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Amy Mundwiler
Sommelier
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Her entry point into wine was a specific glass, then the work that followed it. Amy Mundwiler has said, “It all started with a glass of Cabernet Franc from Chinon in a little wine bar I was working at.” After that, the practice settled into a routine: reading, tasting, and travel, repeated until it became the way the work was done.
The Climb
At Maple and Ash in Chicago, Amy Mundwiler started as Assistant Wine Director from 2015 to 2017, a role that puts the mechanics of service, list-building, and decision-making under daily pressure. In 2017, she moved into the Wine Director role at Maple & Ash in Chicago, where she stayed through 2022. The sequence is direct: one post building into the next, with each year adding range and control. The value of that progression is in the accumulation. Wine programs run on memory, judgment, and consistency; they reward people who can keep standards intact while the room keeps moving. Mundwiler’s years from 2015 to 2022 show that kind of repetition at work — tasting, reviewing, adjusting, and learning the business by doing it. Today, she is National Wine Director of Maple Hospitality Group. That position pushes the work past a single room and into a larger operation, where consistency has to hold across different teams and service styles. It asks for command of the list, but also command of process.
Today
She now holds the National Wine Director title at Maple Hospitality Group, with responsibilities that extend beyond one dining room and into a broader hospitality structure. The same directness that marked her earlier roles still reads in the way she works, with precision on the technical side and a clear eye for service. In wine, that combination is practical: know the bottles, know the room, and keep the standard intact. Mundwiler’s own standard is blunt and memorable: “Be humble, be hungry, and always be the hardest-working person in the room.” The line points to a career built on repetition and follow-through — study, service, and the willingness to keep improving after the basics are already in place.
In Their Words “Be humble, be hungry, and always be the hardest-working person in the room.” “I started reading, tasting, and traveling every chance I could get.”
Recognition
The progression is easy to read because each step is earned in the same language: more responsibility, broader scope, and more time in the work. Amy Mundwiler’s path runs from a spark in a little wine bar to Assistant Wine Director at Maple and Ash in Chicago from 2015 to 2017, then Wine Director at Maple & Ash in Chicago from 2017 to 2022, and now National Wine Director of Maple Hospitality Group. It is a ladder built in public, one rung at a time.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Amy
What is Amy Mundwiler's current role?
As of 2026, Amy Mundwiler is National Wine Director.
Where did Amy Mundwiler work before?
Amy Mundwiler's earlier career included Maple and Ash and Maple & Ash.
