Lisa Strid, a Wyoming native who fell in love with wine while working alongside her uncle on his small vineyard and winery in the wilds of western Washington. After a year of pruning, netting, crushing, and fermenting Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, she realized she wanted to make a career of the work, and entered Oregon State University to study enology and viticulture.

While in school, Lisa interned at Alexana Winery in Oregon’s Dundee Hills, where she learned the ins and outs of luxury, small-lot winemaking. She moved to California upon graduation to take a position at E&J Gallo Winery. At Gallo she worked on the Specialty Winemaking team. After nearly two years she transitioned to the role of Research Winemaker. In this position, she focused on innovative equipment use, new technology validation trials, and the exploration of process-driven changes to target different wine styles.

Lisa joined the Aridus team in June of 2016, just in time to help scale up production to over 100 tons. She enjoys working with the small team of dedicated individuals, learning the intricacies of Arizona winegrowing, and making the decisions necessary to bring Aridus' clients the highest quality wines possible. She’s glad to be working at a smaller scale that allows for close contact with customers, growers and grapes alike.

“I love speaking face-to-face with wine lovers, watching and listening to them as they take in wines that will become favorites for the first time. My passion encompasses the whole of the craft of winemaking – the cycles of the seasons, ushering a grape from vine to bottle. It engages all senses and requires both scientific rigor and intuitive leaps of imagination.”