Astride Two Worlds

(Chronicle photo)

In the Chronicle's words California wineries are "obsessed" with 32-year-old geologist Brenna Quigley:

Over the last few years, her reputation has soared within the wine industry, to the point where it’s a point of pride — and a marketing boon — to be able to say that Brenna Quigley did your vineyard’s geologic analysis. The 32-year-old is inarguably the state’s premiere wine geologist.

Then again, she might be the only person in California who identifies as a wine geologist. Her success is a testament to the fact that she has single-handedly established a demand for a service that five years ago many wineries likely never considered...

That ability to bridge geology and wine is what distinguishes Quigley from other vineyard consultants. “I saw that people were speaking two different languages,” Quigley says.

Wine people had one lexicon, while geologists had another. And among her fellow geologists, she perceived “a slight disrespect for the wine tasting aspect of it,” Quigley says. Concepts held sacrosanct by winemakers, like terroir — the idea that wines are capable of expressing a sense of place — were dismissed by scientists as woo-woo.

Quigley grew up in the Midwest in a family of geologists: Her father and brothers run a business that explores sites for heavy-metal mining. Quigley left for UC Santa Barbara, initially intending to become a marine biologist. Eventually she relented and switched to the family trade.

After getting her master’s, Quigley abandoned plans to pursue a PhD. Instead, she worked at wine shops and bartended. She got a job at the Kunin Wines tasting room in downtown Santa Barbara and began to befriend local winemakers. “I called my parents and said, ‘You’re not going to believe it, but these wine people also decorate their houses with rocks,’” she says.

She soon discovered that many winemakers were eager for basic geology lessons, so that they could communicate about their own vineyards more effectively. “There was this thing people wanted to talk about so badly, but they didn’t have the words to do it,” she says. Wineries started hiring her to help them write blurbs on their websites...

Quigley elucidated details that even longtime vineyard owners hadn’t been aware of, and she produced the first-ever detailed geologic maps of the county’s wine regions.

Brenna Quigley bestrides the worlds of geology and oenology, and her time is now.

Unlike the thousands of young adults who will do almost anything to garner attention on social media, the attention came to her because of her unique talent stack.

In this build-her-up-and-tear-her-down age, I hope the following doesn't happen:

1) politically-oriented groups will hold her up as a shining example of a successful STEM woman and ask her to speak out on any number of topics that she has not thought deeply about, thereby provoking a reaction from other politicized groups;

2) geologists with PhDs, jealous of her popularity, will sniff at the depth of her knowledge ("among her fellow geologists, she perceived 'a slight disrespect for the wine tasting aspect of it.'"). If they're so smart, why aren't they doing it?

Her Midwest and family roots should see her through. I hope Brenna Quigley continues her success.