Arlequin Wine Merchant, Hayes Valley, San Francisco, CA

Ian Becker, Wine Director

Ian Becker, Wine Director for Arlequin Wine Merchant and Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, is a Cincinnati transplant who developed a love of wine while working in restaurants during college. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Journalism, he moved to the Bay Area in 2001 and began sports writing for the Napa Valley Register. Surrounded by hundreds of wineries and top restaurants, he soon discovered his inner oenophile and shifted careers to follow his true passion.

After working in Bay Area restaurants for three years, he joined the Arlequin Wine Merchant team in 2005 to learn the ins and outs of the wine industry as well as manage its extensive inventory.

As Wine Director, Becker is responsible for cultivating the award-winning wine program at Absinthe and Arlequin Wine Merchant, and works closely with Executive Chef Adam Keough and Sommelier Aaron Wasserman to craft a selection that complements the French-influenced menu. He hand selects every wine to ensure customers receive the finest quality and best value. “The creative fulfillment of putting together a collection of wine that our customers enjoy is the most meaningful aspect of my work,” Becker says. “It’s almost like being a curator, rather than simply a buyer.”

In addition to his responsibilities as Wine Director, Becker co-founded San Francisco Natural Wine Week, which aims to raise awareness of the natural wine movement by showcasing well known and boutique producers of natural wines from around the world. The goal of this annual event is to engage and educate a community of wine enthusiasts on the methods of natural wine making.

Becker lives in San Francisco and loves the outdoors, cooking dinner at home with friends, basketball, reading, and film.

Tess Bryant, Manager

Ms. Bryant is a refugee from Cazadero, a wooded outpost in the far reaches of Sonoma County. Ah, Cazadero! Where the briny north coast winter reigns and rattlers colonize the homes of locals, at least until conquered by the wits (and shovels) of young girls. Accordingly, aside from her reptilian friends, Tess' exposure to the broader world of ideas was primarily through wine and the nearby Hirsch Vineyards. Since her subsequent escape from the woods, Tess' interests have shifted considerably away from North Coast Pinot, and now center around the Loire Valley's more eclectic appellations, eating large plates of rabbit and waffles, and practicing wheelies in her Volvo station wagon.

Aliya Marder, Assistant Manager

Aliya Marder grew up among domesticated goats in the wooded country just outside of Seattle, developing a taste for strong cheese and a tolerance for lousy weather. Aliya left school thinking that practicing law would be fun; six months working in an attorney’s office changed her mind. In a Buddha-like meditation, Aliya asked the Universe what she enjoyed in life. The Universe replied, “Drinking wine.” Sharpening her palate working in Chicago and SF, she began to feel a cosmic pull towards juice from the Northern Rhone and Piedmont. When she can wrest her nose from the insides of a stem glass, Aliya enjoys running—mostly in search of the Bay’s greatest pizza.

Gretchen Buck

Originally from Stockton, CA, where 90% of American asparagus is grown, Gretchen Buck grew up with a destiny: to identify the perfect white wines for difficult pairings. Gretchen started working in commercial photography in Chicago right after graduation from Concordia College, and her work is still out there: if you’ve ever shopped remotely for a J.C. Penney bedspread, you’ve encountered her photographic oeuvre. But material success didn’t move her, and she began picking up the occasional shift at an intimate French restaurant in the Windy City. There she tasted her future in a glass of Chablis from Laurent Tribut. Gretchen’s passion for wine keeps her here at AWM: come in and chat with her about her passion—funky (especially Rhone) white bottlings…and what to serve with asparagus.

Oscar Mason

Don't let his British passport and cultivated London accent fool you: Oscar’s interests in wine extend far beyond Claret, Port, and Pol Roger. Oscar’s wide array of life experience gives the lie to his young years: he may well be the only living person who has worked both as a lesson planner for a venerable, cosmopolitan wine education firm and as the personal assistant to eccentric filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. He is just as committed an advocate of the burgeoning appellations of the mountainous north of Italy as he is of “elevenses,” the peculiar Brittanic custom of having a biscuit and two fingers of Madeira an hour before noon.

Martin Schwartz

The company’s only employee who can be called an award-winning playwright with any justice whatsoever, Martin has been Arlequin’s “Saturday man,” distributing expert advice and good cheer to all and sundry, for as long as we care to remember. He enjoys drinking wine from the bottle in the sunshine and going for long walks on Bay Area back roads, which he normally ends with a basket of chicken wings and beer.