Chris Dunaway

Coming Up

Wine service rewards repetition, recall, and control of pace, and Chris Dunaway built that base in retail before moving onto the floor. After training at Transylvania University, he started as retail wine shop staff at wine shop in Montclair, New Jersey, where the work centered on selection, sales, and explaining bottles clearly enough to earn trust. He then moved to Corkbuzz Wine Studio in New York City as sommelier, a step that extended the same discipline into service and tightened the link between technical knowledge and guest-facing work. The next stretch at Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud in New York City, where he served as sommelier until 2015, sharpened that style further. In New York, the demands were constant: stay composed, stay precise, and keep the room moving without losing the thread of the wine list. By 2015, he became Head Sommelier at The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado (2015–2019), taking on a larger floor and a more visible program. In 2019, he moved into the role of Wine Director at The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado (from 2019).

Where They Are Now

At The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado, the wine program now sits under Chris Dunaway’s direction, a position that depends on range, judgment, and consistency rather than display. He has described that shift with plain honesty: “It's a very humbling experience to step into this role. I still cannot believe that it has happened.” The emphasis is on the weight of the work and the responsibility that comes with it. That responsibility extends beyond one dining room. “I have always dreamed of being a Wine Director and having that kind of influence on other sommeliers and others in the industry and to help grow and promote something great,” he said. Read as trade language, that is stewardship: shaping standards, setting pace, and helping other sommeliers work at a higher level. His own taste remains pointed. “I’m a big fan of the wines of the Jura,” he said, a preference that signals attention to detail and a palate drawn to nuance.

In Their Words “I have always dreamed of being a Wine Director and having that kind of influence on other sommeliers and others in the industry and to help grow and promote something great.” “It's a very humbling experience to step into this role. I still cannot believe that it has happened.”