Reviews & Recognition

Women in Wine: 8 Great California Female Winemakers

www.vivino.com, March 8, 2017

Women winemakers have been on the job in California since the 1880s. Today, roughly 10% of bonded wineries in California, about 450, have a woman at the helm. The quality of the wines they produce makes it clear why these “women winemakers" prefer to be known as winemakers, period.

Bibiana Gonzalez Rave, Wayfarer Vineyards, Napa

Bibiana makes her journey in wine sound like fate. She says, “I first dreamed of becoming a winemaker when I was 14 years old and I never looked back. I was a young girl in Colombia, not even born into a wine-drinking family or country, and I just became infatuated with wine and fermentation. Since then, I developed an obsession for making handcrafted wines that deliver a powerful, emotional, and unforgettable experience when someone drinks them.”

She worked at Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau la Dominique in Bordeaux before coming to California. For the past two decades, she made wine for Lynmar Estate, Peay Vineyards, Au Bon Climat, Qupe, and now Wayfarer.