Michelle LaBorde is Sommelier and Bar Director at Dancing Bear Lodge & Appalachian Bistro in Townsend, TN. Recently, Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro was named among the Best Fine Dining Restaurants in the US by Tripadvisor, in part due to Michelle’s incredible contributions to the beverage program.

Located just beside the Smoky Mountain National Park, Michelle greets guests from all over the world looking to experience the beauty of the mountains. Dancing Bear works to welcome their guests and educate them on this unique area, which is part of Appalachia. As such, Michelle uses her incredible background and experience to educate guests about the impact that the area has had on distillation processes. She has curated an archive of whiskey that showcases the contributions Appalachia has made on the industry, as well as bottles that demonstrate the different phases of distillation in the area; she has also built an impressive library of exclusive allocations that has further elevated the whiskey program at Dancing Bear. She’s also a Level II sommelier (and working on Level III), applying her degrees in fermentation and chemistry to the process of winemaking.