In 1994, when my father first came home and said he was going to start making wine, my sisters and I were not surprised. My father, Marcelo, has always been a maverick. There was nothing he did that wasn’t impressive. He had a natural ability to garden, cook, make fresh bread, paint motorcycles and anything else he set his sights on. Still, I must admit – and so would he – that we’d rather not talk about those first few batches of wine!
All joking aside, even in the very beginning my father taught my sisters and I a core value that we still hold dear: to never stop improving. We live and die by that philosophy, and every day we try to the best of our ability to do so. We apply this mantra to every aspect of our winery and we strive to improve all areas of our little company with two laser-focused goals. The first is to produce the absolute best wines possible, period. The second is to offer our guests an experience that they can cherish for years to come.
So often we have guests that come in and reminisce about the days when our tasting room looked like a converted four car garage. If you look closely enough it still does because that’s exactly what it is! Others remember when we would make wine in the tasting room while people were tasting wine! I can remember plenty of instances where we would have to interrupt a tasting halfway through because we had to go punch down the bin of fermenting fruit in the corner of the room! As the winery has grown over the years, we have remained focused on our goals of producing some of the best wines in Temecula Valley and to provide exceptional experiences.
In December of 2018, we received notice that Doffo Winery had been nominated for Visit Temecula Valley’s Cilurzo Award for Winery of the Year. This was not the first time we had been nominated, but this year promised to be different. Our local tourism board had re-evaluated the way the selection was done and revamped the entire process. Now wineries in consideration not only submitted a questionnaire summarizing their accomplishments, but were also visited by an ad hoc committee. Based on the committee’s observations, a third party secret shopper was then sent to visit each of the top finalists and report back to the board on their customer service experience. The tourism board would consider all of the criteria and select the winner without leaving any room for speculation.
As the award ceremony date arrived our family stirred in anticipation. We were fresh off the victory of our 2016 Zinfandel winning “Best Red” in the Temecula Valley and we were nervous that the Tourism Board might want to spread the love. We were up against some major players in our Valley, including properties that have invested heavily in facilities and amenities. However, we knew as in any competition, that we had a fighting chance.
When the presenter names Doffo Winery as the recipient of the award, all Doffo family and staff in attendance were surprised and ecstatic! As I stumbled through a thank you speech, I was overwhelmed with emotions and memories. Memories of all of the countless hours my father put into the vineyard, the grueling days of each harvest, and all the
behind-the-scenes work that encompasses running a small winery, came flooding back. All of those memories and emotions then pointed to only one person, and he was standing right next to me on that stage.
This award means so much more to us than the marketing material or the bragging rights. It’s much bigger than that. It was the moment in which my father’s legacy had been inked into the history books of our beloved Temecula Valley. Our family’s legacy is now forever a part of our wine country. The guy that started a winery in a four car garage had been recognized for all of his effort, time, dedication, passion and love that has been poured into our small plot of earth.
As the children of a maverick entrepreneur, we can only hope to live up to and deliver in the same way that he did. We are all committed to continuing his legacy and delivering to our loyal fans the very best of what our family has to offer.
