Faye MacLachlan wants to introduce you to a wine that will enhance your dining experience and perhaps, kindle an interest or passion for what’s in your glass.

“I’m at your table, we’re talking wine, we’re here to have a great connection … We have common ground already before I even start talking to you, right? I love that,” MacLachlan said in an interview in the dining hall as music plays softly.

As Langdon Hall’s director of wines and restaurant general manager, she leads a team of eight sommeliers (somms), co-ordinates all alcoholic beverages that come onto the property, and manages a cellar that holds more than 2,000 labels.

In September 2025, she received the Toronto Michelin Sommelier Award.

From cocktails to wine

MacLachlan’s wine journey began about 20 years ago, when a guest at Langdon Hall gave her a bottle of white Châteauneuf-du-Pape and said, “Oh, take this home.”

“I took it home and then I drank it. That was it. I was like, ‘I need to know more. I need to understand this,'” MacLachlan recalled.

At the time, she led Langdon Hall’s bar program and Katy Moore was the property’s head sommelier. Moore and MacLachlan were young women, about the same age, which helped MacLachlan see a career path as a somm.

“Twenty years ago, there were a lot less [female somms]. I didn’t even realize it at the time how lucky I was,” MacLachlan said. “She [Moore] would take me to wine tastings in Toronto and really encouraged me on this path. Without her, I wouldn’t have gotten as far, as fast.”

For centuries, even as women filled more hospitality roles, the sommelier world was nearly closed to them. Various professional wine societies have existed since the Middle Ages, but Jennifer Heuther became Canada’s first female Master Sommelier in 2011.

Today, while half (or more) of students enrolled in professional-track wine education classes are women, current U.S. figures show less than one-third of somms are female.

Training the next generation

Certified through the International Sommelier Guild and the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) certifications, MacLachlan teaches WSET certification classes.

Coming out of COVID-19, Langdon Hall developed a sommelier apprentice program, working with employees who have already started their wine education.

As they complete certification, they work with Langdon Hall’s sommelier team, participating in tastings and purchasing, and championing wines they’re interested in through wine pairing and tasting events on the property. 

When their apprenticeship ends, if there’s a role open at the property, they can step into it.

“It’s super valuable for the rest of our service team to look at that and go, ‘You know what? They’re building paths to a career here too. There are options for me to move into my areas of interest,'” explained MacLachlan.

Being a good sommelier means continually updating wine knowledge. This sort of self-directed learning comes naturally to MacLachlan, who grew up, without hydro, on a maple syrup farm in Huntsville.

“You also got to be curious about things. And you got to investigate things on your own too. If you wanted to know something, you went and learned about it — you’re not just sitting, watching TV,” she said.

Today, she builds her knowledge through travel, to contextualise her readings and understand contemporary practice.

“You’re never ever going to know everything. That curiosity and that hunger continues you on that drive,” MacLachlan said.

When asked about wines that excite her now, she suggested two perhaps lesser-known wine regions that use indigenous grapes, like Touriga Nacional (red) and Fernão Pires (white) in Portugal and Croatia’s Pošip (white) and Plavac Mali (red).

Michelin Award

Receiving an invitation to the Michelin award ceremony and receiving wine-specific questions, signaled that Langdon Hall would be mentioned in the 2025 guide.

But since Michelin is famously secretive as to who receives nods, MacLachlan didn’t know she would be getting the Toronto Sommelier Award.

She was in Argentina on a trip for wine professionals when her phone started buzzing. After checking her messages, she told the group about the award and the organizer brought out champagne.

“It was wonderful. If I had to not be there, I was in the best second-best place, for sure,” MacLachlan said.