Pamela Busch, Founder and Executive Director

Pamela Busch was on their way to a graduate program in history when they caught the wine bug in 1990. During this time, they were working at Astor Wines in New York City, which had an incredibly eclectic selection, even by today’s standards. Instead of going down an academic path, they moved to San Francisco and, within a month, became the sommelier at a formal restaurant that was stocked with old Bordeaux and California wines – in other words, the antithesis of Astor. After one year, they knew they wanted to make wine accessible to more people, and in 1994, that dream became a reality when they opened the legendary Hayes & Vine Wine Bar, which featured hundreds of esoteric wines.

After considering both the M.S. and M.W. certifications, Pamela felt that was not their calling and instead started a wine school, The Grapes of Path, focusing on helping people develop their palates intuitively. They also wrote for numerous local, national, and international publications during this time. In 2005, Pamela opened CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen, one of the first restaurants in San Francisco to carry natural wine, and in the same year, was hired as the San Francisco Examiner’s wine writer, a position they held for ten years.

In 2013, Pamela started The Vinguard as a natural wine blog exploring trends and environmental and social issues in the natural wine movement. In 2018, they founded WINeFare, an annual tasting with womxn in natural wine, and started working on a documentary on womxn in the movement a year later. Through The Vinguard, Pamela spearheaded the Wine Industry Equity Pledge in 2019. In 2020, they converted The Vinguard to a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to creating a more inclusive and equitable atmosphere in the wine industry.

Pamela became a volunteer at KXSF in San Francisco in 2021, hosting the weekly program 5th Wave Radio/Queerly Drinking, which focuses on badass womxn and LGBTQ+ identified people, and sometimes natural wine. Pamela is currently serving as a co-executive director of the station.

Pamela lives in San Francisco with their partner and cat/son, Seamus.