Owners- Walter & Sylvia Filippini
Le Vigne Winery is the culmination of a love of food, wine and family shared by owners Walter and Sylvia Filippini.
Walter Filippini spent his younger years at his parent’s home in the lakeside town of Como, Italy and spent many summers working with his grandparents on their vineyard in the agriculturally rich region of Valtellina. As Walter grew, he developed a passion for cooking and the kitchen – an important facet of Italian life.
By the age of 15, Walter entered the Culinary Institute in San Pellegrino, Italy. During the summers he worked at the Excelsior Palace Hotel in Venice and the Grande Albergo Villa d’Este in Como. He specialized in “Gastronomia,” the artful presentation of cold food dishes. Walter is very talented in this field, and won Italy’s National Chef’s competition for a delectable display of pheasant pate in 1981.
Then Walter met famed film producer Dino de Laurentiis, who hired him to start up the “DDL Food Show,” a trendsetting Italian food store in New York City. This concept was such a success that Walter was sent west to Beverly Hills, California to open up a west coast version. Later on he worked at Verdi Restaurant in Santa Monica as well as becoming a partner in the Italcheese Company.
Sylvia Filippini grew up in Southern California, spending her weekends and summers away from Los Angeles in the beautiful Paso Robles countryside on the family ranch, where she learned about field crops such as hay, and cattle raising. She went on to work at the at the family cheese distribution company. While trying to get the exclusive distribution rights of the Italcheese Company, she met Walter and ended up finding her own “exclusive”. Soon after, they were married, and raised two children, Domenico and Kiara.
The couple owns and operates Peacock Cheese an importing and distributing company that handles high quality cheese and food items from around the world. In 2001 Walter and Sylvia acquired Le Vigne Winery from Sylvia’s family and began adding their unique touches to the winery’s offerings. They have expanded the tasting room’s selections to include gourmet cheeses and other high quality food items that are the perfect complement to wines from Le Vigne. Not long after purchasing the winery, they acquired a home and additional acreage adjacent to the estate. This has allowed the family to spend more time at the estate and be more involved in the daily functions of the winery. It has also allowed them to plant a small amount of olives to be cultivated for olive oil, as well as begin raising pigs, sheep and miniature donkeys, bringing the feeling of the Italian country side to Paso Robles.
