines that were produced for Jorge Ordonez &Co. She has traveled extensively throughout the wine regions of Spain.

Her success as a business woman should be sufficient enough to establish her credibility. But in addition to all she has done, Sara Floyd is a Master Sommelier, the tenth woman in the world to have earned the title.

In 2007 Ms. Floyd and the Pisoni Family launched Luli Wines, specializing in high quality wines at a comfortable price point from the Santa Lucia Highlands. Luli produces Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Rose, with an annual production of fifteen thousand cases.
In 2010 at the young age of forty, Ms. Floyd and her husband Jim became parents to fraternal twin boys which along with co-running two companies keeps Ms. Floyd on her tiptoes.