When Audrey Frick was 12 years old, her band director at Robert F. Wagner Middle School in New York City, Mr. Pitt, held up a French horn.

“This,” Mr. Pitt announced, “is the most difficult of all instruments. But it can also be the most rewarding.”

That the French horn quickly became an obsession for Audrey captures her eagerness to take on a challenge and to learn complex subject matter—qualities that the Manhattan native brings to covering Sonoma, Oregon, Champagne, Piedmont, and Brunello for JebDunnuck.com.

Audrey earned a Bachelor of Music in French horn performance at the University of Colorado. While there working on her master’s, the cash-strapped grad student found a job as a server at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. There were only a few wines offered there, but she was drawn to them, and wine began to compete with music for her attention.

A pivotal experience came while dining at the Northern Italian-focused Frasca Food and Wine, where a traditional tajut—a small pour—of Friulano Bianco is offered as a greeting. With this small gesture, Audrey saw how wine and hospitality could blend to create culture, and there was no turning back.

After gaining the notice of Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey, within a couple of years Audrey was hired at his restaurant Frasca. She worked her way from the back office and polishing room to the wine team while studying to earn the Advanced Sommelier credential through the Court of Master Sommeliers.

She then moved to Frasca’s sister restaurant Tavernetta, in Denver, as a member of its opening wine team, before becoming lead sommelier. There, she worked to foster a culture of wine education for the staff, with an all-Italian wine list.  In addition to the restaurant world, she developed high-end retail experience while working at the Boulder Wine Merchant.

Audrey’s passion for wine education and culture took her to Europe to help with harvests at Iuli in Monferratto in Piedmont, and at Marquis d’Angerville in Burgundy.

Her goal as a contributing editor at JebDunnuck.com is to navigate the confusing nature of Italian wine law, history and regionality to help inform the reader on what to drink, when to drink it, and what to have on the table alongside it.

As for the French horn, Audrey still has one. Though she’s not playing much these days, there is talk with her study partners of one day forming a band: The Champagne Supernovas.