French-born and Sedona-raised, Timo Geis founded Arizona’s first natural wine production label, Cactus Cru, which focuses on making low-intervention wines with locally grown organic grapes. He was raised in close proximity to wine. His mother is from India and his father from Alsace, France, one of the great wine regions in the country.

During college, Timo worked in restaurants to make ends meet, where a mentor’s encouragement sparked his passion for wine, inspiring him to pursue sommelier certifications. After earning a Level Two Certified Sommelier certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers, he returned to Alsace for a harvest internship, immersing himself in hands-on winemaking.

Inspired by this experience, Timo began his career in wine importing and distribution, driven to bring low-intervention, organically farmed natural wines to the people of Arizona. He was able to learn from many of the winemakers he worked with during harvests all over Europe.

Once he decided he wanted to have a real go at making wine, Timo reached out to local, organic grape growers, bought some high-quality home winemaking equipment, and began studying winemaking at Southwest Wine Center at Yavapai College to fulfill his vision of producing some of the first all-local, low-intervention Arizona wines.