Stella Rosa wine is a nectar from the vintner deities. Like, seriously. I drink a lot of wine, go to lots of wine tastings, find new flavors…but I always find my way back to Stella. I had the great pleasure of meeting the owner at the Science of Wine event hosted by the Pink Palace Museum this summer. While there, I directed everyone to the SA Winery table. At some point, I found that I was guiding the guests around the many varietals being offered.
Just before my trip to LA, my hubby and I volunteered for the Wine on the River event hosted by iHeart Radio and benefitting Youth Villages. We ended up pouring at a table of dry wines and when the guests searched for something a bit sweeter, I expertly and efficiently directed them in the direction of both the Stella Rosa and San Antonio wine tables.
Hi, my name is Katherine and I’m a Stella-holic.
I recently got the opportunity to visit friends in Los Angeles and, after enduring rage-inducing traffic that turned a 15 min journey into an hour-long trial, made my way over to the San Antonio Winery, which is home of Stella Rosa Wines. But in actuality, that was totally my fault. I dared make the journey at 4 pm, which was smack in the middle of rush hour traffic. It was extra-inconvenient because I missed the last tour of the winery for the day *sad face*
Nevertheless, my journey to Cali was complete with this visit. I was so happy! I’d actually made it to the winery! And then I walked in…
Imagine this x5. This is the best sight ever…second only to the numbers going down on the scale every once in a while. Even though I missed the tour of the facility, I was still able to partake in a quick tasting. Matt Coleman was the winery representative who helped me. He was super helpful and very knowledgeable about all of the selections. The winery allows you to sample 3 wines from their extensive menu at no charge; you can pay a few bucks and actually have a larger tasting, if you’d like. There were a lot to choose from, but I got lucky in that I’ve drank almost all of the wines in their Stella line, so it narrowed down the ones from which I had to choose.
First up was the Chocolate Bar. I wasn’t aware that SA Winery made or carried this but after trying another chocolate wine at the WOTR event, I had to see who could win this chocolate wine contest…that I totally made up. It’s a dark red dessert wine, infused with chocolate and cocoa. It truly tasted like liquid chocolate and for someone who loves chocolate and wine equally, it’s an amazingly dangerous combination. Totally bought one to bring home with me.
Next up was the Santo Stefano Lambrusco. It was a lightly bubbly red, with a semi-sweet fruit taste. I was impressed with this wine because I’m a huge sweet wine drinker. The Lambrusco, named after the founder, was surprisingly to my taste. Scored one of these for the home team too!
My last sample was the Maddalena. This line is the matriarch’s special collection. It’s a true red, dry and non-sweet. It wasn’t one of my favorites, but I was excited to try something different. The hubby would have really enjoyed this one.
I roamed through the gift shop and checked out the cutest gifts! I definitely had to grab one of these “boozy” spaghetti sauces. Marinara sauce infused with Stella Rosa wine was the flavor of the trip and I can’t wait to make an authentic Italian pasta dish with this… Mama Maddalena Riboli definitely knows what she’s doing!
…and speaking of pasta…how neat are these linguine noodles?! It really doesn’t take much to amuse me and I was tickled at the different colors. There was a lot of bowtie pasta in various colors too; I wish I had enough room to bring it all back because I’m a sucker for pasta, second only to wine 😉
I also ran across the Stella-ween sleeves that are pretty much coveted around Halloween. I vote that the public should have some of these sleeves for every holiday…
To be honest, at this point I’m a little tipsy and giggly. Rule of thumb: don’t taste on an empty stomach! Luckily for my lack of thinking ahead, there’s a restaurant at the winery, so I made my way back to the food that I so desperately needed.
I went back and looked for the menu. On top of doing the tasting first, I was starving! I saw the table with all of the food, not letting it dawn on me that this was the menu. Duh. One day, I’ll have to tell you about my TCBY debacle.
Everything looked so delicious and I was trying really hard to stick to my stringent low-carb diet. Did I tell you how much I love pasta?
Even the salads were beautiful but my vacation brain was like eaaat the pastaaaa…
I ended up ordering the kid-portion spaghetti and meatballs. Honestly, it was a struggle to finish it because it was so much food! It was molto delizioso! In reality, 2 people can actually split a meal but my inability to eat more than a 9 year old kinda makes me feel like a quitter.
There’s a lot of history at the San Antonio winery. They were founded in 1917 and even survived through the Prohibition years by marketing their wines as altar wines for the churches…seriously smart marketing to keep the winery going strong!
And speaking of the winery going strong…2017 celebrates the centennial of the winery! There are 2 other locations but the Los Angeles location is the original spot on which the entire establishment was created and flourished. They are a celebrated and integral part of the downtown community. I’ve absolutely got to get the hubby back out to LA and I seriously think that being a part of this marked occasion is reason enough to make the journey back across the country in a few months 🙂
If you’ve never tried Stella Rosa wine, you’re seriously missing out! Head to your nearest liquor store (or retailer) and grab some as fast as you can! Stella Rosa Black, Stella Rosa Originale and Stella Rosa Platinum should be the first on your list!
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