On Tuesday, December 3 Leslie Frank was honored for her philanthropic work at the North Bay Business Journal’s 7th Annual Wine Industry Awards. The Wine Industry Awards recognized Leslie along with 17 other individuals and suppliers who have made positive contributions to the wine, beer, and spirits industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A: Before I joined the wine industry, I had a career in broadcast journalism. I spent more than twenty-five years covering politics, crime, natural disasters \u2013 you name it. Throughout my time as a reporter and anchor, I brought some of the country\u2019s most major events into the home of millions of Americans including the 9\/11 attacks, reporting live from New York City\u2019s ground zero, as well as from the devasting aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and inside the courtroom at the Michael Jackson trial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My travels as a journalist\nsparked my interest in wine, prompting my first visit to Napa Valley in the\n1990s. It was in Napa where I met my husband, Rich Frank, owner and founder of\nFrank Family Vineyards. Since 2012 when Rich and I got married, I have\nprofoundly integrated myself in the California wine industry. I took classes at\nthe Napa Valley Wine Academy and underwent the UC Davis Wine Executive Program\nto study the fundamentals of winemaking, fine tune my management skills, and\nlearn ways to expand Frank Family\u2019s marketing and branding strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, I am a Proprietor of\nFrank Family Vineyards and spend my day-to-day working to elevate our brand and\nco-manage our staff of 50. I have applied what I know best \u2013 people and\nstorytelling \u2013 and interweave them into my role at Frank Family Vineyards and\nin the community at large. I am thankful for my previous career as a broadcast\njournalist for providing me with a mindset rich in culture and a personal\nlong-term commitment to philanthropy that I will continue to share to raise the\nNorth Bay community to greater heights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A: As a successful winery business, I believe that we are in a fortunate position to play an important role in improving the lives of the people in the North Bay community and beyond. My passion for people and culture has naturally paved the way for my and Frank Family\u2019s positive involvement in the wine industry. In the past five years, I have established footings among some of Napa Valley\u2019s most prominent charitable organizations such as Festival Napa Valley, Collabria Care, and Auction Napa Valley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I found a natural fit as a\nboard member of Festival Napa Valley, a fusion of art, wine, and culture set\namongst some of Napa Valley\u2019s most stunning winery and vineyard backdrops.\nFestival Napa Valley does so much for the Napa community whether raising\nmuch-needed funds for education through the Arts for All Gala, supporting\naspiring musicians via the tuition-free Blackburn Music Academy, shining a\nspotlight on emerging artists, or igniting creativity at Arts for All Camps.\nAcross the years, the program has donated over $1 million to Napa County\u2019s\npublic-school arts education programs. I co-chaired the 2019 Arts for All Gala,\nwhich raised a record-setting $2.6 million for the non-profit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This September, Rich and I\nwere also privileged to be named the honorary chairs of this year\u2019s 13th<\/sup>\nannual Collabria Care Gala. Collabria Care is the leading center for\ncommunity-based care and resources in the North Bay for those facing\ntransitions of aging, Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other serious illnesses, or the\nend of life. In our roles as honorary chairs, we served as ambassadors for the\norganization and the event and donated two high value lots to the live auction\nas well as 35 limited-edition 40th<\/sup> Anniversary Collabria Care etched\nmagnums which raised $45,000. All in all, the evening was a tremendous success,\nsetting a new gala record of over $740,000 for hospice, palliative, and\nAlzheimer\u2019s care, and a range of other services for the most seriously ill in the\nNapa Valley community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, Frank Family Vineyards has extended our reach in the community and across the country through a series of annual fundraising campaigns. In 2018, the Frank Family team and I raised $10,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation through the winery\u2019s \u201cFrank Drinks Pink\u201d campaign. This year, we created the \u201cFrank Fights Hunger\u201d campaign and are teaming up with the Feeding America Network throughout the month of November. During this campaign, we will be donating 10% of proceeds from each online purchase of the Carneros Pinot Noir to this amazing organization, which is equivalent to about 11 meals per bottle to children and families in need. Frank Family is also matching the final donation amount to make their impact that much greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A: The California wine industry is constantly evolving. In the past five years, we have seen changes to consumer drinking habits, purchasing patterns, and tasting experience preferences as well as climate changes from drought, flooding, and wild fires. Frank Family Vineyards is certainly not complacent in the face of these new challenges, and we are constantly adjusting to the world around us to find success now and in the future. Frank Family is currently certified Napa Green in our winery and vineyards, which is a tremendous achievement in sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past decade, Americans have upgraded their palettes while\na new wave of wine consumers have turned the direct-to-consumer culture on its\nhead. The days are gone where tasting rooms would funnel customers in and out\nthe door to belly-up at the main bar. Today\u2019s consumer wants to fully\nexperience a brand, get to learn its story, and feel a sense of belonging with\nit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rich\u2019s time at Disney Studios provided him with a\nprofessionally-inspired understanding of how to make a wine tasting an\nexperience, which has always given Frank Family an edge. In 2017, we took our\ntasting experience to the next level with the redesign of our tasting room in\ncollaboration with local designer, Erin Martin. We completely reimagined the\ntraditional tasting room by renovating our 1930s yellow Craftsman house and\nconverting it into a comfortable and trendy tasting space. The house\u2019s private\nrooms each have a specific theme, such as the Hollywood Room which speaks to\nmine and Rich\u2019s former careers, and the Patriarch Room which pays homage to\nRich\u2019s childhood and his father, Hy Frank. We also revamped our back deck with\nswing chairs and cushioned couches to provide a lounge experience for our\nguests that\u2019s free of stuffiness and frill. We even introduced a new food and\nwine pairing experience to create a more immersive and educational visit. It\u2019s\nnow one of our most popular tastings and is offered twice daily to meet the\ngrowing demand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Tuesday, December 3 Leslie Frank was honored for her philanthropic work at the North Bay Business Journal’s 7th Annual Wine Industry Awards. The Wine Industry Awards recognized Leslie along with 17 other individuals and suppliers who have made positive contributions to the wine, beer, and spirits industry. Q: Detail your background in the wine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[7,162,18,178,14],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-giving-back","tag-featured","tag-in-the-community","tag-napa-valley","tag-philanthropy","tag-wine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/D8A9BCBD-6D89-4B17-BEFD-7000D08A23FC-4.jpg?fit=1500%2C1032&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/parYsd-cp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Q: What changes have you noticed in the wine industry in the last five years and how have you and Frank Family Vineyards moved to capitalize on those changes?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n