Bonnie Graves
Bonnie Graves is building a multi-platform brand around wine, travel and lifestyle. Similar to food/lifestyle personalities like Martha Stewart, Wolfgang Puck and Rachael Ray, Graves aims to share her unique wine expertise via both traditional media outlets and digital channels in a way that is informative, inclusive and fun.
Her goal is to demystify wine for the average consumer while simultaneously celebrating its unique role as a cross-cultural passport. Bonnie has extensive “insider” industry experience as a sommelier at legendary restaurants such as Jean-Georges, Union Square Café and Spago Beverly Hills, and has a wealth of contacts in the international wine and restaurant communities.
As a Harvard graduate fluent in several languages and a former actress/model, Bonnie possesses a rare combination of practical smarts and on-camera comfort. Recent television appearances include a FINE LIVING show in Santa Barbara’s wine country, KTLA’s “The Morning Show” and a feature episode on Champagne for WEALTH TV. Graves has also been featured in USA Today, Forbes, MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times, Food and Wine, Bon Appétit, Daily Variety, Patterson’s Beverage Journal and California Wine and Food.
Graves co-founded the consulting company, New Medici, in 2005; selected clients include the Parker Meridien, Hyatt, Loews and KOR hotel groups, the Office of Champagne USA, the Fedejerez (Sherry wines from Spain), Insiders’ Slovenia, Google, JP Morgan, ANdAZ hotels, Smith-Barney, Dunbar Capital, Bon Appétit magazine, Bank of Manhattan, Beaver Creek Resort and numerous restaurants.
A sought-after wine educator in the Southern California market, she frequently teaches classes and arranges tastings for corporate and private clients. Graves writes the popular “Girl Meets Grape” blog for Yahoo’s digital food channel, is a featured correspondent for WineTasteTV, a broadband channel dedicated to video wine content and is the Food and Wine Editor for the Luxury Life & Style family of print magazines.
She has studied with the Court of Master Sommeliers and the American Sommelier Association and is a member of L’Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, Les Dames d’Escoffier, and WCR, among other professional associations. Graves is also proud to support the charitable efforts of Break the Cycle, the nation’s largest resource for young people struggling with domestic violence, and is a Board Member of the Trevor Project and WCR. When not drinking fermented grape juice, Graves enjoys hiking in National Parks with her husband and baby daughter, and is an accomplished poet.