By Pamela Dozois
Contributing Writer
Laura Roach is a young entrepreneur with a passion for winemaking. She is the owner and winemaker of Loubud Wines, which specializes in Methode Champagnoise sparking and rosé of pinot noir wines.
“My grandmother read an article in her local newspaper about women in the wine industry. She noticed the article was about a winemaker whose ideas aligned with mine at the time. I’d just accepted an application to attend UC Davis, so I elected to take an introductory course in winemaking. It’s been an interest of mine since I was 19,” Roach said.
“My professor was Hildegard Heyman from South Africa, and she really inspired me. The energy she exuded about the industry excited me, and I wanted to delve into it more,” she continued.
In 2010, after graduating with a bachelor of science degree in viticulture and enology, she received a scholarship from the Confrerie des Chevaliers in Burgundy, France.
“They awarded me and another student at Davis with a scholarship to work at a domain in Burgundy, France. I felt very fortunate that my first internship after graduating was in Burgundy. I worked at Domaine de la Vougeraie in Nuits-Saint-Georges, which focuses on pinot noir,” said Roach. “I was there for four months. That’s where I got my training in cellar operations, like barrel cleaning, tank cleaning — all the necessary preparations for wine receival. In the vineyard they had us assist at pulling secondary shoots, and opening up the canopies.”
In order to expand her knowledge, Roach felt it necessary to work with different winemakers in different regions of the world with different grape varieties.
“I’d saved some of my scholarship money, so in 2011 I went to South Africa to work another harvest internship at Vrede en Lust in Paarl, South Africa. I wanted to test my limits and really decide what varieties of grapes I wanted to focus on professionally. During that period I also worked at several different wineries both in Napa and abroad, which afforded me the opportunity of working with many gifted winemakers in order to perfect my own winemaking skills,” continued Roach.
She decided to focus on pinot noir and chardonnay in a cool climate appellation, which led her to Sanford Winery in the Santa Ynez Valley.
“In the summer of 2012, in order to keep learning, I felt I needed to stay at one winery for an extended period of time, to work with the same vineyard year after year to learn how to make better wine,” she said. “I was hired as the enologist and assistant winemaker at Sanford, where I continue to work. My curiosity was piqued about making sparkling wine in Santa Barbara County.”
In 2013 Roach spearheaded Sanford’s sparkling wine program, which she said proved to be really successful and rewarding.
“I wanted to continue to challenge myself as an individual, so I started Loubud Wines in 2015. I focused on the traditional method of making sparkling and rosé wines,” she said.
Roach says she chose the name Loubud Wines because it is a shortened version of the nickname her father gave her when she was born, short for Loubedillia. As she got older the nickname was shortened to Loubud and now she’s just Bud to her family, and only her family.
“The key person that allowed me to start making my own wine is Sandra Newman, the owner of Cebada Wine & Forbidden Fruit Orchards in Cebada Canyon in Lompoc. We met as members of the Santa Ynez Valley Bocce Ball League and we instantly bonded over the topic of sparkling wine-making. She inspired me as a female entrepreneur and opened up the opportunity for me to make wine in her location, which is ideal for making quality sparkling wines, and to purchase her beautiful pinot noir grapes,” she continued. “2015 was my first vintage.”
“The reason I really like making wine in the Santa Ynez Valley is that I am working alongside many of the original wine makers in this region. It’s so cool that they are still making wine after all these years,” she exclaimed.
Roach was born and raised in Woodland. She attributes her appreciation and passion for working with the land to her maternal grandparents who owned several acres of farmland in Woodland, where they grew their own food and where she spent many happy weekends growing up. She now lives in Solvang with her boyfriend, Tyler Paris, who makes fermented honey wine called mead along with cider.
“The support that I received not only from being the assistant wine maker at Sanford but from all the people that I met here in the Santa Ynez Valley is amazing. They encouraged me to start making my own wine. The community made me realize I would always have a group to fall back on that supported me in my passion for great winemaking,” she said.
Roach sells her wines through her wine club and has a mailing list and a website where she can be found at www.loubudwines.com. She issues two shipments a year – rosé in the spring and sparkling in the fall. This year she will be releasing 2018 rosé pinot noir from Cebada Vineyards and 2018 sparkling brut rose.
Loubud wines can also be purchased at Pico and Flatbread in Los Alamos; Scratch Kitchen in Lompoc; Community Craft in Los Olivos; Savoy Wines, Wine and Beer in the Public Market in Santa Barbara; and at French Laundry in Napa, among other locations. For a complete listing, visit www.loubudwines.com/contact.
For more information, email laura@loubudwines.com; call 530-401-7947; mail PO Box 855, Buellton, 93427; or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
