Todd Graff

The Climb

Training at University of California, Davis gave the craft its formal base before the cellar did the rest. Todd Graff entered that practical side of the trade as a Cellar Intern at Joseph Phelps Vineyards. In 1987, he moved into the role of Assistant Winemaker at Stag’s Leap, then went on as Sparkling Winemaker at Schramsberg in Portugal and California, carrying both still and sparkling work through the next stage of his career. That sequence explains the range now attached to his name. Todd Graff’s background spans still and sparkling wine, and the move across regions and styles became part of the working language he brought to Calistoga. Since 2003, Frank Family Vineyards has been the place where those pieces have come together in the title of winemaker and General Manager and Senior Winemaker and General Manager.

Today

At Frank Family Vineyards in Calistoga, Todd Graff’s current title is Senior Winemaker and General Manager, a role he has held across the 2003–present span. It asks for the routine judgments that keep Napa Valley wine on track: when to step in, when to hold back, and how to keep structure and vitality in balance. Napa Valley Cabernet and Chardonnay sit at the center of the work attached to his name. Still and sparkling wines remain part of the same scope, so the career reads less like a single line than a set of linked disciplines. The Schramsberg years still sit in that background, while the Calistoga role brings consistency and nuance into the same daily practice.

In Their Words “After two harvests at Phelps, I loaded up my bags and got a job in Australia’s Hunter Valley, where I followed the sun for a year pulling hoses in the cellar before moving on to Mosel, Germany, and then Saint-Émilion in Bordeaux, France.” “I was feeling the travel bug again, though, and longed to get lost in a good way.”