A Sonoma County transplant, Ryan Bailey started his career in high school at The General’s Daughter. After studying and working in physical therapy, Bailey redirected his career toward his passion for wine and continued his formal education at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. While in school, he fine-tuned his skills as a sommelier at The Kitchen in Sacramento. Following his time at The Culinary Institute of America, Bailey pursued certifications in wine, beer, and sake.
In 2013, Bailey joined the team at NoMad in New York City, quickly rising to head sommelier. In 2017, after working a harvest overseas, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he built the world’s largest Champagne list at their new location. In addition to working the floor, Bailey wrote educational pieces for several industry publications, including Plate Magazine and the newly launched global app, Star Wine List. He was named Wine & Spirits Magazine's Best New Sommelier and represented the USA in the 2019 Copa Jerez International Sherry Competition.
In partnership with the design firm Klein Agency, Bailey founded Portae, a company focusing on customisable service-related smallwares and the first-ever three-format wine cradle. In late 2018, he partnered with close friend Chef Jon Yao to launch Like Water Hospitality and reopen the Kato in the Arts District of Los Angeles. Since its reopening, Kato was the winner of the Resy One To Watch Award as part of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2024 and has featured on North America's 50 Best Restaurants list.
In addition to building out Los Angeles's largest wine programme, with roughly 3,000 selections, Bailey handles all operations, design, and, along with his management team, leads nightly service.
In 2019, he began producing Kato’s own wine with local winemaker Mike Lucia of Rootdown. The wine is an ouillé bottling from one of the first plantings of savagnin in the US from Lucia’s historic, high-elevation vineyard, Cole Ranch. 2024 marks their fourth successful vintage, and this past year they began producing single-vineyard, single-vintage riesling verjus.
