Maria Helm Sinskey was born and raised in upstate New York. In 1983 she graduated from Union College in Schenectady, NY. A degree in English proved invaluable in her chosen career as a chef. She quickly gained a reputation for spouting sonnets on the line.

After college came a short career in advertising combined with night-time backstage catering for bands that were touring Boston. In a move designed to breakup her long- term relationship with a musician, her parents convinced her to attend culinary school in the great city of San Francisco. The rocker-chef romance soon dissolved and Maria emerged in 1987 as a graduate of the California Culinary Academy.

She attended pastry school in Denmark to hone her sweet tooth and then returned to San Francisco to work as Chef at several noteworthy restaurants: Boz Scagg’s Blue Light Café, the venerable Sherman House – a Relais & Chateaux Hotel, and Plumpjack Café, which she left in 1999 to pursue a life combining family, food and wine in the Napa Valley.

Along the way Maria worked in France at several Michelin starred restaurants, toured Italy and realized that life was good, very good. After returning stateside, Maria garnered many accolades: 1996 Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef, SF Magazine Rising Star Chef, SF Chronicle Rising Star chef and appeared on many PBS and Food Network Shows.

Nowadays, you will find her cooking at her husband’s winery, Robert Sinskey Vineyards, laying out plots for her organic gardens, teaching, writing and raising two children.

Her first cookbook, “The Vineyard Kitchen: Menus Inspired by the Season”, published by HarperCollins was released in September 2003. Her mantra is, “Eat seasonally, drink good wine and live a long and prosperous life.”