Stanford Ponson: From down south to South Street

A précis of Suzi Nash’s Dec. 21, 2020 article, “Stanford Ponson: From down south to South Street,” published by the Philadelphia Gay News.

In her profile of Philadelphia attorney and entrepreneur Stanford Ponson, Suzi Nash traces an unusual path from law to wine — and ultimately to candle making.

Ponson, originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, came to Philadelphia for law school and decided to stay. While working at a law firm, he found himself looking for something creative and educational outside his legal career. That search brought him to the Wine School of Philadelphia, where he began taking classes and training as a sommelier.

Preparing for his wine exams required Ponson to train his sense of smell. He bought fragrance oils representing aromas such as black currant and rosewood and smelled them repeatedly to build his sensory memory.

Then he passed his sommelier exam — and found himself with a collection of leftover fragrance oils.

“I like candles, maybe I should try that,” he recalled.

That experiment became Old City Canning Co., initially operated from his apartment and later from a Kensington studio. By the time Nash interviewed him, the company was producing roughly 15,000 candles annually and Ponson had opened The Chandlery on South Street.

Wine remained central to his creative process. Ponson, who had progressed to advanced sommelier studies, told Nash that scent was actually one of his greatest pleasures in wine. He also approached fragrance creation much like food-and-wine pairing: combining aromas that might initially seem unrelated until they produced something unexpectedly compelling.

His wine philosophy was equally straightforward. Forget what a “snooty sommelier” says, he told Nash. The most important rule is simply to drink what you like.

In Ponson’s case, studying wine did considerably more than change what was in his glass. It helped inspire an entirely new business.

Original article: https://epgn.com/2020/12/21/stanford-ponson-from-down-south-to-south-street/