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In 2001, Rolando Herrera received the phone call of a lifetime. Unfortunately, he thought it was a practical joke.
The White House had left a message on his answering machine, asking him to return the call as soon as possible.
“They didn’t give any information regarding what the call was about, so I thought it was one of my brothers playing a trick on me,” said Herrera, the founder of Mi Sueño Winery in Napa. “After playing the message eight or nine times, I began to get nervous, but finally called back. It turned out the White House wanted my wine.”
The caller was Daniel Shanks, the White House wine buyer, who was seeking a bottle for a state dinner that President George W. Bush was hosting for Mexico’s president, Vicente Fox.
“He absolutely loved the wine — and so did Barbara Bush. She requested an entire case of our Chardonnay for her personal stash,” Herrera said. “To this day, it was one of my greatest honors.”
A chance encounter
Having his wine poured at the White House was a poignant moment for Herrera, who had started his career washing dishes as a teenager at the Auberge du Soleil restaurant in Napa Valley.
Born in El Llano, Michoacán, Herrera first arrived in St. Helena at age 8. He returned to Mexico for two years before moving permanently to the United States at 15, without his parents.
Living with his brother, he took odd jobs to get through high school — milking cows, working in vineyards and cooking in restaurants — while squeezing in homework whenever he could.
Then, in 1985, Herrera was recruited for what he was told was “a special job” for Warren Winiarski, the legendary founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.
Winiarski, whose Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon famously bested French competitors at the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting, was looking for workers to build a rock wall around his home.
“I was a little disappointed to find out I wouldn’t be working in the winery, but I couldn’t say no,” Herrera said. “There weren’t a lot of opportunities for minorities back then, so every job was sacred and a blessing.”
Almost immediately, Herrera impressed Winiarski with his work ethic and determination, especially for someone who was just 17.
When Winiarski learned Herrera would be leaving to finish his senior year at Napa High School, he offered him an evening harvest job on the spot.
“From the moment those big winery doors opened and I stepped into the cellar, I fell in love with the wine industry,” Herrera said. “The smells, the darkness, the barrels — I’d never experienced anything like it. It was a whole different world, and I knew it was where I wanted to be.”
Dreaming big
Over the next decade, Herrera rose to cellar master, overseeing Stag’s Leap’s wine program from grape to bottle. While some employees found Winiarski too serious or demanding, Herrera saw in him a kindred spirit.
“When I was growing up, trust and respect were something you earned by working hard,” Herrera said. “I come from very humble beginnings and was taught to take every job very seriously. So I appreciated his high standards.”
Eventually, Herrera’s ambitions grew beyond his role as cellar master. Determined to make his own wine, he went to work for Château Potelle on Mount Veeder, where the owners’ European roots would influence his approach to winemaking.
In 1997, Herrera married Lorena Robledo, a longtime friend whose parents had founded Robledo Family Winery in Sonoma Valley.
That same year, the newlyweds founded Mi Sueño Winery, launching the brand with a modest amount of Chardonnay, the only grapes they could afford.
“I’d always been a dreamer as a little kid, so Mi Sueño, or “my dream” in Spanish, seemed like a fitting name,” Herrera said. “My friends told me the name wasn’t marketable because it had an accent and might be difficult for some people to pronounce. But my wife told me to go with my heart. It doesn’t hurt to dream big.”
A sense of unity
Over the next two decades, Herrera expanded Mi Sueño while making wine for Vine Cliff Winery and Paul Hobbs Consulting. He also started a vineyard management company, growing grapes on land he owned and leased.
His passion for the wine industry remained paramount. But one issue continued to trouble him: The Mexican-American wine community lacked a sense of unity.
“There are many Mexican-American wine families here, and we all grew up very humbly. But there was a lot of distrust, jealousy and naivete among us back then,” Herrera said. “Instead of greeting each other, we’d turn the other way. I knew that had to stop.”
In 2010, the governor of Michoacán invited Herrera to pour his wine at the Michoacán State Fair in Morelia. Herrera agreed, but proposed inviting other Mexican-American wine families to pour alongside him.
“Half of them said no, but that didn’t matter. Ten of us said yes and were blown away by our shared experience,” he said. “Once we got home, we knew we had to stay united. That’s when we launched the Mexican-American Vintners Association, with me as founding president.”
Today, the nonprofit organization has 17 winery members who collaborate to promote the Mexican-American wine industry and support one another. The Herreras remain involved.
“When we formed the organization, we didn’t realize we were the first Mexican-American wine industry association in the United States,” Herrera said. “It’s something I’m very proud of.”
Sarah Doyle is the wine and beverage reporter at The Press Democrat. Send her story ideas at sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com
Comunidad
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