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Lisa Wherry, Wine Director

Palm Springs Food and Wine Festival

Bibiana González Rave

Born and raised in Colombia, Bibiana had little exposure to wine culture. At the time, wine was not part of everyday life in her native country. Rather, it was considered a luxury item to enjoy only on special occasions. She would sip from her father’s glass and became fascinated by the nuances of wine, its deep-rooted traditions, and its history. By the age of 14, she knew she would become a winemaker. The only question was how to get there.

In Colombia, she studied chemical engineering and business. She later moved to the birthplace of modern winemaking, France, to study viticulture and oenology in Cognac. After obtaining her BTS degree, she then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Bordeaux, graduating with honors.

Bibiana’s constant pursuit of excellence brought her to work with some of the best wineries in France, including Château Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion in Bordeaux, Domainer Stephane Ogier and Domaine Clusel-Roch in Côte-Rôtie, among other small family-owned wineries in Burgundy, Alsace and Cognac.

She labored around the clock doing every task from planting vines in the ground to bottling. The lessons she learned during her years in France still resonate with her today:

“What you give to the land and your day-to-day dedication will always be present in the wines you craft,” says Bibiana.

Bibiana’s first vintage in California was 2004. Since then, she hit the ground running. She worked six harvests in three years, traveling to South Africa to work harvests at Saronsberg Cellars in the Tulbagh region. Back in California, she worked at La Crema, Peay Vineyards, Au Bon Climat and Qupé before Lynmar Estate, where she was the winemaker from 2009 through early 2012. In 2012, Bibiana started her own label, Cattleya Wines, as well as the Shared Notes joint venture with her husband Jeff Pisoni and became a Consulting Winemaker.  Bibiana started the Wayfarer project for Jayson Pahlmeyer for almost six years, culminating on taking over winemaking at his eponymous winery in Napa Valley. In 2014, she added the Alma de Cattleya label to her growing portfolio.

Some of her notable accolades include being named one of Wine Enthusiast’s first “40 Under 40: America’s Tastemakers” in 2014 and “Winemaker of the Year” by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2015. She has earned multiple “perfect” 100 point scores during her career and, most recently, her 2019 Alma de Cattleya Pinot Noir was listed in the 2021 Top 100 wines (#41) by recognized wine critic Jeb Dunnuck and in 2022, her Alma de Cattleya Sauvignon Blanc was #28 on the Top 100 Wine Spectator list.