What does sustainability even mean anymore? “It’s a broad term, isn’t it?” says Leslie Frank, cofounder of Frank Family Vineyards. “You’re hard pressed to find any landowner, vintner, or anyone in the wine industry who’s not ‘sustainable.’” But for Leslie and her husband Richard Frank, owning Napa’s third-oldest winery (and nationally registered historic landmark), stewarding over 380 acres of vineyard property, and crafting notable premium Napa wines “that spans from sparkling to Cabernet and everything in between,” means they continuously seek to improve business practices in an effort to better the life forces both below and above ground, within their local community and throughout the wine industry at large. “It’s our earth-to-bottle, green-to-our-roots philosophy,” says Leslie.
For the March/April Spring issue of Sonoma Magazine, I had the pleasure of highlighting one of my favorite local Sonoma winemakers, Cindy Cosco. Take a trip on the way back machine and scroll through this website to its beginnings (I delete nothing lol), and you’ll see she’s one of the first folks kind enough to send me samples to review on, what was then, a new platform. Since then, we’ve become very good friends. So I was thrilled at the opportunity to write about some of the new, innovative things this lady is working on at the moment.
Hello—does anyone visit anymore? I know I haven’t in a long while. Hah. Well for those of you that do, thank you. Appreciate you. I’ve written loads of articles since my last post, and I should (will!) update my portfolio soon enough. But, in the meantime, I want to blast out about a podcast I was recently a guest on. If you listen (and I hope you do), let me know how you liked it.
Below is a link to the podcast homepage, but of course you can listen to it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you prefer listening to your casts. Please enjoy and thanks for listening!
Stacy Briscoe, Managing Editor of Wine Enthusiast Magazine, joins Laura this week to share her journey into wine journalism and wine education. She tells us how she got her start and discusses her focus on regenerative agriculture, which she has written about extensively. Laura and Stacy discuss the experience of being a woman in the wine industry and the importance of having a supportive network, and Stacy shares some of her favorite wine recommendations.
Stacy joined Wine Enthusiast in 2022 after freelance writing for the publication for several years. Previous to this role, she was the managing editor for Wine Industry Network, the assistant editor of Wine Business Monthly and staff writer of Wines & Vines magazine. She has also written freelance for numerous publications including SevenFifty Daily, Sonoma Magazine and the SF Chronicle, among many others. Stacy regularly speaks at wine industry events, has completed her WSET Diploma, teaches WSET courses at the Napa Valley Wine Academy and, most recently, has been accepted as a Master of Wine Stage 1 student. Listen here.
