Ritual • CONNECTION • JOY
About TeffY
The Name
In 1989 a baby girl was born in Panama. At her sister’s insistence, her parents agreed to name her Stephanie. On his way to the registration office, this baby’s father, overwhelmed with joy and expectation, forgot the chosen name and instead printed his wife’s name on the forms - Lydia, because the baby “looked just like her mom.” From then on, and to this day, baby Lydia has been referred to as “Teffy” (short for Stephanie) by her family in Panama. As the name for our wines grown in Santa Barbara, this beloved moniker has finally been made official.
WHO WE ARE
Teffy Wines is a partnership between Lydia Richards and Stephen Searle, two passionate wine professionals from diverse backgrounds, brought together by a shared love of wine, food, and culture. What began as a mutual appreciation has grown into a lifelong collaboration, and a dream realized: crafting and sharing wines that reflect who we are and what we love.
We are rooted in Santa Barbara, a region whose extraordinary range of climatic and geological conditions allows for wines of precision, nuance and depth. The varietals we work with were chosen with intention. Chenin Blanc, Gamay and Syrah each beautifully convey their sense of place while remaining endlessly versatile at the table.
For us, wine is about more than what is in the glass. It is the sound of a cork being pulled. It is the first sip. It is the laughter that fills a room. It is the ritual, the connection, the joy. It is the community. It is made to be shared.
Stephen Searle
Stephen is a native of Northern California, though wine was not a staple in the home growing up. It was in college, studying music in Boston and waiting tables in some of the city’s premier restaurants, where Stephen was bitten by the proverbial wine bug.
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He quickly decided to return to California to pursue a life in winemaking. After earning a degree in Wine and Viticulture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Stephen worked several harvest jobs and traveled through wine regions across the world.
In 2012, a career opportunity brought him to Santa Barbara. Drawn in by the region’s natural beauty, diverse growing conditions and coastal wine style, Stephen chose to settle here full-time to hone his craft.
Inspired by nuanced, site-driven winemaking, Stephen has worked with vineyards throughout the county to produce some of the region's most critically acclaimed wines. His approach in the cellar is decidedly hands-off, electing to allow the vineyard and vintage to shine through, rather than to bend his wines to a particular style. In addition to Santa Barbara, Stephen has plied his trade in wineries and vineyards in Napa, Sonoma, Edna Valley, and in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. When not obsessing over wine, Stephen might be found on a beach with his beloved Sasha dog, supporting his favorite soccer team or perfecting his latest dinner recipe.
Lydia Richards
From a young age, growing up in Panama, Lydia learned that wine is more than a beverage, it is a bridge. She watched her mother and aunts gather around the table, sharing bottles and stories about life, love, and resilience. Wine, in their hands, was community.
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That early memory planted a seed that would shape her life’s work. Lydia’s experience spans wine education, retail, marketing, public relations and events.
After graduating from Instituto Marangoni in London and forging a successful career in fashion marketing and PR, Lydia felt the wine industry calling. She began taking wine and food pairing classes at night, eventually enrolling in formal sommelier and WSET studies. After earning her Sommelier Certification and WSET Level 3 Advanced Certification, she made the leap into wine full-time.
Lydia has worked in public relations for a New York based importer of international brands, and for one of the largest family-owned wine companies in the United States. In 2017, Lydia founded Vino Concierge, a wine education and consulting company. With curated tastings, educational programming and strategic consulting, the company helped bridge the gap between wine culture and diverse communities. She is also the co-founder of Hispanics in Wine & Spirits™ (HiWS), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing Hispanic and Latine representation across the beverage and hospitality industries through mentorship, advocacy and community-building. With her nonprofit, she co-founded the Sip & Sabor Festival, a vibrant two-day fundraising event that celebrates the intersection of wine, spirits, food and culture while providing a platform for professional exchange and dialogue among industry leaders.
Lydia has spoken at wine conferences across the globe, and has been featured in multiple trade and national publications such as Wine Spectator, SevenFifty Daily, Vogue, Forbes and LA Times. Her leadership has earned numerous accolades, including Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 Tastemakers, Wine Business Monthly’s Wine Industry Leaders and Imbibe’s 75 People to Watch in 2021. Most recently, she was honored as Executive of the Year by the Hue Society in 2023 and USA Today's Black Changemakers in the Wine Industry in 2024.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Through conscientious farming and minimal handling in the cellar, we strive to produce wines that showcase a transparent sense of site, varietal and vintage. We partner with distinct vineyards in our region with whom we have cultivated close relationships and share the common goal to grow and produce exceptional wine, with a keen eye towards environmental impact and sustainability. We allow fermentations to progress with native yeasts present on the grape skins, and avoid making chemical manipulations to the natural acidity or ripeness inherent in the fruit. We use the minimal effective sulfur to preserve our wine’s identity and sense of place. Though our wines will age gracefully for several years, they are made with pleasure and drinkability in mind: fresh, lively and approachable upon release.
