Here’s a letter that I received yesterday from Bob and Louise - well, actually, their entire wine club received this letter
Dear Friends and Wine Club Members,
It is with heavy hearts that we announce Bob is no longer a partner in or the winemaker for Qupé Wine Cellars.
The winery brand and current inventory was sold in November to Vintage Wine Estates (VWE). We had hoped that Bob would continue to be involved in the winemaking, but sadly this is not the case. Starting with the 2018 vintage (which Bob began) the wines will be finished by the VWE corporate wine making team.
With every door that closes another opens. We are pleased to announce that Bob is launching a new Lindquist Family Wines label, going back to Bob’s roots and focusing on cool climate Rhone varietals and Chardonnay from organic and biodynamic vineyards. The label features a linden tree on it. The name Lindquist is Swedish, and literally translates into linden or lime twig.
The linden tree, with its heart shaped leaves and fragrant flowers has long been valued for it’s healing properties and is considered sacred in some cultures. Indeed, every part of the linden tree has medicinal and healing properties.
We are happy to let you know we will be continuing with our wine club now known as the: “Lindquist Family & Verdad Wine Club”, and will have selections from Lindquist Family Wines, Verdad Wine Cellars and Sawyer Lindquist Wines. Our first shipment will be available for pick up the first week of March.
We have made some slight variations and the club will offer a three, six and twelve-bottle club. For our continuing club members in the four-bottle club you will now be a three-bottle member with the same tasting room privileges as before. As a valued club member; from time to time, you may see a Qupé library wine in the club shipment and hope to continue to offer a selection of Qupé wines in the tasting room.
Louisa and I are fully committed to continue producing delicious and balanced wines using traditional wine making techniques with minimal intervention. Our focus; as always, is to source fruit from some of the greatest vineyards on the Central Coast that farm Biodynamic, Organic and SIPS Certified Sustainable.
If you are interested in joining us on this new adventure and new wine club please reply to Treeva Silva, who will be managing the club at: treeva@verdadwines.com.
Skål!
Bob & Louisa Lindquist
The rumor is that the Qupe production will move from the facility at Bien Nacido that Bob and Jim Clendenon created back in the late 70s (along with Adam Tohlmach who is now Ojai Vineyards) to a ‘corporate’ facility up in the San Luis Obispo area. I’m not sure if this means that Bob will be able to continue to make wines at the current facility - I certainly hope so.
I can’t wait to see what he’ll be doing - and will follow Qupe as well to see what if any new directions that they may be taking.
Thanks for posting the full letter, Larry - I’d heard about this yesterday but hadn’t seen the entire message from Bob & Louisa. Sadly, Bob’s exit from Qupé was predictable following the November sale of the brand, as it sounded like he had no role in making that decision. Don’t know what this may mean going forward for the Qupé wines, but of course I’ll keep following Bob & Louisa’s wines - they’ve both been doing a wonderful job over the years and I’m sure that will continue. It would indeed be nice if Bob & Louisa can continue making their wines at the Bien Nacido facility - it does feel like their “home”.
True indeed. It is interesting that Bob ‘retained’ some of the older Qupe wines and will be able to offer them for sale - my guess is that that was part of the negotiations. It’s also interesting that the ‘Lindquist Family Wines’ were made at the same time he was making the Qupe wines . . .
It’ll be interesting to see what vineyard sources he uses moving forward - and what sources Qupe retains. My guess is that Bob will continue to get Sawyer Lindquist (er Slide Hill for everyone else) grapes for the foreseeable future, plus Bien Nacido.
VWE is also buying the Laetitia winery and brand, but not the vineyards, and that is where the new Qupe wines will be made.
There is a free article about this on Jancis Robinson’s website.
One of the best values in CA. You could get the Central Coast Syrah for $13 sometimes. And it’s a great version. They’ve been doing Verdad for a while now, but the Qupé label was always a guarantee of quality. I’ve heard gossip for a while about various goings-on, but he always made stellar wine and I’m sure he will continue to do so, especially if he has some of the same fruit.
I love the wines Bob makes (and Louisa and Ethan, too) . Hope it turns out well for them. The sale to Terroir looked like a good move, until the founder had his problems. But, the heart and soul and art of Qupe was all Bob, no matter the name on the label.
I put an auto redirect on Gragaiste emails to lessen the temptation during winter release season. Go check them every few days. Saw this offer this morning but it’s already sold out. Was actually disappointed. A case of those would’ve been nice.
Obviously the quality and style of these wines is one driving force behind their success. I wonder if new ownership plans to change any of that. I would guess they do. The other part of what makes Qupe special to me is the story, which basically is the story of Bob Lindquist deciding to make those wines when there was basically no market for them, and succeeding. That part is now obviously gone too. I suppose VWE can do whatever they want and throw a lot of money at marketing and market research, so maybe the profits will still be there (maybe even increase), but I fear the soul of this truly special brand may be lost. At least Bob will still make wine somewhere. I’m sure it will be very good. I really wish him the best.
I used to buy aged Bien Nacido Hillside Syrahs on Winebid for very reasonable prices. They were great. I put one into a blind tasting once and it was hugely impressive to some people with very educated opinions. I’ll treasure the bottles I bought on release and am still aging.
Bob Lindquist told Decanter.com, ‘We’ll continue making the wines (Verdad, Sawyer Lindquist and Lindquist) at the winery that I’ve shared with Jim Clendenen for the last 30 years; what we call CLV, or Clendenen Lindquist Vintners.’
On the split with Qupé, he added, ‘I had hoped to stay on and continue making the wines for them, but that didn’t work out. So Qupé will now be made by them at a different winery facility here on the Central Coast.’
I cannot remember who told me that VWE was buying the former Deutz facility but here it is on Jancis’ website.
I’ve heard the vineyard needs replanting. Nobody seems to know about the vineyard in Cuyama but I suppose if VWE isn’t buying the one by the winery they aren’t buying the others.
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