Steve Arrowood (BS ’84) passed away on April 14, 2020, after a long-fought battle with cancer. Born in Greendale, Wisconsin, in 1959, Steve grew up in Palos Verdes Estates, California. He finished his degree at CSUDH while working at Hughes/Raytheon, where he met his wife, Caryn. After marrying, they began learning about winemaking with a dedicated group. Their wines weren’t very good, but Steve was undeterred and continually sought new sources and better equipment. He was eventually making 14 barrels a year, with friends who helped with every step of production, from harvest to bottling. One day, after tasting a bottle of their Thompson Vineyard syrah, winemaker Andrew Murray called the group “garagistes,” a term from France for small-batch producers that was not widely known at that time. The group became known as the Cooperative de Garagistes. The Arrowoods settled in Lompoc, opening their tasting room in 2013 and completing their winery in 2015, named after a street by their home, Via Montemar.
