Ryan Taylor

I started attending SFSU in 2010. I was fortunate enough to have my family pay for my tuition and room & boarding costs in the dorms as well as throughout my college career. However, they were not going to pay for my recreational expenses. So, I needed a job, There was a mall close by campus called Stonestown Mall. I applied at the well-known Tex-Mex restaurant, Chevys. That was when I entered the world of restaurants. I moved on to the more up-scale Palomino, after which I decided to go down the manager path, where I found myself at Restaurant LuLu. It was at LuLu that I discovered my passion for wine. I studied hard, did blind tastings with my GM, and eventually was encouraged to join the Court of Master Sommeliers. I passed my Intro Course and Exam in August of 2016, and then passed the Certified Exam in December of 2017. Currently, I am studying to prepare for the Advanced Course, which I plan to apply to attend in 2019. After LuLu, I went on to Tasting Room Del Mar in Del Mar, CA as an owner and manager. It was a short-lived project, but the execution was spot-on. After it closed, mostly to a location issue, I returned to San Francisco and joined The Hidden Vine Wine Bar where I currently work as a manager. Being my favorite job of my career so far, I taste wines from all over the world, expand my pallet, and test my strength in the world of wine on a daily basis.  It is here i plan to grow and prepare myself for the upcoming Advanced Sommelier Course and Exam given by the Court of Master Sommeliers. Cheers.