My early winery experiences consisted of riding around in a car with my parents and their friends while they tasted wines at the five or six Napa Valley wineries in existence at the time. My brother and I would run around the cellars, joyfully unsupervised, echoing our voices inside empty wine tanks. We were not allowed to taste. Can you believe it?

High School in Palo Alto led to a mostly random choice of college at UC Davis. A short stint in psychology was followed by a slightly longer stint in biochemistry and the realization that me in a white lab coat could cause me to be escorted away in one of those other white coats, aka straight jacket. With that thought in mind and a chance meeting with a classmate (who had already figured out that wine was the answer), I was guided to the enology department, where I finally found what I was looking for: winemaking.

After graduating in 1981, I spent my first two harvests as an intern at Trefethen, where I perfected forklift driving, cleaning tanks and topping barrels while learning a lot about winemaking. A southern hemisphere harvest experience in Australia taught me even more. My first full winemaking position was making Cabernet and Chardonnay with Johnson Turnbull. JT was subsequently sold and became Turnbull Cellars. In 1998, after being in one place for nearly 13 years, I joined Honig as winemaker.

Since then I have played the role of a mermaid, a game show contestant, a cheerleader, an old lady gambler from Las Vegas and a rock star, to name a few characters from the Honig postcards. Being able to craft award winning, nationally recognized Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon and being part of the dynamic Honig team has been nothing but rewarding.

When not feeding my passion for making wine and growing grapes, I can be found taxiing my teenage daughter and her friends around town, on the ski slopes, riding horses or playing in the kitchen or the garden.