Following passion, Paul and Stefania Romero opened winery in summer
Published in the November 25 – December 8, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Photo by Robert Airoldi
Paul and Stefania Romero in the backyard of their Day Road winery.
During the 2001 dot-com bust when Paul and Stefania Romero found themselves laid off from their jobs within three weeks of each other, the couple took the advice of Paul’s mother. She told them to treat the break as a sabbatical and do something they loved. And that motherly bit of wisdom led to the creation of Stefania Winery.
“We took her advice and took classes at (the University of California), Davis, and learned to make wine,” Paul said. While they eventually got jobs in their respective fields, their passion for wine-making took hold.
Today that love for fine wine manifests itself at Stefania Winery in Gilroy where the couple makes Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Haut Tubee and Mourvedre.
They lease small vineyards in the region and buy grapes from friends including Frank Leal with Leal Vineyards, Dan and Therese Martin with Martin Ranch Winery and Tim Slater with Sarah’s Vineyard.
“It’s people we trust who are doing good farming,” Paul said. “Everyone here is focused on making quality wines.”
The wines are meticulously made in small lots using expensive French oak barrels that cost as much as $1,200 each. This makes a difference in the quality of the wine, he said.
“It’s an expensive way to make wine, and many expert winemakers told us we were nuts,” Paul said of that first 2005 harvest with bottles that sold for as much as $35 each. “But we made 50 cases that first year and sold them out in four days. People took notice.”
But their studying and learning about how to make wines began even earlier than 2001. While living in south San Jose, the couple had a small winery on their property with about 60 vines.
“We took care of each one of those plants by hand,” Stefania said. “We tended them personally to get the best grapes we could and to make wine we’d be proud to serve to our friends and family.”
They held wine tastings and hosted group dinners with friends and family to test their wines. “And it morphed from there,” Stefania said.
The Romeros worked at various wineries in the region to gain the professional experience they knew they’d need, then leased a winery in Woodside called Chaine d’Or after the original owners retired. They ran and operated it from 2007 to 2014. During that time, they learned the ins and outs of the business.
The couple moved to Gilroy and opened their Day Road-based winery 14 months ago. It is now producing high-quality wines and attracting attention from wine connoisseurs.
Unlike many boutique wineries, the couple went right to selling commercially, avoiding the local market. They set up a website, made contacts with wine writers and bloggers and got their name into the wine news media, quickly attracting hundreds of customers around the country.
For the moment, there are no vineyards on the Romeros’ property as the couple has found it more economically feasible to lease small vineyards around the area and tend them than it is to buy huge swaths of land.
Stefania Winery makes about 800 to 1,200 cases a year, an amount that enables them to have complete control over quality and excludes the need for distributors. A small group of part-time employees, family members and close friends who volunteer help with labor intensive tasks.
“We are lucky to have such great friends who are always willing to trade a day of hard work for a good meal and an ample supply of wine,” Stefania said.
