SOMMPROFILE SOMMBLOG

Quince
San Francisco

• Quince
• Tenuta di Trinoro, San Francisco
• Restaurant Gary Danko, San Francisco
• Bacar, San Francisco
• Vincent Guerithault, Phoenix
• Marker at the Adams-Mark Hotel, Philadelphia
• Butterfield & Robinson

Christie Dufault approaches her calling with an inborn passion. "I came from a family of wine lovers. My father, a wine collector, inspired me by taking me to Château Margaux when I was sixteen. I was exposed to great vintages and educated early on in the pleasures of wine."

Dufault is now the Sommelier at Quince, one of San Francisco's most highly regarded restaurants.

Since her mid-teens, Dufault has taken yearly sojourns to France where she studied, worked, and traveled. She has a native's grasp of the language, which she utilized leading tours for Butterfield & Robinson through the country's wine regions.

Dufault's encyclopedic wine knowledge has grown steadily since her early years. As wine director of the Marker restaurant in Philadelphia's Adams-Mark Hotel, she created an excellent wine program and greatly expanded the cellar. Serving as guest chef at one of the Marker's wine dinners, Phoenix-based Vincent Guerithault, impressed by Dufault's work, invited her to serve as wine director of his Arizona restaurant. Dufault built an impressive cellar, expanding it from 165 to 900 wines and adding great vintages that partnered well with Guerithault's cooking. Gourmet Magazine's Reader's Poll cited the Phoenix eatery as the Best Restaurant for Wine in Arizona, and the Wine Spectator followed suit with a Best of Award of Excellence. Dufault then moved west to work in Northern California, assisting noted Sommelier Debbie Zachareas in creating the wine program for San Francisco's Bacar. Renowned Chef and Restaurateur Gary Danko then beckoned. "Danko already has a very fine cellar, thick with classics," explains Dufault. It wasn't long after Dufault's arrival at Restaurant Gary Danko she received The Wine Spectator's highest honor, The Grand Award.