Editor’s Note 6/17/25: Last night in Chicago, the James Beard Awards, finally, validated what Baltimoreans have known for years: the team at Charleston in Harbor East is the best in the nation at what they do. After 26 nods in a variety of categories dating back to 2006—including Chef Cindy Wolf for Best Chef: Mid Atlantic a total of 13 times—the restaurant won the medal for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program.
“I went to CIA for culinary school and they give you a medal, I was proud to get that,” Chef Wolf said after the ceremony, “but that person who got the medal from graduation at CIA never thought that this would happen. It feels pretty sweet and I’m very thankful.”
Wolf, who attended with Charleston’s wine director Lindsay Willey, also emphasized that this is a win for the city at large. “The community has been so supportive of Charleston, in a neighborhood [Harbor East] that was basically developed around the restaurant in the early 2000s, when there was very little going on in that part of the city,” Willey said. Added Wolf: “I’m thrilled that [Baltimore] will get this positive recognition, and bring more folks to our town.”
Before the awards, we sat down with Willey to learn more about her journey to becoming a certified sommelier and the uniqueness of Charleston’s wine program. Read on below.
Lindsay Willey, the wine director at Charleston restaurant in Harbor East, has one wish for her 46th birthday on June 24. “Hopefully, we’ll have a [James] Beard Award as a pre-birthday present,” she says. “It’ll be so great.”
Charleston—a perennial candidate in the national culinary awards that are often referred to as the Oscars of the food world—is a finalist in the category of Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program this year. The winner will be announced on June 16 at a ceremony in Chicago.
While nominated in various categories over the years, the Baltimore restaurant, led by chef Cindy Wolf, has never won. Wolf and Willey will be heading to the Windy City in hopes of finally picking up the elusive prize.
“It’s amazing to be considered at all,” says Willey, who lives in the city’s Medfield neighborhood. “We’re in this little market, tucked away, and I’m over the moon about it. Baltimore gets so much bad press. Hopefully, it brings people to the city and gives us something to be excited about.”
Willey, who is a certified sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers, recently sat down with us to talk about her unanticipated path into the world of wine. When she started, the Foreman Wolf restaurant group—a partnership between Wolf and Tony Foreman that dissolved earlier this year—was getting ready to open Cinghiale in Harbor East. Today, Wolf focuses on Charleston, while Foreman leads Tony Foreman + Co. and its restaurants Cinghiale, Johnny’s, Petit Louis Bistro, The Milton Inn, and The Duchess, plus two wine shops.
How did you become involved with wine?
I started working at Cinghiale in 2007 as a server. I was finishing a master’s degree in integrated design, and I was looking for a break from my everyday job as a graphic designer. I thought, I’ll just finish my degree and work in a restaurant and clear my head. But I fell in love with it, and I never left. Those first months, Tony [Foreman] led a ton of tastings. I just latched on to how engulfed in the material you could be, how nuanced, how detailed it was. I liked wine, but I didn’t know the career of sommelier existed or that it was a field you could dedicate your life to.
How did you pursue your newfound interest in wine?
It was intimidating, but I studied a lot so that I could feel comfortable speaking to guests. I was nervous a lot of the time. I wanted to do all I could on my end. I would look up whatever I could online. Tony recommended books to help me learn about appellations. In the first months, we continued classes for the staff. When I became a manager, I was in charge of leading those classes, so I would have to prepare. That helped me study, as well. If I was teaching a class, I had to become the expert so I could teach them.
How did you become the wine director at Charleston?
I am a shared employee between Tony Foreman + Co. and Charleston. I think Tony recognized I had good organizational skills, as well as a love of wine. He asked me to manage the cellar organization at Charleston in 2010, in addition to managing the cellar at Cinghiale. Over time, I started to have a hand in helping all the restaurants manage their inventory and making buying decisions. I don’t get involved in the retail shops.
How many bottles does Charleston have?
The list is probably around 1,300 different wines from all over the world. It’s a global list.
Where do you store the wines?
Some are in the Wine Library dining room because they are used quickly. There are also refrigerators [in elegant cabinets] to serve Champagne during dinner service. We have a cellar in the restaurant. It’s not beautiful, but I’m very proud of it.
What is the most expensive wine in the collection?
A 136 Romanée-St.-Vivant Grand Cru, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Marey-Monge” 2016 for $6,160. We also have a nice collection of some rare, older wines that are quite expensive. But I work really hard with this list to have things under $100. While Charleston is a luxury experience, people aren’t always as ready to spend as much on wine, but they’re willing to splurge on dinner. I don’t want them to feel like they have to spend a lot of money on wine.
What is your favorite wine?
I fell in love with Alpine whites. They caught my attention at Cinghiale, and I still love those wines. I love Champagne. There’s a wine for every occasion. I can’t say what my favorite is.
Who are your mentors?
I want to recognize Chef Wolf for sharing her food knowledge with me and teaching me about her cooking and also her very genuine approach to hospitality. These tools have allowed me to select pairings for the menu on a daily basis and to continue to build that cellar to support her cooking. Tony taught me how to taste wine. He’s got this incredible sensory memory. He can recall wines he tasted years ago. I like that he didn’t care that I had very little experience. He just saw that I approached each wine as an individual unit with a clean slate, and that’s how he tastes. He allowed me to find my way into this position.
What’s your day-to-day like as the wine director at Charleston?
I started this job at the beginning of this year. What I do every day is different. I deal with all the vendors for ordering for the restaurants. I don’t usually work in service anymore. I have more time for administrative work. I have a colleague who jokes that my second title is “director of minutia.” There’s staff training. Charleston has menu updates every day, so I choose the menu pairings. I’m always working on updating the wine list. We print them every other week with new things, removing wines we’ve sold out of. We look at what’s going on with the menus, what do we need, and what our guests are asking for.
Why do you think the judges recognized Charleston in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, which recognizes restaurants that excel in beverage pairings?
A lot of restaurants have smaller tasting menus, maybe four courses or six courses. At Charleston, you can choose from sometimes 25 menu items and 25 pairings every single day. You can have whatever you want. I feel like that freedom isn’t offered at most other tasting-menu restaurants.
What’s the best part of being nominated for a Beard Award?
I’m so impressed with our team at Charleston for this award. I’m kind of like a nerd and an introvert, and I love seeing people coming together and working together so hard.