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The Winemaker: Stefano Watson majored in business in college and began home wine making while in college on the east coast. As his skills progressed Stefano went from using the standard canned juice to having grapes sent overnight to him from California. After college Stefano and wife Lisa lived in Atlanta and worked in mostly sales and marketing positions. Their jobs meant traveling around the country on airlines weekly until 911 came and they lost two coworkers in the terrorist attacks. The Watsons decided it was time for a lifestyle change and went to stay with Lisa’s family in Italy to try their hand at a winemaker’s life. Stefano and Lisa came back from Italy more determined than ever to emulate the lifestyle they had experienced and began to search for a place to start their own Italian wine estate. The Winery The tasting room came next, converted from an old barn that was on the property, although there is nothing that even vaguely resembles a barn anymore. The tasting room is done to authentically represent an Italian farmstead where tasting is done in the farm house with the family. The stucco walls are 10 inches thick, the windows are authentic in style and size to those of an Italian farmhouse, the tasting bar is rustic and inviting, and you will find the barrel room right through a pair of beautiful paned doors. The massive solid redwood tasting room doors are made from wood salvaged from the Pioneer drinking water tank. Stefano and a friend, who luckily happened to have been a shipwright by trade, built the doors. The asphalt parking area in front of the tasting room has been replaced with an Italian style piazza complete with gorgeous gardens, a lion head fountain and inviting pathways. Continued ... |
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selling their fruit in the grape glut that existed at the time. The vineyards and home were in need of some serious TLC, but the potential was obvious. With time the vineyards were cleared of weeds, the trees trimmed and gardens planted. Looking at the estate now you would never know it had ever been anything but beautiful.The winery had no tasting room initially, so they utilized the all American lemonade stand style and put a table on the asphalt driveway, put up an umbrella and waited for people to come, and come they did. From the slow start of selling a few bottles a day they are now up to 2600 cases per year and growing; a wonderful success story.