Mary Maher - Program Lead
Being a vineyard manager checked all the boxes for Mary: collaboration of ideas, working with the soil, the interface of farming and nature, and the intersections of science and farming. Working over 30 years now in vineyards has been a great gift, and she has been fortunate to work with people who valued farming practices that respected the people and the soils.
Mary has been managing vineyards for Bill Harlan since 2002, and she currently oversees farming and vineyard development for Harlan and Promontory. The team there continues to work with evolving farming practices that benefit the soils and vines. Mary has found the most gratifying (and maybe unexpected) aspects of her field to be the evolution of vineyard workers, and a recognition of how their work is paramount to the quality of the wines being made in this valley.
Follow her on Instagram at @m3rrymar.
Ria D’Aversa
Ria D’Aversa finished her undergraduate degree in Botany and began her career working with plants at the New York Botanical Garden. While there, the 2008 economic crisis nudged her to take a sabbatical, in which she turned it around and traveled to Tuscany to work her first grape harvest. In her travels, many encouraged her to continue working with vineyards by applying to graduate school at UC Davis. Ria received her Master’s of Science from UC Davis, focusing on viticulture and soil systems. It’s at Davis that Ria saw the beauty of the west and wine by visiting beautiful vineyards throughout the state of California. Since then, Ria has worked at Broc Cellars in Berkeley, Tenuta Tignanello in Chianti, Treasury Wine Estates in Sonoma, McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma, Constellation Brands in Napa and at Hermann J. Wiemer in the Finger Lakes. Organic, deliberate farming is pivotal to Ria’s grape growing and she continues her love for thoughtful, fresh wines through her own small wine brand. She is currently teaching vineyard management at Cornell University and managing Hermann J. Wiemer's grapevine nursery.
Isabelle Straka
Isabelle was born in St. Helena, and is an enthusiastic winemaker with a passion for viticulture and sustainability. After diving into the world of biology and chemistry at the University of Oregon, she earned a master's degree in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis. During this time she worked as a viticultural scout for Mike Wolf Vineyard Services and acted as the tasting room manager for K. Laz Wine Collection in Yountville.
Isabelle's winemaking journey began with internships at Schramsberg in Calistoga and Chateau LaTour Martillac in Bordeaux. She then became the assistant winemaker at Harlan Estate and BOND wineries in Oakville and later for Kinsman Wine Consulting. Recently, Isabelle became the winemaker for VHR, Vine Hill Ranch, where she collaborates closely with consulting winemaker Francoise Peschon and the vineyard managers at Mike Wolf Vineyard Services where she is focused on crafting wines of place, and focusing diligently on the sustainability of the ranch.
Beyond the vineyards and cellars, she finds joy in gardening, cooking and spending time with her family.
Cindy Hanlon
A lifetime lover of wine, Cindy was born and raised in the FLX and continues to unearth and experience all it has to offer. The intrigue of how a single variety could make so many variations of wine, each masterful and unique, is how the whole party started for her. After a long tenure in the mortgage industry, it was grapes and wine styles that stole her heart. Finding a program in her own backyard, Finger Lakes wine country, was a dream that was meant to materialize. Science and art, two of Cindy’s favorite areas to study, paired with her love of being outdoors is how her journey goes. Graduating with a degree in Wine Technology and Viticulture gave her the foundation to secure a role within the industry. Her work began in a small vineyard on Lake Ontario, to then doing research with Finger Lakes Grape Program associated with Cornell, and now representing a Global company, E&J Gallo. Her broad experience across all components of wine from farm to farmer, vine to press, and bottling to facilitating tastings, Cindy offers a global perspective because she’s been an active contributor to each of these roles within the vast field of Wine and Viticulture. Cindy remains firmly planted within the Finger Lakes and Western NY grower base as the Grower Relations Coordinator. Visiting vineyards, creating community connection, and talking growing season is all within a day’s work. It’s true when they say, you just never know where the love of grapes will take you.
Lily Gallagher
Lily Gallagher is a viticulturist specializing in fertility management and IPM techniques. She enjoys the challenges of problem solving the puzzles that are vineyards, and finding solutions that offer the most equitable benefits for the vineyard ecosystem. Before joining Silverado Farming company in 2023, Lily enjoyed her time at various vineyards in Carneros, Stellenbosch, Napa, San Luis Obispo, and Lake County. One of the most rewarding parts of her job is offering advancement opportunities for her employees, and seeing how their lives transform following a new challenge. Lily thrives as a manager and enjoys training and guiding her direct reports in viticultural activities.
In her free time, you can find Lily hiking the hills of Napa Valley, perusing the aisles of any local plant nursery, or buried in a new book. Lily resides in Napa with her husband, Travis, and geriatric cat, Bibs. You can follow her on Instagram at @lilkrosse.
Daniela Bazán
Daniela is a Napa Valley native who grew up running around some of the most prestigious vineyards alongside her father, a farmworker turned entrepreneur from Oaxaca, Mexico. After graduating from the University of San Francisco with a BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies, she earned her MA in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, before ultimately returning to Napa. She has worked for her family’s vineyard management business for nearly 15 years overseeing administrative duties and also helping manage day-to-day vineyard operations, grower and winery relations, professional and educational development of vineyard crew members, as well as sustainable programs including organic certifications, Fish Friendly Farming & Napa Green certifications, EQIP and Healthy Soils Incentive Program grant applications and implementation, and pollinator habitat procurement and planting. She has also worked behind the scenes to support and develop her family’s wine label, Bazán Cellars, that started in 2005 with its first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is now featured in the Bazán Cellars Downtown Napa tasting room and includes their Cabernet Sauvignon alongside several additional varietals, all farmed by the Bazán vineyard crews. Daniela and her family are one of just a handful of Latinx wine producers in Napa Valley and are proud members of the Mexican American Vintners Association.
Since 2013 Daniela has served on the Napa Valley Farmworker Education Committee, producing educational programming and events for farmworkers including the annual Día de la familia event. In addition to collaborating on annual programming for the Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation, she also served on its COVID-19 Task Force, coordinating efforts to connect community resources and distribute information in English, Spanish, Zapoteco and Mixteco. In 2018 she earned her MS in Environmental Management with a concentration in Ecology from the University of San Francisco and continues to focus on sustainable farming practices together with empowering the local farmworker community.
Follow Bazán Cellars on Instagram @mariobazancellars.
Molly Hodgins
Viticulture Professor at Napa Valley College
Allison Cellini Wilson
Allison Wilson began her journey in viticulture by pursuing a degree in Fruit Science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. During her studies, she specialized in integrated pest management, gaining a deep understanding of sustainable farming practices and the importance of maintaining a healthy vineyard ecosystem. After completing her education, she joined Renteria Vineyard Management in Napa in 2012. As a viticulturist, she played a role in overseeing vineyard pest management. In 2015, Allison met the team at Cliff Lede Vineyards and joined as a viticulturist, eventually becoming the Director of Vineyard Operations. After 9 years, in January 2024, Allison embarked on a new chapter in her career as the Director of Vineyard Operations at Domaine Carneros, now overseeing 400 acres of vineyards.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Allison spends time with her family and 2 young boys as well as sharing her passion for yoga as a teacher.
Lindsay Jordan
Lindsay Jordan received her B.S. in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis where she participated in undergraduate research examining xylem structures, which started her down a science-based viticulture career path. She then pursued her Masters in Horticulture at Cornel, her thesis focusing on the effects of under-vine cover cropping on Riesling winegrapes. She then won a fellowship which allowed her to participate in vineyard cover crop research In Marlborough, New Zealand. Along the way, she worked harvests in the vineyard and lab in the Napa Valley and New Zealand, before she accepted the role of Viticulture Advisor with UC Cooperative Extension in 2015, serving Madera, Merced, and Mariposa counties. Her extension work focused on evaluating wine grape varieties suitable for hot climates and rootstock performance while supporting the growers covering 20,000 acres of grapes. This role was followed by opportunities at E.&J. Gallo as the Grower Outreach Educator and Trace Genomics as the Specialty Crop Agronomist, where she specialized in working closely with growers to present and apply technical, science-based information to improve wine grape quality and soil health respectively. She is currently with Constellation Brands in which she joined in 2020 as the Regional Viticulturist for the Central Coast, overseeing the technical viticulture program for the thousands of internally farmed acres.
Erin Mason
Erin’s vineyard experience is in implementing various regenerative practices, including animal integration, as well as reimagining and challenging traditional ideas of how vineyard systems operate. Her knowledge is based on a holistic approach to vineyard management—one that seeks to work with the natural environment, encourage healthy ecosystems, increase biodiversity, and values profitability and community wellness.
A native of the southeast, her formative years were spent as a military brat in small town coastal Georgia. She studied art history and interior design at the University of Georgia in Athens, but followed a different post-collegiate path into restaurants. Working professionally as a manager and beverage director in Atlanta for a decade, Erin also became a devoted student of wine, leading to an unconventional route in viticulture.
Erin was always highly attuned to the issues of environmental sustainability. As she learned more about wine production and its implications in the world, a desire to change her relationship to wine grew. In 2019, Erin decided to start fresh and moved to the Central Coast of California. After seasonal gigs on the crush pad, in vineyards, tending to animals, pouring in tasting rooms, and a lot soul searching—Erin moved to Paicines Ranch in San Benito County to work and live full-time as a vineyard intern in 2022. The following year, she started a new position (both to her and the company) as the Regenerative Specialist for Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles where she is currently employed.