Growing up on her family’s ranch in Mendocino County where the vineyards were her backyard, Lauren Vau ’16 has always had an appreciation for wine. Now, she’s helping create her own labels of Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé of Carignane, and coming soon, Cabernet Sauvignon—all from her family’s organic grapes.
After graduating from Whittier, Vau launched the wine and lifestyle blog Pinot & Peep Toes with the goal of making the world of wine less intimidating for her generation of drinkers. It was while she was an English major that she learned to hone her writing skills and tell stories.
“I couldn’t imaging not writing every day after College, so I simply didn’t stop,” she said.
Through her lifestyle blog, she is able to introduce a variety of wines to a younger audience while also delving into other topics such as beauty, fashion, and entertainment. It was while writing for her blog and interviewing other winemakers that she fell even more in love with the wine community and wanted to continue to purse that as a career.
Coming together with her family—who are eighth generation farmers and have been in the grape business for 40+ years—they have collaborated to launch their own wine label, Boeket. A labor of love, Vau is involved in the every stage of the process—from picking the grapes, to working with an artist to create the artwork on the labels, to tasting the wine throughout its aging process, to getting the wine to consumers.
Looking ahead, Vau hopes to bring Boeket to the tables of various communities, including Whittier.
“It would be so special to have my wine poured in the restaurants I loved while in college,” she said.
