A Taste...

“What matters is what's happening in my heart and mind. I am doing two things that I love in the world, and bringing together two activities that enrich people’s lives.” ~Christie Dufault, Founder

Our Team

Christie Dufault,
Sommelier and Founder

Christie is an award-winning sommelier and Kripalu trained yoga practitioner. Christie is honored to be bringing together her two passions to create this unique moving meditation for the senses. There’s something so magical that happens when you watch someone just stop and take a breath. Previously, Christie created highly regarded restaurant wine programs in esteemed establishments including Quince restaurant and Gary Danko in San Francisco and Vincent Guerithault in Phoenix. Christie is also a fine wine consultant for Vintrust, a San Francisco-based collectors consulting company, and she remains adjunct faculty at the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America in the Napa Valley.

Bobby Hoyt, Yoga Instructor


Bobby Hoyt started practicing yoga due to an injury in 1998 and realized he wanted to share this life-saving practice. He trained at Shivananda in the Bahamas, and was certified in 2003 at It's Yoga, San Francisco, with Larry Schulze. After teaching both teacher-trainees and students, Bobby Hoyt opened the House of Motion, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Teaching a wide range of students and studying with teachers allowed him to create a unique style of asana practice incorporating Ashtanga, Vinyasa flow, Iyengar, Universal yoga with some fun music into a vigorous workout linking the breath and the body. From a very early age, Bobby's father educated him about wine. In college, his palate began to develop with his friend Steve Leveque and the two planned to one day make wine together. Thirteen years later, Oso, Pinot Noir, was created with the first vintage in 2000. With a little over 200 cases a year, Oso was carried in a few high-end restaurants and a huge mailing list of friends and family. Having the opportunity to work with Yoga In the Vineyard allows Bobby to practice two of his passions in the same afternoon.

Stacey Brass, Yoga Instructor

Stacey Brass is a Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance, and is a senior teacher and manager of New York City’s Laughing Lotus Yoga Center. Coming from a strong dance background, her teaching style is defined by creative sequencing with strong attention to alignment and how the physical practice of yoga can ultimately lead to freedom in both the body and the mind. Her popular group classes are infused with spirited philosophy, a sense of humor, and eclectic and inspiring music. When she is not teaching teachers, she practices, plays and breathes with her most beloved teachers Dana Flynn and Jasmine Tarkeshi of Laughing Lotus. In addition she has completed three advanced teacher trainings with Rodney Yee, and has studied with Judith Lasater and Alison West.

Tyler Ryan Blank, Yoga Instructor

Tyler Ryan Blank is one of the first trained teachers of AcroYoga, a form of Flying Partner Yoga. His classes explore areas of trust, playfulness, strength, and surrender, the union between body and spirit, breath and harmony, both with the earth, with a partner, and with one's self. His classes include Partner Strength Conditioning, Partner Yoga and Deep Stretching, Thai Massage, Partner Yin & Restorative, Everyone's Acrobatics, Therapeutic Flying, Circle Meditation & Asana, Mandala Shivasana, and more. No partner is necessary, only a willingness to show up and experience yourself in the atmosphere. Tyler is also certified in Breema Bodywork, Vibrational Healing, Matrix Energetics and Reiki. Tyler resides in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area where he regularly practices and teaches. In 2008, Tyler co-founded Ecstatic Dance in Oakland, a one-of-a-kind dance and movement meditation that promotes spontaneity and well-being within the community.In 2008, Tyler co-founded Ecstatic Dance in Oakland, a one-of-a-kind dance and movement meditation that promotes spontaneity and well-being within the community.

Mirabai Warkulwiz, Yoga Instructor

Mirabai (Andrea) planted her yoga and meditation roots in San Francisco at the Sivananda Center in 1998. Amazed at her healing of a back injury and many other positive life changes, she became yoga certified through 200-hour teacher training programs both at the Integral Yoga Institute in 2004, and at the Greenpath Ashtanga Studio in 2005. In July 2008 she completed another 170 hour Intermediate Teacher Training program in asana and pranayama through the Integral Yoga Institute in Virginia. With over 600 hours of yoga training, she has a passion for sharing these ancient yoga practices with her students. Mirabai's classes offer a spiritually uplifting and wholistic experience. Her classes include centering exercises, asanas (postures), pranayama (breath work), yoga nidra (deep relaxation), meditation, Kirtan (Sanskrit chanting.) She invites all of her yoga students to transcend physical, emotional, and mental blocks to experience more spaciousness, comfort, happiness, clarity, and inner peace. Mirabai is also a Kirtan musician leading Kirtan gatherings around the Bay, and enjoys implementing chanting, sound, and music in class. Mirabai is attuned to Reiki Level 1, studies Aryuveda, is a dancer, and enjoys being in communion with nature. She is thrilled to come on board as a Yoga in the Vineyard teacher and is eager to share her knowledge of yoga. To learn more about Mirabai please see her website http://www.mirabaiandfriends.com

Samantha Shakti Brown,
Yoga Instructor

Samantha S. Brown  is an Anusara Yoga instructor who is highly regarded for her depth of yogic knowledge and rich storytelling. Students leave Sam's classes with a tangible sense of joyful empowerment that they can easily take back out into the world. Sam views yoga as the ultimate vehicle for remembering our hearts true nature of unconditional love. She believes that there is no mistake that yoga has become so popular in this time of profound awakening. Sam's classes are both physically challenging and therapeutic with deep spiritual insight that awakens students on all levels. Samantha has been a student of yoga for 22 years and has been teaching for 16 years. In 2001 Sam was introduced to Anusara Yoga and has since become a dedicated student of John Friend and has traveled to study with him extensively. She is a certified Yoga Alliance teacher/teacher trainer and a certified AcroYoga teacher. She is a part of the yoga teacher training faculty at both Avalon Art and Yoga in Palo Alto,Yoga Educational Seminars in San Jose and Yoga Source in Los Gatos. Sam co-founded the Shakti Yoga Shala in Boulder Creek, CA. To learn more about Sam please see her website http://www.shaktiyogashala.com