Sonoma, Calif.—Mary Ann Graf, born October 23,1942, died of pancreatic cancer 1/30/2019. She was diagnosed in the spring of 2016. She is survived by her twin brothers, Don Graf and James and Paula Graf, of Sacramento and their families.
Graf was a trailblazing female in the world of wine and had many “firsts” to her credit. These include being the first woman to earn a degree in Enology (Fermentation Sciences earning her degree in 1965) at UC Davis, the first woman winemaker of the modern era in California, and the first woman on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture.
Welcome to my professional page. Here you’ll find a portfolio of my editorial work. Most recent and relevant are featured at the top; scroll down to travel in the way-back machine. For more information about my professional career, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or Download my Resumé.
I am the former assistant editor of Wine Business Monthly. During that time, my responsibilities included copyediting and fact-checking all articles for the monthly magazine, ensuring detailed accuracy before going to print. I also poured the articles into InDesign and helped compile photography, assisting the layout and design team. Additionally, I wrote feature-length articles each month. Regular columns included: Technical Spotlight, Winemaker Trials, and Winemaker of the Month. Outside of those regular columns, I also wrote additional articles as needed and defined by our editorial calendar.
My work on the magazine included both behind-the-scenes work and written work with a byline. Below each month’s magazine are specific links to my individual work featured in that issue.
Wines & Vines Magazine was owned and operated by the same company, as Wine Business Monthly, Wine Communication Group. Prior to my promotion to assistant editor of WBM, I began my career at the company as the staff writer for W&V. In that role I researched and wrote informative articles revolving around the U.S. wine industry for both the monthly print publication and the online news forum winesandvines.com (now winesvinesanalytics.com). I regularly reported on wine industry news and breaking news, as well as attended and covered industry events, including trade shows, seminars, and tastings.
Behind the scenes action: I also curated the questions and gathered the quotes for our “Question of the Month” series; compiled news items for our “Top Stories,” “People,” “News,” and “Faces & Forums” columns; and, of course, helped the rest of the editorial team with final proofreads before going to print.
During my time at Wines & Vines, the publication shifted production to a wholly online/digital format, focusing on wine industry data. Wines Vines Analytics is the leading source for wine industry data and the Wines Vines Analytics team maintains the industry’s most accurate databases, providing data-driven analysis, data, insights and reports to help its clients grow and manage their businesses. WVA also publishes a monthly analytics report covering the most recent and applicable data trends. As the staff writer, I researched and wrote about those data trends for the monthly report, detailing the effects of the data trends on the nation’s wine grapegrowers, winemakers and the wine consuming marketplace.
San Francisco Chronicle—content producer/editor & staff writer
I was hired to the SF Chronicle as the content producer and editor of the newly created wine-centric website, The Press. In that role, I was responsible for editing and inputing Napa and Sonoma winery reviews, tasting notes, and available Wine Country experiences onto the new platform. I assisted with website layout, design, and development, ensuring content-ready material and a user-friendly interface. This role evolved into including writing assignments alongside these duties. I became a regular contributor to both The Press and the SF Chronicle’s Travel section, focusing on wine-related travel, winery reviews, and wine tasting notes.
BriscoeBites officially accepts samples as well as conducts on-site and online interviews. Want to have your wine, winery or tasting room featured? Please visit the Sample Policy page where you can contact me directly. Cheers!
**Please note: all reviews and opinions are my own and are not associated with any of my places of business. I will always state when a wine has been sent as a sample for review. Sending samples for review on my personal website in no way guarantees coverage in any other media outlet I may be currently associated with.**
I was in town for the Lodi Vineyard & Wine Economics symposium, and decided that I would spend some time getting to know the wines of Lodi. The region has a bit of a bad reputation, known to produce excessive amounts of grapes (namely Zinfandel and Cabernet) that ultimately end up in “bulk” wine. At various other tasting events, I’d had the opportunity to taste a handful of smaller producers from the region who are focused in on creating a new reputation for Lodi—one of infinite variety, producing, yes, sometimes Zinfandel, but more often lately “other,” lesser-known varieties that seem to thrive in Lodi’s climate and soil.
So I came to town early on that day, a Wednesday. Unfortunately many wineries and tasting rooms were closed, saving their hours for weekend tour-goers. But thank goodness McCay Cellars was open (and staffing a very friendly hostess, I might add). I’d heard glowing things about their wines and, well, all of them were true. I came away with two wines—both Grenaches. I’d never considered Lodi a Rhone-style region. But, as I said, these small, often family-run wineries, are putting new grapes to the test and, thus, Lodi on the (legit) wine map.
One of the first grapes that Joel and Eric had to work with was Carignan. It’s a bit of an “oddball” variety, especially for a new label’s first wine. But that’s what they had to work with and, in fact, the first, 2016 vintage of Sweet Berry Wine was 100% Carignan.
I love what Joel has to say about the variety:
General thoughts on Carignan…Carignan is such an intriguing variety for us at Las Jaras. It is juicy, brambly and spicy when it is at its best. At its worst it is tannic, sour, and tastes like cabbage. It can also be quite difficult to grow. They are generally old vines that stand 7-8 feet tall and can be vigorous. The vine is extremely prone to powdery mildew infection, so it needs meticulous canopy management to avoid disaster. Site location is important for this variety to perform at its best. It needs to be on bench land, with properly draining sandy loam soils and a hot climate. This is because the acids can be absolutely searing on this variety, so you need to have it in a place where it can burn off some acid without over-ripening the fruit to get it into balance.
I’ve been having a hard time with Chardonnay lately. I’ve been finding them too overworked: either over-oaked or incorporating too much malolactic fermentation — in the worst cases both. I don’t like to start off a post with a negative, but you have to understand where I’m coming from. The Chardonnay’s of late have left me wondering — what does Chardonnay actually taste like? What is its entity? What is its innate nature? Ok, I’ll go there…where is its soul?
I found it. Here. With this wine. This is the Chardonnay I’ve been looking for. This is the pretty much the Chardonnay I want to always be in my cellar.
