A winemaker, sommelier, wine educator and wine adventurer, Christina grew up in San Diego, CA, where wine was not really a part of everyday life. A brief trip to France after high school graduation afforded her a glimpse into the mystical world of food & wine when she tried oysters and Muscadet for the first time in the seaside village of Nantes in the Loire Valley. A long-standing love affair began.
After attending Whittier College, she made her home in Los Angeles where she and two of her college roommates began daydreaming about a wine bar that would encompass all the aspects of the Abaluche ideal. Although the wine bar didn’t (exactly) come to pass, Christina’s journey had commenced from wine novice to wine professional.
Exploring the Santa Barbara wine region in it’s pre-Sideways days, she engaged with the pioneering winemakers there, who ultimately became her mentors. Greg Brewer, Steve Clifton, Doug Margerum, Rick Longoria, Chad Melville, the Foxen boys, Kris Curran of SeaSmoke, Kathy Joseph of Fiddlehead, and Bion Rice of Sunstone were all very generous in sharing their craft with her, and she started to see her path towards becoming a winemaker come into focus. In 2005, she created her first vintage with the winemakers of Crushpad in San Francisco: ‘Lysander’ Pinot Noir from Bien Nacido Vineyard. Although the vintage yielded just one barrel, it was a beautiful first attempt and she was hooked.
From that moment, she immersed herself in the winemaking culture of Santa Barbara, and then moved up to San Francisco to dive into the service and sales side of the wine business where she was accredited with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and the Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS). Heading back into the vineyards and cellars in 2008 to work with the wonderful team of Dianna Novy Lee and Adam Lee at Siduri, she created her first commercially viable wine from the Fort Ross-Seaview region of the Sonoma Coast that year, “L’Orphelin” Syrah - a whopping 3 barrels. This lead to a position with Craggy Range in New Zealand, Patz & Hall in Sonoma, Hess Collection in Napa Valley, and then finally back to France to work with François Villard in the breathtaking Rhône Valley in France for Vintage 2011.
Upon returning to San Francisco in 2012, she focused her efforts on the management and operations of wine programs in several of the city’s top restaurants, wine bars and private clubs. Abaluche grew alongside, from a wine production company to a consultant agency to an oenotourism event company. After working a time with Chambers & Chambers Wine Merchants selling some of the world’s best wines to San Francisco’s top restaurants and wine shops, she gave in to the siren call of the Hawaiian Islands, where her family had been living for the last decade.
In February 2020, she moved to the island of Maui and brought her unique brand of wine hospitality to the island. Presently, Christina holds an Advanced WSET Certificate, is a Certified Sommelier and a Certified Sabreur. She enjoys sailing and boating, snorkeling and sunbathing, ideally with a glass of bubbly in hand.
