Rachael Davis
Dunsmoor | Los Angeles
April 2024
A student of art and music, Rachael Davis always worked in restaurants as a way to make some money. When she moved to New York City after graduating college, she got a job at Lowlife, where she began her love affair with wine, met producers, and learned from Owner Hugh Crickmore before the restaurant's closure. After working at Roberta’s, Davis moved to Dallas and started serving at FT33, taking a more active role in wine selling and helping Wine Director Jeffrey Gregory with pairings. In 2017, she moved to Los Angeles and went to work at Gjelina as a server before being promoted to sommelier, where she was exposed to a wide range of wines by Sommelier Henry Beylin. After the pandemic, drawn to the restaurant’s food and beverage program, Davis took a serving job at Rising Stars alum Ori Menashe’s Bavel until a sommelier position opened up.
After two years at Bavel, Davis was put in contact with Rising Stars alum Taylor Parsons, after he purchased the last case of a bottle she was hoping to get her hands on. An hour later, she had accepted the wine director position at Dunsmoor, which opened in 2022. At the restaurant, Davis buys as much American wine as she can and, when it comes to the labels on her list, is dogmatic about farming practices. Stepping into this larger role, she is focused on providing education and support to her staff—bringing her sommeliers to tastings with reps, inviting servers to try different wines, and encouraging outside-the-restaurant learning opportunities—while widening the scope of her own knowledge as well, embarking on trips abroad to different wine regions and experimenting with longer cellaring.
