What was never in question, however, for the California native was that she would persist in her profession, driven by her lifelong passion for food and wine and serving others. She decided she wanted to be a chef as a girl watching cooking shows on TV and started her career at age 16 working a concessions stand at the local water park.
That love for bringing people together, she said, is what pulled her through the last three years of uncertainty. It’s also what keeps her going in an industry known for its long hours of physical labor and vulnerability to economic fluctuations.
“You can’t really fit in the industry unless you’re hard-working and passionate,” Dobrin said from Verve Wine, the San Francisco wine shop and bar where she serves as lead sommelier. “And if that’s not the case, you’re just going to fizzle out and do something else.”
“I really enjoyed the pleasure of sharing a meal with people, and that’s what brought me joy as a kid. … I just want to make people happy and bring that joy to every job I could have.”
Barely out of high school, Dobrin followed that passion to culinary school where she and her classmates got a taste of the commitment they would be making if they stayed in the business. She said three-quarters of her class dropped out before graduation, many taken aback by the nine-hour classes and all-day cooking sessions.
Dobrin survived culinary school and passed her sommelier exam at age 21 days after reaching drinking age. She moved to the Napa Valley to learn more about wine-making, studied with master sommeliers and rounded out her training by serving tables in several Bay Area Michelin-starred restaurants.
What she found especially challenging, she said, was the lack of a set path to becoming a sommelier, including how to prepare for the necessary certification exams.
“It’s a lot of education on your own and finding the answers and studying,” she said. “In order to become a sommelier, you have to be self-motivated.”
Despite that training, Dobrin said she is still asked almost daily whether she isn’t too young to be a certified sommelier, a situation she takes in stride by focusing on her mission: sharing with her customers her love for wine.
“I get backlash being a young women – ‘Are you old enough to serve wine? Do you know what you’re talking about?’” Dobrin said. “I’m trying to show people age and gender don’t matter for wine. It’s liquid for everyone.”
When it’s time go home, she’s had a good day if she has introduced something new and special to her customers’ lives such as the sweeter wines of the Napa Valley or the refreshing, less alcohol heavy vintages from the Monterey region or other wine varieties from around California.
“Hospitality has always been in my blood,” Dobrin said. “I’ve always wanted to be sharing experiences with people and creating memories. It’s something that will always be in my nature, and it’s something I strive to succeed in every day in what I do here at Verve.”
