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 truly 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.
