When Laura Hughes came to Santa Barbara in 2012 to explore her pinot noir fascination by working at Sanford Winery, she was “shocked” that so few people were making sparkling wines from a cool region well-suited for them. A year later, after talking to the few people like Norm Yost of Flying Goat and Don Schroeder of Sea Smoke who were doing so, she spearheaded the launch of Sanford’s bubblies.
But it wasn’t until so many friends and colleagues encouraged her to start her own brand that she created Loubud Wines with the 2015 vintage. “Everyone around saw me having my own brand before me,” said Hughes (née Roach), who was raised in Davis, studied wine at UC Davis, and named the brand after a childhood nickname from her dad. “They convinced me I could do it.”
One such voice was Michael Benedict, the late cofounder of the legendary Sanford & Benedict Vineyard. “He told me that one day the Sta. Rita Hills would be known for sparkling wines,” she recalled. “I wanted that to be true.”