Back in 2008, at age 19, Lisa Tupetz left her hometown of Cologne, Germany, to live and work with her mother’s best friend in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The friend, Lisa Scholz, co-founder and former owner of renowned restaurant and wine bar Saggio di Vino, said Tupetz had just finished high school and had no idea what to do with her life until “the lightbulb moment.”
“We were at a barrel tasting at my friend Daniel Schuster’s winery,” Scholz reflected. “Daniel poured us a sample of his upcoming vintage premium pinot noir—Omihi Hills Waipara Selection. I will never forget the expression on her face when she tasted it. She returned the glass to him and said, ‘I want to become a winemaker,’ and that is what she did.
“She continued working at my vinothéque [wine bar] under the guidance of a French sommelier at night and drove every day back to the vineyard to learn more about the process.”
After a year in New Zealand, Tupetz returned home to pursue her dream.
Following a decade of study and work experience throughout Germany, she landed an internship at Chamisal Vineyards in San Luis Obispo in 2018; founded her self-named German wine import business in 2022; and co-crafted her first wine, Kuss Kuss, with Mary Bradley of Grá Wine in Santa Maria in 2023.
In 2024, Scholz visited her protégée in California and “was able to see for myself what a star she has become” in the challenging niche of promoting German wines in the state’s wine meccas of Napa Valley and the Central Coast.
Scholz teased that she may be a little biased, but she was hardly off base.
Tupetz’s hard work and passion reached a new plateau in June 2025, when her company, Tupetz Wine Connection, was named both Importer of the Year for Germany as well as the overall top importer at the international Sommeliers Choice Awards (SCA), besting esteemed competitors from Italy, France, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, and Romania.
SCA judges, consisting of master sommeliers and other food-and-beverage-industry heavyweights, noted her stellar lineup of low-intervention, German-made wines.
“With eight (SCA) gold medal-winning bottles in her portfolio, from crisp elbling to structured, dry riesling, she’s helping reshape the way German wine is understood and enjoyed in the United States, prioritizing transparency, sustainability, and a strong sense of place,” according to Malvika Patel, editor and vice president of Delaware-based Beverage Trade Network, organizer of the annual competition.
Tupetz said she was surprised and beyond excited to win the awards.
“I didn’t expect this to happen at all, mainly because I only submitted 11 wines to the blind tasting,” she stated. “But, apparently, they all scored so well that I won [overall] importer of the year and importer of the year for German wines. … This creates great recognition for me as a new business.”
Tupetz has worked relentlessly to cement her reputation as a world-class wine professional.
Her résumé boasts bachelor’s and master’s degrees in enology and viticulture from Hochschule Geisenheim University and Justus Liebig University Giessen as well as Wine & Spirit Education Trust level 3 certification from International Wine School Nadja Roeloffs in Wyk auf Föhr.
During and after college, she founded her first company, Lisa Tupetz Wein Erlebnisse (wine experiences), offering personalized tastings, events, seminars, and sommelier consulting services for restaurants, and also worked as an area sales manager at Deuna GmbH, a fine wine importer and distributor based in Augsburg.
When America beckoned, in the form of an opportunity to gain production experience alongside New Zealand native Fintan du Fresne, Chamisal’s former winemaker, she packed her bags.
“I had the best time, learned so much, and decided to stay longer,” said Tupetz, whose internship led to a full-time cellar position.
Ultimately, when she missed the taste of home—and struggled to find authentic German wine locally—Tupetz Wine Connection was born.
Tupetz specializes in directly sourced, high-end wines—including award-winning riesling, elbling, pinot noir, pinot gris, and bubbly sekt—from German winemakers who espouse traditional and environmentally sound practices.
“I [personally] distribute my wines … across California, which also naturally limits the amount of clients I can work with without neglecting any,” Tupetz said.
Her current client list boasts three-Michelin-star restaurant The French Laundry in Yountville and two-star Enclos in Sonoma.
Recognition from the SCA competition could prove useful in finding a distributor or partner to help expand her client base to other esteemed restaurants and retailers throughout California and potentially to other states as well, Tupetz said.
Another useful promotional tool is the Small Poppies Collective, which Tupetz co-founded with three other California importers in 2025.
The collective’s goal is to spotlight rare, interesting, and ethical producers from their respective portfolios. In September, the quartet will sponsor a month-long series of tastings, pop-ups, and collaborative dinners at locations throughout Northern California.
A final component of Tupetz’s import business is her wine club and online store.
“I would love to have more local club members and meet more wine lovers and enthusiasts on the Central Coast,” she said.
“I want to bring my wine club to its next level, which is not a classic wine club. First of all, I don’t have a winery where you could come and get free tastings as a member perk. Furthermore, it’s a multi-winery club, with rotating wines.”
So she plans to add travel perks to the package.
“I have members who already travel to Germany, and I set them up with tastings with my producers,” she explains, “but I [want to organize] a tour to Germany and my wineries in 2027 with my club members and wine buyers I work with across California.”
Tupetz also hopes to continue crafting wine.
“I love making wine and I would love to do another project with my great friend Mary Bradley,” she said.
The pair’s Kuss Kuss collaboration, a cabernet franc sourced from the Santa Ynez Valley, is available via Tupetz’s online store and for wholesale purchase.
“Kuss kuss [is] the ancient Roman custom of greeting with kisses on the cheeks to show respect, affection, and familiarity,” Tupetz said. “This is what we reflect in the wine—respect toward each other, nature, and the tradition of making wine.” Δ
Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte salutes Lisa’s passion and award-winning portfolio. She’ll be sipping sekt at cwhyte@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Education Today 2025.
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