Tasting Room and Visitors Center

Our old world Tasting Room and Visitors Center, shown on our Home Page, is open to the public for tastings Wed. thru Sun. Noon to 4.. The Tasting Room, which overlooks our vineyards and includes a lovely terrace, is also available for private parties, luncheons, dinners, group tours, weddings and other affairs. A floor plan showing the dimensions and configuration of the tasting room and terrace is shown below.

Most of the wines currently available for purchase may be tasted for a nominal fee in the Tasting Room. Wines are available for purchase with special discounts applicable to case lots. The Visitors Center also includes a carefully selected assortment of wine related merchandise.  In addition to wine tasting, special tours of the winery can be arranged for private groups of 15 or more by appointment. There is a charge for winery tours. Please call for information and prices 985- 892-9742 or email us at the Winery at winery@pontchartrainvineyards.com

Vineyard Map

Physical Plant

The building housing Pontchartrain Vineyards' production facilities is a 2,400 square foot structure begun in 1995 and completed in 1996. It includes a crush pad off the rear of the building for crushing and pressing operations, a 1,200 square foot "cellar" area, approximately one half of which is dedicated to cellaring wine in wood cooperage (barrels). The remainder of the cellar contains fermentation and storage tanks. The remainder of the building includes a laboratory, winemaker's office, and additional production and warehouse space. All of the areas are temperature and humidity controlled. Bottling operations take place in the main cellar area. In addition to the foregoing, a cool/cold room container is located adjacent to the main winery building providing another approximately 320 square feet of temperature controlled space for fermenting, storage and cold stabilization operations.

The People

John V. Seago -The Winemaker

The Company’s Founder, President, General Manager and Winemaker is John V. Seago. Born in 1943 in New Orleans, he lives with his wife Susan in Covington, Louisiana.

His interest in grape cultivation and wine making began during his 3 1/2 year service in Germany with the U. S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He planted his first experimental vineyard north of Folsom, Louisiana in 1978 and bottled his first wine in 1979. In 1992 he withdrew entirely from the practice of law to devote his full time to the management and development of the business affairs of Pontchartrain Vineyards.

John learned viticulture and wine making primarily by cultivating French-American hybrid grapes in Louisiana and producing wines from them over the last 20 years. His education in the disciplines and craft of wine making was significantly enhanced during the 1 ¼ year tenure of the Roseworthy Wine College trained Australian wine maker, Simon Thistlewood, at Pontchartrain Vineyards in 1995 and 1996. He has also completed courses at the University of California, Davis in wine processing and the sensory evaluation of wine and has attended seminars on Recent Advances in Viticulture and Enology in California. John regularly attends conferences and seminars relating to wine growing and, production and marketing. He has participated in conferences with research scientists and professionals involved in southern grape growing and is an associate member of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture.

John closely follows the work being done in the development of new grape varieties which are resistant to the primary disease problems to be encountered in Louisiana, including work being done locally in connection with the University of California, Davis, and new varieties coming out of research programs in the State of Florida and elsewhere.

Susan Seago - Tasting Room and Admin

Susan, John's wife of 29 years, recently retired from a career in teaching, only to be ensnared by her husband to lend a hand in the romantic, stress free pursuit of running a winery. She joined Pontchartrain Vineyards in the summer of 1998 and is overseeing Tasting Room operations, including special events, as well as helping to tend to administrative/office functions of the winery. Her responsibilities include overseeing the production of a quarterly newsletter, maintaining mailing lists, publicizing events, just to mention a few of an ever expanding list of activities. Like most of us at Pontchartrain Vineyards, Susan is asked to wear many hats and she is reluctantly learning more about QuickBooks and other computer thrills than she probably ever cared to learn. She is a devoted tennis player with a desire to spend more time on the courts.