L.A.'s last winery has aged well

By Daisy Nguyen
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The sole survivor of Los Angeles' once booming wine industry is in a gritty area just north of downtown, surrounded by a cement plant, parcel shipping depot and commuter rail line.

Wine taster Arnaud Debons, originally from France, tests the maturity of wine in oak barrels in the cellars of the San Antonio Winery. Los Angeles residents remain loyal to their hometown winery. Damian Dovarganes • Associated Press

A family business since 1917, it survived hard times and changing tastes among consumers by selling altar wine to churches and delivering table wine to the homes of immigrants who settled in the city and went to work for the Southern Pacific railroad.

"My parents always say, 'Try different things, go for it, don't sit back and live off the laurels,' " said Steve Riboli, vice president and marketing director.

"That makes us strive to always do better."

Today, San Antonio is among the top 30 wineries in California, producing about 400,000 cases a year at its sites in Los Angeles and Paso Robles. It's also one of the nation's largest suppliers of altar wines, which are produced according to canon law that forbids additives and preservatives.

"They've gone through cycles, had to deal with Prohibition, fell off people's radar and have come back," said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. "They've survived in what's become a very tough industry."

About 10 percent of San Antonio's business comes from parishes nationwide, and its wines are even featured at the gift shop of the new downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Sold under the cathedral's own label — with prices ranging from $6 for a bottle of white Zinfandel to $25 for Cabernet Sauvignon — the wines are made under a unique partnership with the Los Angeles archdiocese.

The reigning family patriarch is 83-year-old Santo Riboli, who came from the Lombardy region of Italy in 1937 to help his uncle run the business. Riboli recalled a time when dozens of wineries lined the Los Angeles River and dotted the nearby Lincoln Heights neighborhood.

Like San Antonio, the wineries bought grapes from outlying vineyards and made and sold inexpensive wine, mostly to immigrants.

"This was just a garage when I started," said Riboli, who was 17 then. "The night I arrived here, my uncle taught me how to wash barrels."

Throughout Prohibition, the Catholic family stayed afloat by supplying sacramental wine to local parishes. It also delivered jugs to homes and restaurants instead of relying only on the business of local bars.

"Faith has given us strength, especially in hard times like the recessions," Steve Riboli said.

Later, when agricultural land in Los Angeles County gave way to development, San Antonio began buying grapes elsewhere in the state. The family also opened the downtown winery for tours and wine-tasting at an onsite Italian restaurant.

Other Riboli family members involved in the operation are Santo Jr. and nephew Anthony, one of the company's three winemakers.

The younger generation has helped expand the winery's reach by purchasing 525 acres of vineyards up and down the state and producing higher-end varieties of wine. The privately owned company does not release financial figures.

Through the years, even as a nearby train repair yard closed and residents moved away, Los Angeles has remained loyal to its hometown winery. Steve Riboli said about 85 percent of purchases at the in-house wine shop are made by locals; the rest by tourists.

Children and grandchildren of former customers often return to buy wine by the case, he said.

"We made the decision a long time ago to stay in L.A. and be the winery of the immigrants, not leave because our customer base of Italians dissipated," Steve Riboli said. "We know the customers have choices, that it might be sexier to drive to Santa Barbara and taste wine. So we try to treat our customers well, and most of them tend to come back."