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Women of Wine
Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: May 2023
Mothers and all the women in our lives who’ve loved us deserve the finest vintages, especially those created by women.
Bibiana Gonzalez Rave
When you raise that glass of wine to Mom this Mother’s Day, consider choosing a wine made by the underrepresented sisterhood of women winemakers. Their tenacity, struggles and successes merit our attention.
No industry reaches further back in history and no other industry has so resolutely excluded women from leadership positions for so long.
In 1974, a mere heartbeat away from the present in the arc of wine’s story, Frank Prial wrote in the New York Times that “Mary Ann Graf, the head winemaker at Simi Winery here, is the only woman in the United State to hold that title – maybe even in the world.”
As recently as 25 years ago in France, the famed Chateau Figeac was one of the very few estates to hire a woman to work in winemaking. “It was previously something of a taboo that we helped eradicate” said owner Blandine de Brier Manoncourt,
Today, only 14 percent of California wineries have a woman at the helm.
But the tide is changing. The trio of talented and pioneering women profiled here are just a few of the many who continue to push the industry forward. Though their stories are different, each has made a mark on the industry in her own way.
Paula Kornell
Paula Kornell sparkles as much as her bubbles. The California native, and daughter of winemaker Hanns Kornell, founder of Napa’s Kornell Champagne Cellars, she’s been blazing a path into the future of wine since birth. Her Paula Kornell Blanc de Noirs is vivid, bold, mouth-filling, and austerely dry.
One of the most noteworthy examples of success was the 2015 award of “Winemaker of the Year” by the San Francisco Chronicle to Bibiana Gonzalez Rave of Cattleya and Alma de Catteleya Wineries. Born in Columbia, she trained in Bordeaux, earned her Oenology degree at the University of Bordeaux, worked at Chateau Haut-Brion and then moved to California to work for Au Bon Climat, Qupe, and Pahlmeyer. All of these influences can be seen in the Alma de Cattleya Sauvignon Blanc that’s held to her unwavering high standards.
Though Cathy Corison was one of very few women when she first entered the wine world in 1972, her renowned and consistently high-scoring wines prove that quality and equality can exist simultaneously. Her highly sought after Cabernet Sauvignons, highlight the power and elegance of the varietal. The 2019 Corison Napa Cabernet is a superb example of her determination to stay true to her vision of Napa Cabernet – “to let the dirt speak.”
