We are pleased to announce Corey Whitaker as the new assistant winemaker. Waverly Accurso will be taking over Corey’s previous role of enologist as a new member of the Frank Family Vineyards team.
“We couldn’t be happier to promote Corey to assistant winemaker. Her passion for winemaking and scientific background has been an asset to the team since she joined us in 2016, and we are positive she will only continue to help Frank Family Vineyards advance our estate-driven wine program.” – Winemaker, Todd Graff
Despite family trips to Sonoma County growing up, winemaking was not always the evident career path for Corey Whitaker. Rather, she dedicated her studies to biology and chemistry during her schooling at San Diego State University. It wasn’t until taking an economic botany class, that her deep-rooted passion for wine started to blossom. The class took a trip to a winery in Temecula, California and Corey saw for the first time how integrated winemaking and science are. She fell in love.
After college, Corey spent time traveling the U.S. before ultimately settling down in Northern California Wine Country. A job in the tasting room of Marimar Estate in the Russian River Valley sparked her love for winemaking once again and the rest is history. Starting as a lab technician at Ferrari-Carano Vineyards in Sonoma County, Corey worked her way up from there. She joined Frank Family Vineyards as our enologist and quickly became an essential component to our winemaking team. Today, Corey is our Assistant Winemaker, where she’s always applying her knowledge of science and love for wine to make her mark on our hand-crafted and estate-driven collections.
“The thing I love most about winemaking (aside from drinking the final product) is the job is constantly evolving, is always fresh, and never mundane.” – Corey Whitaker
