L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano F amily life is made of plenty of things: of simplicity and mun- danity, of smiles and fights, of daily routi- ne and special moments, of love and many, many memories. Family life, when you think of it, is at the very heart of everyone's personal heritage and personal "traditions:" what we eat on Christmas Day, the way we fold shirts, the recipe of tagliatelle, the way we cook our Sunday roast, it all comes down to how our family has always done it, to the way our mothers and grandmothers told us their own mothers and grandmothers used to do it. All this stands true for the Ribolis, with an important addi- tion: their family life and tradi- tions are at the heart of LA's Italian-American heritage, an essential sign of the relevance of Italian-American businesses in US economy and, not lastly, a living image of how an American dream, given resilien- ce, creativity and determination, can indeed come true. We of L'Italo-Americano h a d a c h a t w i t h D a n t e Colombatti, fourth generation family member of Riboli Family W i n e s o f t h e S a n A n t o n i o Winery, and grandchild of its patriarch, Stefano Riboli, who recently passed away. With him, we discussed the family busi- n e s s ' h i s t o r y a n d c u r r e n t projects, but also took a walk down memory lane, chatting about Stefano and how his love for wine making was passed on to his children and grandchil- dren. Dante, tell us something about the history of the win- ery, how did it all start? When the winery opened in 1917 there were over 100 bond- ed wineries surrounding ours in w h a t i s n o w D o w n t o w n L o s Angeles. All of those wineries w e n t o u t o f b u s i n e s s d u r i n g P r o h i b i t i o n i n 1 9 2 0 , b u t w e stayed strong. The San Antonio Winery made its path and stayed in business by shifting its gears a n d w o r k i n g w i t h t h e A r c h d i o c e s e o f S o u t h e r n California making altar wine. To this day we are the number one provider of altar wine in the United States. Throughout all of prohibition we stayed true to our roots, selling wine legally during a t i m e w h e n s o m a n y o t h e r wineries collapsed. At the age of 14, Stefano, my grandfather, helped his uncle grow and change the winery, taking the business to the next l e v e l . L a t e r i n l i f e , h i s w i f e Maddalena came in, and once again propelled the business to even greater heights. The original winery was built using the box cart pieces from the Southern Pacific Railroad, which still exists to the day run- n i n g a l o n g s i d e t h e w i n e r y . Some of the box cart pieces are still being stored on property. The original "winery," which was a small room, is now one of our banquet halls, The Vintage Room. You can rent out the room for parties and events. A d d i t i o n a l l y , w e a r e America's original urban win- ery. This is a phrase that has been heard a lot lately, "urban wineries" or "urban breweries" but we started the trend over 100 years ago. What are the first, fondest memories you have of the win- ery and the vineyards? Starting from a young age, t h e o n e t h i n g I r e a l l y l o v e d learning about was the people. I loved learning how to nurture our customers and understand how to provide them with the best quality of service and the b e s t q u a l i t y p r o d u c t . T h e biggest thing for both me, my family, and everyone here is understanding that, no matter where the customer is coming from financially or culturally, everyone is treated equally. We have a very diverse clientele and it is important that we all appre- ciate and understand that. Additionally, in our family, you grow up learning to be a steward of the earth and to treat the land with respect in order to produce a product of the highest quality. That mentality stays with each and everyone of our family members and is some- thing every generation makes sure the next takes to heart and understands. I think this sets us apart from all other wineries. You own three estates, in Paso Robles, Monterey and Napa, for a total of ten vine- yards, and you produce a wide variety of wines: do you have a personal favorite? Being a millennial, I love all the fun blends we produce. I think there is something differ- ent and exciting about blends and the ones that we have com- ing out of Paso Robles stand out to me the most. My favorite is our Opaque Darkness, which is a zinfandel heavy red blend. I like it for multiple reasons. The first being the packaging, I think every great bottle of wine needs equally great packaging and the Opaque label stands out. Next, the juice. Opaque Darkness is a v e r y s m o o t h w i n e t h a t g o e s down easily, has a full body and is very well balanced. Perfect to pair with most meals! You have been producing wines in Europe, too, in Italy and in Portugal. Why did you decide to expand your produc- tion to the Old Continent, as well? T h e f u n t h i n g t o d o w h e n looking at the Old Continent for wine production is finding the trailblazers that are doing fun, new things. A lot of wine mak- ers in Europe have the same mentality they have had for hun- d r e d s o f y e a r s , w h i c h i s n o t always conducive to the mentali- t y o f t o d a y ' s c o n s u m e r i n America. We wanted to find people to partner with that are looking towards the future and are creative thinkers, but at the same time, stay connected to our roots. We partnered with these trailblazers to create exciting brands for the American con- sumer, like Mariella Rosé and Stella Rosa. Your grandfather Stefano, the patriarch of San Antonio Winery, has recently passed away: do you have a fun or meaningful story about him you'd like to share with us? My grandfather, Stefano, was an extremely kind, thoughtful, and loving person. He always treated the people and the com- munity with respect. He taught me many lessons, from having empathy and respect for others, to always building for a bigger and better future. One thing I always remem- b e r , w a s h i s a t t e n t i o n t o t h e smallest details. My grandfather was always someone who was very aware of details. Details meant a lot to him. A great story I like to share is from when I was about 7 years old. I was helping him at the winery, learning as kids love to do and he was teaching me how to properly fold wine boxes. After much trial and error of boxes breaking through the bot- tom and bottles falling out, I finally got it down right. My grandfather made sure I paid very close attention to every detail, down to learning the cor- rect way to fold a wine box, and that is a lesson I still take to heart today. The Riboli family. Top row left to right: Anthony, Lisa, Steve, Cathy, Santo, Christopher, Dante. Bottom row: Stefano, Maddalena Italian tradition at the heart of LA: the San Antonio Winery and the history of the Riboli family SIMONE SCHIAVINATO LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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