Maral Papakhian

Maral, aka, Mud, to those who know her well or have difficulty pronouncing her Armenian name, is also a native Hoosier like Nicole.  Born and raised in Bloomington, IN, with her three siblings, she went to Indiana University where both of her parents worked.   Maral graduated with a degree in Animal Behavior thinking she would one day work enriching zoo animals' daily lives.  

After college, itching for a new adventure, Maral moved to Boston.  She began working in Events/Management at Harvard University, while volunteering at the local zoo as she contemplated her next step.  Working during the day, she discovered wine classes at the Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center at Boston University.  Thinking wine classes would be great fun, she dove in and was blown away by the vast amount of knowledge to be gained in a field in which she was relatively unfamiliar. Her family, particularly her father, loved a glass of red wine now and again, but coming from the Midwest, there was not a lot of emphasis on wine education.  After taking a series of wine classes, Maral moved to San Francisco and jumped into a Harvest Internship in Sonoma, learning how to make wine at a custom crush facility.  

Since her internship, Maral has continued her journey satisfying her interest in wine and joined the Barnett family and team in August, 2012.  While not enriching zoo animals' lives, she thoroughly enjoys enriching others' experiences as she shares the story behind the hand-crafted quality of Barnett Vineyards' wines and David Tate's expertise.