Louie Seamus is the founder and executive director of The Vinguard. They stumbled into the wine industry in 1990 after finding gainful employment at Astor Wines in New York while applying to graduate school. Hired by Kevin McKenna (Louis Dressner Selections), they were ruined from the start. Graduate school was put on a 27-year hold, and they moved to San Francisco. Shortly after relocating to the Bay Area, they were hired as the wine director in a formal restaurant where they got their first tastes of ‘61 Petrus, ‘59 Latour, and wine industry sexism. After one year, they left, longing for the irreverent spirit they found at Astor, and found it in 1994 when they opened Hayes and Vine Wine Bar. While Hayes and Vine was the second wine bar in the Bay Area, it was the first in many respects, not least that two lesbians owned it. 

Over the last three-plus decades, Louie has written for numerous publications, including a ten-year stint as the SF Examiner’s wine columnist, opened CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen, one of the earliest places in the Bay area to serve natural wine, started The Grapes of Path wine school, taught at 18 Reasons and privately, and consulted to restaurants in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. 

In 2013, they launched The Vinguard as a natural wine blog but themself increasingly writing about inequities in the wine industry. This led them to convert The Vinguard to a 501c3 non-profit organization tackling social and environmental justice issues in the wine industry.  It also led to finally going to graduate school, a fantastic decision they wish they’d made earlier in their life, but hindsight is at least 20-30, and most days, they love what they do. 

In 2020, Louie converted The Vinguard into a 501 (c) (3) organization, which is a culmination of their passions for social justice and wine.

In their spare time, Louie enjoys writing, reading, movies (preferably in a theater), music, vegan cooking, and of course, drinking wine.