A couple of years later I became enamored of Spanish wines while working at a prominent wine shop on Long Island which led to working with a New York based wine importer and distributor that carried the Classical Wines of Spain portfolio.  I was able to taste and learn about these wines on a new level and became a huge fan.

Now I was hooked on Albariño wines from Rias Biaxes with their vibrant fresh flavors that married so well with the abundant local seafood of Long Island, and the bold and complex Tempranillo based wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero.  On subsequent wine trips to California I kept looking for producers of these grapes, but there were none.

Also during the late 1980’s I fell in love with dry ‘European-styled’ rosé from France, Spain and Italy.  Rosé was and still is the quintessential summer wine, refreshing and bright with a wide spectrum of flavors.  It is an extraordinarily diverse wine that combines fresh lively white wine qualities with spicy red wine flavors.

In 1990 I moved to San Francisco to work with a wine importer and distributor.  In 1994 I began dating (and later married) Bob Lindquist  – visionary and wine-maker extraordinaire of Qupé Wine Cellars.  Bob inspired and encouraged me to follow my dream of making wine from Spanish grape varieties.  From this Verdad was born.

In 1996 Brian Babcock sold us 150 sticks of budwood from Albariño vines he had planted experimentally in his estate vineyard.  We grafted the sticks to rootstock and planted them at Ibarra-Young Vineyard in Los Olivos.  Eventually we propagated this to 2 acres.  In 2005 we planted an additional 3 acres at our estate vineyard in Edna Valley. 

In 1999 we planted one acre of Tempranillo from a Rioja clone at Ibarra-Young Vineyard and in 2000 planted one acre of a Ribera del Duero clone at Ibarra-Young Vineyard and another 2/3 acre of Rioja clone.  In 2005 we planted two acres of Ribera del Duero Tempranillo clone at our estate vineyard in Edna Valley.  In 2009 I grafted over 2/3 acre of Rioja clone to Graciano.  The first harvest of this will be in 2010.  It will be blended with the Ibarra-Young Vineyard Tempranillo.

The first wines made at Verdad Wine Cellars were the 2000 vintage Albariño from the Ibarra-Young Vineyard and Rosé made from Ibarra-Young Tempranillo and Alisos Vineyard Grenache.  The first Tempranillo was made in 2001 from the Ibarra-Young Vineyard.

The Verdad wines are made at the Clendenen Lindquist Winery in Santa Maria.  The first vintages of Verdad were made with Bob’s winemaking skill and my vision of style.  Over the years, with experience and working with the same vineyards from year to year I have taken over the winemaking.  The expert winery staff helps make it all come together, especially Jim Adelman, general manager of the winery and over seeing winemaker, Enrique Hernandez and of course, my partner and husband, Bob Lindquist.

In 1999 we stated farming the Ibarra-Young Vineyard organically, (although it is not certified).  In 2005 we planted our own Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard in Edna Valley.  Previously this land was used mostly for cattle grazing.  We started farming using biodynamic agricultural practices from the start.  In 2009 the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard was Demeter Certified Biodynamic ® along with the winemaking.

Louisa Sawyer Lindquist Bio