A French-American with Corsican and Osage Indian blood, Jessica is passionate about sustainability, nature regeneration, and people. She grew up in Cabasson in Provence, home of rosé wines, in Bordeaux and in Northern California near the Napa Valley, where she had a chance to volunteer at the Schramsberg winery.
Her thesis on regenerative viticulture during her Master’s degree in Sustainability from Harvard earned her the Dean’s Prize, and her findings were presented at the launch of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation. She also holds a Masters in English from San Francisco State University and a Bachelors in History from the University of California, San Diego. She conceived and established the nature writing-in-residence program at the Jan Michalski Foundation in Switzerland, and has worked across the nature conservation, philanthropic, financial, insurance, cultural, and educational sectors before turning her efforts to regenerative agriculture.
For her, what makes regenerative viticulture distinctive is its “absolute focus on living soil “: feeding the soil to feed the vine.” Rather than asking what’s wrong with the vine, we need to think in terms of the whole ecosystem – which natural levers to pull to enable it to be in better balance,” she explains in a recent article on regenerative viticulture for Decanter Magazine.
Jessica currently lives with her partner and two children in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, surrounded by vineyards including the UNESCO World Heritage Lavaux Terraces. In her free time, she is part of the local government, loves spending time outdoors, and puts much effort into regenerating the land she lives on. Her dream is to continue doing research and consulting in regenerative agriculture and to have her own farm and vineyard to steward one day.
