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 April/May issue of Somm Journal magazine, I had the amazing pleasure of interviewing both Leslie Frank, proprietor of long-reputed Frank Family Vineyards (FFV), as well as Will Drayton, director of technical viticulture, sustainability and research for Treasury Wine estates, the parent company that acquired FFV in 2021. This piece dives deep into the technical growing aspects, thanks to Drayton, with wonderful insight on the social and environmental impact of the brand from Leslie.
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