Our Story.

/story/ [noun] history; legend

“Dot started as a dare between husband and wife. Shawn said, ‘fine, make your own, perfect Pinot Noir.’ I said, ‘okay but it’ll cost you.’ It did, it still does, and it’s our labor of love.” - Lise Asimont

Co-Founders, Lise Asimont and Shawn Phillips

Lise.

With over 20 years in the wine industry, Lise Asimont is a force to be reckoned with in the world of ultra-premium winegrowing. She’s worked for several of the biggest and best wine brands in California, meticulously managing every acre of their vineyards to optimize wine quality while promoting sustainability and responsible land stewardship. She makes wine like a viticulturist: represent the vineyard in the bottle and let the grapes speak.

Shawn.

With over 30 years in the gardening business and several published gardens, Shawn uses his art degree create beauty in nature. He grew up on a sheep ranch in Mendocino County and with his agrarian roots, his passion is to develop Dot Wine into a sustainable wine business. He drinks wine like a gardener: honest opinions with a grounded perspective.

A Dare.

Coming home exhausted from long harvest days of hiking vineyards in the hot California sun, her loving husband Shawn would often have a bottle of wine ready for them to blind taste. From the harvest delirium came pure honesty - he simply couldn’t find her a Pinot Noir she loved. So he dared her to make her own.

Dot.

From this dare came the first ideas for Dot. In art, the Dot is the purest unit of both form and function. Dot wine is the direct translation of vineyard to bottle. Dot wine takes exceptional fruit, from exceptional vineyards, grown by exceptional growers, and brings it straight to you with the least possible intervention.The eventual logo came to be a dot with messy margins to represent that nothing in life is ever perfect. Every vintage is different, and the beauty in that imperfection is what makes wine (and life) compelling.

Today.

Today Dot has grown and Lise and Shawn now make a dry rose wine, two Pinot Noir wines, and a Chardonnay wine with potentially more to come. The intention is still the same and will never change. Dot will always be small, limited production wines with a sense of place, directly reflecting the truly amazing vineyards they come from. The wines will always be minimal intervention to bring you the best of the vintage. Drink dot.

Hapa Pinay.

/hapa/ [noun] partially of Asian or Pacific Islander descent

/pinay/ [noun] a woman of Filipino descent

Lise’s journey began with her mother’s immigration from the Philippines to California. Born to Drs. Delicia and Lee Asimont, Lise was raised in Southern California and lucky to spend time in Maui, Hawaii where being Hapa is celebrated. Ohana, the Hawaiian term for family, both blood and extended, is the center of Lise’s life and she is proud to be Pinay. Salamat and Mahalo for drinking Dot!