Liz Willette Danneels developed a love of wine while working for the luxury travel company, Butterfield & Robinson. She started guiding trips in Italy, but it was while stationed at their office in Beaune, France, that she lived with Erin Cannon (now Chave), who was running Kermit Lynch’s French office. Inevitably, Liz was bitten by the wine bug living in Burgundy. Eventually, though, Italy called her back, and Liz taught herself about wine mainly by buying the best bottles she could afford, studying them, educating her clients about them, and, naturally, drinking them.

In the winter of 1998, Liz ran the wine bar at La Rosa Alpina, an Aman Resort in the Dolomites of Northern Italy.  It was there that she chose the wines for a dinner cooked for David Bouley. He asked her to move to New York to be the assistant sommelier at his new restaurant, The Danube.  Liz then got certified as a sommelier and moved from the restaurant world into the import/distribution side of the industry. She worked for four years for Michael Skurnik wines, and then, in 2004, she started Willette Wines (1.0) with the wines of Jean Louis Chave.

In 2011, Willette Wines merged with Grand Cru Selections, bringing together two high-end companies specializing in the wines of France and Italy. Together, they grew the company until Liz left in 2017 to move to Colorado with her family. Craving a life outside of Manhattan, she moved to Boulder, where she worked with Natural Wine Company for six years before starting Willette Wines (2.0) in early 2023, once again with the wines of Jean Louis Chave.