San Antonio Winery
Los Angeles grew wine before it grew movies. One winery from that first era never stopped — on the same downtown street since 1917, and still run by the family that kept it alive.
It is easy to forget that Los Angeles was California’s first wine city — vineyards ran along the river before Napa meant anything at all. Prohibition and the growing city erased nearly every trace. The great exception is San Antonio Winery, founded in 1917 by Santo Cambianica, who named it for Saint Anthony and carried it through the dry years on sacramental wine. More than a century later it still stands on the same block of Lamar Street, run by four generations of the Riboli family — the city’s last working piece of its first wine era.
The visit is pure Los Angeles time travel: a brick winery in an industrial corner of downtown, a barrel-lined tasting hall, and the warmth of the family’s long-running Italian restaurant alongside. And the old house has a thoroughly modern second act — it is the home of Stella Rosa, the Riboli family’s sweet-and-sparkling juggernaut and one of the best-known wine brands in America. History in front, a phenomenon out back.
What to expect
| Go for | The last working winery of Los Angeles’s first wine era — a century of family history in one city block |
|---|---|
| The house | On Lamar Street since 1917; carried through Prohibition on sacramental wine; four generations of the Riboli family |
| The twist | Home of Stella Rosa — the historic cellar behind one of America’s best-known wine brands |
| From the valley | The city day — roughly an hour and a half northwest of Temecula, freeway willing |
Featured videos
A century of Lamar Street — the Riboli family, the historic cellar, and the Stella Rosa machine on film.
More beyond the valley
Every entry here had to be worth leaving Temecula for — and worth the drive back.