Our Team
Sébastien Gavillet
Sébastien Gavillet is a wine and spirits professional with more than 25 years of operating, advisory, and production experience and the founder of Master Barrel.
He is a winemaker and distiller and currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Wine Aromas – Le Nez du Vin, the global reference in wine, coffee, and spirits sensory education. His work sits at the intersection of production, sensory evaluation, and structured decision-making in regulated, asset-intensive environments.
Through Master Barrel, Sébastien provides blending, winemaking, and distillation advisory services, working with producers and collectors on product development, evaluation, and long-term portfolio strategy. His work includes oversight of winery and distillery operations, blending architecture, maturation strategy, and production decision support across Europe and the United States.
Sébastien has served as a judge at international wine competitions and regularly works with professionals and corporate clients through targeted seminars and technical workshops. He also advises private collectors on acquisition strategy, cellar management, and long-term preservation of fine wine and spirits portfolios.
An author and master blender, Sébastien contributes to global wine and spirits discourse through publications and editorial work read in more than 180 countries.
For more info please visit him on LinkedIn.
Kelly McAuliffe
Kelly Mcauliffe is a renowned American sommelier and wine expert.
Kelly is highly regarded amongst his peers as one of the best tasters. He started out his career in France working for none other than Michelin-starred Chef Alain Ducasse.
A career in the fashion world is what first brought Kelly to France some 28 years ago. Kelly then enrolled in the Université du Vin, in Suze La Rousse, and landed an apprenticeship with Alain Ducasse at his 3 Michelin star restaurant in Paris. Upon completion of his studies, Kelly was called to work for Chef Ducasse in his Bar & Boeuf restaurant in Monaco, and then Spoon in Paris. He then joined another Michelin-starred restaurant (Christian Etienne) in Avignon in 2000 as his Wine Director, giving him total control of all wine purchases for the restaurant. He also spent 3 years as the Wine Director at Chef Alain Ducasses’ Mix restaurant in Las Vegas and moved on to become the French Wine Specialist for Southern Wine & Spirits in Nevada.
Today, Kelly is one of the leading Rhône wine experts.
Kelly leads personalized wine tours to the finest wine areas in Provence and the Rhône, including Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Vacqueras, Côte Rotie, Condrieu, Hermitage, etc.
Since 2021, he’s now the French Wine Specialist for Master Barrel.