peacafe.pages.dev

Madeline triffon biography

    •

Who are the ‘super sommeliers’?

Elin McCoy picks the names to know...

Top sommeliers to know

Originally published in the July 2017 issue of Decanter magazine and edited for Decanter.com by Ellie Douglas.

Superstars of the day

We’ve covered the pioneers of the new-wave sommelier, including Gerard Basset MW MS OBE, Kevin Zraly, Daniel Johnnes and Paul Grieco. Below are some more of today’s stars.

Austria-born Aldo Sohm, master sommelier who plies his trade as ‘chef sommelier’ at Michelin-starred Le Bernardin in New York, shot to prominence after he won one of the two World’s Best Sommelier competitions in 2008. From there his reputation soared, bringing other opportunities that spread his name, including a collaboration with Zalto glassware, another with Laguiole on a signature corkscrew, and the launch of the Aldo Sohm Wine Bar just down the block from the restaurant.

The sheer difficulty of the competition for World’s Best Sommelier attracts global interest and media attention, which adds to the winner’s lustre. A 4,000-strong

    •

Madeline Triffon

American wine specialist and sommelier

Madeline Triffon is an Americanwine specialist and sommelier. Upon her completion of the Master Sommelier test in 1985, she was the ninth American, the first American woman, and overall only the second woman in the world to pass. She has been nicknamed "Detroit's First Lady of Wine."[1] In 2012, she was named IntoWine.com's 90th most influential person in the United States wine industry.[2]

Personal life and education

Madeline Triffon was born in New Haven, Connecticut. When she was three years old, her family relocated to Greece.[3] Triffon worked in the food industry to work her way through college. She sought to attend medical school.[4] She graduated, in 1977, from the University of Michigan.[5] She lives in Southgate, Michigan.[3]

Career

After graduation, Triffon worked for Westin Hotels & Resorts. Upon the opening of La Fontaine, a new French restaurant at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, Triffon was named sommelier.&#

    •

Sommelier Madeline Triffon, MS of Matt Prentice Restaurant Group - Biography

When Madeline Triffon passed the Master Sommelier examination in 1987, she became one of only two female Master Sommeliers in the world at the time, and the eighth American to have passed the test. Today, she is one of 105 American Master Sommeliers, of which 15 are women, and one of only 170 professionals worldwide to have earned the credential. Triffon has served as chairman of the American Chapter of the Court of Master Sommeliers and presently sits on the its board and is its scholarship chair.



Triffon’s career began immediately upon graduation from the University of Michigan in 1977 when she was hired as a wine steward by the Westin Corporation to open their French restaurant in Detroit. "I got the position thanks in no small part to a good French accent," Triffon confesses. She purchased Hugh Johnson's World Atlas of Wine and began to educate herself as a sommelier.



Triffon was hired in 1985 as wine steward at the prestigious London Chop House in Detroit. On return from her extraordina

Copyright ©peacafe.pages.dev 2025