- Louisa Sawyer LindquistA lifetime of loving wine and the business of winemaking
The work of my entire adult life has been in the business of wine. I began my lifelong career in wine starting with cellar work at Long Island wineries when I turned 21. I created a college internship with Hargrave Wine Cellars (the first winery on Long Island) in Cutchogue, NY followed by working at Scuttlehole Vineyard, which is now Channing Daughters Winery. I moved on to working in fine wine retail shops and restaurants, then sales with wine distributers and importers and then winery direct sales. It’s been a great journey.
I started Verdad Wine Cellars in 2000. My goal has always been to make pure, balanced wines from the great vineyards of the Central Coast of California. My focus is on the cool, coastal vineyard sites of California’s Central Coast. I also love and am inspired by the wines of Spain. Living in California with it’s Spanish/Mexican heritage was my inspiration to make wine from Spanish wine grapes. In 2014, I started to work with Cabernet Sauvignon after a client requested a Cabernet Sauvignon based wine. That led me to try my hand at making Cabernet for Verdad, as it’s an incredible grape and its wines are some of the most age-worthy wines of the world.
In addition to Verdad Wine Cellars, my husband Bob and I collaborate together and make a lovely Demeter Certified Pinot Noir and a balanced coastal Chardonnay under the Sawyer Lindquist label.
I hope you will visit us at our shop in Arroyo Grande, California or buy some of our outstanding wines right here on our website. Cheers!
I love drinking balanced wines that capture the flavors of the soils and sites from the vineyards where they are grown. We are fortunate to make wine on California’s Central Coast and make wine from vineyards in Edna Valley and Santa Maria Valley . These sites have a direct moderating Pacific influence and soils that contain sandstone, limestone, marine fossils, slate as well as underlying volcanic soils and give the wines incredible complexity. These coastal valleys have the longest growing seasons in the world. During the long, cool springs and summers the grapes develop slowly while retaining great structure and acidity.
In addition up the road from the coast and inland I source Cabernet from Paso Robles. The vineyards offer steep hillsides and limestone and marine fossil rich soils that able to grow stellar Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot along with many other varieties. Los Alamos Canyon (Martian Vineyard) and Santa Ynez Valley (Ibarra-Young Vineyard) are exceptional AVA’s that combine both coastal and continental influences.
I love biodynamic farming. These principles and practice of BD farming helps create balanced growing systems and adds organic life to the soil and sites. I do my best to grow and source grapes that been farmed using these principles, as well as vineyards farmed organically as well as rigorous sustainable farming practices that retain the integrity of the land.
In addition to making Verdad, I am one of the winemakers on the wine making team at Vara, an exciting, visionary winery and distillery in Albuquerque, New Mexico producing outstanding New Mexican, Californian and Spanish wines and spirits.
