Rotta Family

Grandson Micheal Giubbini and Rotta Winery Continued Adversity

After court battles and litigation with John and Della Mertens who purchased the Rotta land and vineyards after his grandmother’s death, Mike was able to retain 40 acres of the original Rotta farm in 1990. He planted 15 acres with Zinfandel vines and 5 acres in Cabernet Sauvignon. He later planted 8 more acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 8 acres in a new varietal, Merlot. The vineyard became known as the Giubbini Vineyard. Mike focused more and more on cultivating Zinfandel vines and sold his grapes to Castoro Cellars until 2002. Castoro Cellars Winery designated his vineyard, Giubbini Vineyard, on their label.

Mike and Steve Pesenti became partners in the business venture to refurbish and reopen the Rotta Winery in 2002. In 2003, Mike Giubbini retained the firm of Steven D. Pults, A.I.A, and Associates at 3450 Broad Street in San Luis Obispo to prepare a Historic Resource Inventory and Preliminary Structure Evaluation for the Rotta Winery at 250 Winery Road in Templeton. The research was done by Betsy Bertrando of Bertrando and Bertrando Research Consultants at 267 Foothill Blvd, San Luis Obispo and completed in July. In December, the San Simeon Earthquake struck. The quake was 6.6 in magnitude and damaged the winery extensively.

In February 2004, Mike and Sharon Giubbini retained Betsy to prepare documentation showing the effects of the earthquake on the existing old winery buildings. They were unable to rebuild the old winery but selected a site nearby where they built a state of the art facility with over 5,000 square feet. The winery was completed in 2006. A new winemaker, Mark Caporale from Napa Valley is hired as a winemaker and replaced Steve Pesenti. Rotta winery became a tourist destination. The Financial Crisis of 2008 profoundly affected the wine industry in San Luis Obispo County. Cash flow and the sales of wine declined significantly. Mike sold to new owners in 2013.

Rotta Family Timeline

1857: Giacomo Rotta is born on August 6 in Roncola Italy. (He will become the father of Gerome and Clement Rotta.)

1884: Anitta Carminati is born on May 28 in Godo, Switzerland. (She will become the wife of Gerome Rotta in America.)

1885: Girolamo (also known as Gerome Rotta and Joe Rotta) is born on November 16 in Roncola, Italy to Giacomo and Adelaida Rotta.

1889: Erminio (Emilio) Rotta is born February 18 in Roncole, Italy to Giacomo and Adelaida Rotta.

1890: The family moves to Godo, Bellinzona, in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland.

1890: Clement Rotta is born on October 30 in Roncola, Italy to Giacomo and Adelaida Rotta.

1891: Adolphe Siot purchases Lot 234 (located in Deed Records Book 11 on Page 345) for $485.40 in Templeton from the West Coast Land Company. He is listed in County Records as a farmer.

1895: Romilda Jeresa Cavagna is born on May 30. (She will marry Clement Rotta.)

1895: Adelaida Rotta, the mother of Joe, Emilio, and Clement Rotta dies in Godo, Switzerland.

1901: Adolphe Siot is listed as a farmer in the San Luis Obispo Register.

1901: Adolphe Siot establishes his winery.

1905: Gerome (Joe) Rotta arrives in San Francisco from Switzerland. His father, Giacomo, was a dairy farmer and Joe finds employment in a dairy in Vallejo and then at another dairy in Marin County.

1905: Joe joins his brother, Clement, in St. Helena in the Napa Valley to establish a bakery.

1907: Anitta Carminetti arrives in California from Godo, Bellinzona, in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland.

1908: Joe and Clement sell their bakery in St. Helena.

1908: Joe Rotta purchases 120 acres of land from Adophe Siot. Joe and Anitta develop the farm, plant their garden and purchase chickens and livestock.

1909: Joe Rotta marries Miss Anitta Carminetti in Napa, California.

1912: The Great Register lists Adolphe Siot as a vineyardist. Joe Rotta is not listed.

1912-1920: Winery is built of stone with a retaining wall against the north side of the building which backed up to the hill. The rest of the structure was wood. The bunkhouse, garage and storage sheds were built of wood around this time also. Redwood tanks, made in San Francisco, for fermenting wine, smaller barrels for storing the wine, and a ratchet press are among equipment purchased.

1915:Clement Rotta and Romilda are married on October 16.

1916: Irene Delores Rotta, daughter of Clement and Romilda, is born on July 10 in King City, California.

1924: Mervin Arthur Rotta is born on September 30 in San Francisco, California.

1925: Joe and Anitta Rotta sell their land, home, vineyard and winery to Clement and Romilda Rotta.

1930: Basket Screw Top Press is used in the winery.

1934: Winery was bonded as No. 3976.

1941: Robert Joseph Giubbini is born to Irene and Joseph Giubbini on October 4.

1944: James Allen Giubbini is born to Irene and Joseph Giubbini on October 12.

1951: Clement Rotta hires his first farm hand to work in the vineyards. His name was Joe.

1952-1953: Wine Growers Report of Wine Produced shows that the total gallons are 27,904. The License Fee is $75.00 The fees are as follows:
5,000 gallons or less: $ 20.00
5,000 to 20,000 gallons: $ 40.00
20,000 to 100,000 gallons: $ 75.00
100,000 to 200,000 gallons: $100.00
200,000 to 1,000,000 gallons :$150.00

1953: Michael Dennis Giubbini is born to Irene and Joseph Giubbini on May 10 in Palo Alto.

1954: Clement files with the Treasury Department for a new Bond to supersede Bond No. 2641766. The Bond is for $35,500.00, dated January 5th.

1955: Ricky Paul Giubbini is born to Irene and Joseph Giubbini on June 7.

1955: Rotta Winery becomes a Member of the Wine Institute on March 1st.

1958: Joe Rotta dies on April 28, in Santa Maria.

1959: Robert Giubbini graduates from high school in Meno Park

1959: Robert works on the Rotta Family farm, vineyards and winery all through his childhood to 1959 on vacations and during the summer. He learns how to drive the 1945 Willys Jeep, and how to drive a stick shift. His grandfather had a World War II four-wheel-drive army truck which he used to haul grain.

1959: Robert attends San Jose State but flunks out and enrolls in Junior College.

1959 to 1962: Robert continues to work on the Rotta Family Farm, vineyards and winery on vacations and during the summer. In the 1960s Bob fondly remembers driving a self-propelled Harvester down Vineyard Drive to Highway 101 over a rolling landscape. He remembers jumping and bouncing over the hills.

1960s: Customers include the Basque sheepherders who would bring their barrels and have them filled with Zinfandel wine.The unfiltered hearty Zinfandel is an excellent example of a good old-fashioned Italian country wine. A gallon of wine sells for $2.25 according to Michael Giubbini, grandson of Romilda.

1960s: Customers serve themselves in the barrel room. Old-timers would fill their own gallon jugs and leave the 50 cents in the cigar box on top of one of the barrels.

1963: Seller’s Permit for sales taxes issued in July 1963.

1963: Clement Rotta dies On July 11 in San Francisco.

1963: Romilda struggles to keep the winery operation running. Her grandsons Bob and Mike Giubbini work on the farm during school holidays and summers. There were several farmhands who continue to work.

1965: A new residence is built on the property for Romilda.

1967: Romilda’s son Mervin and his wife, Jean, move onto the property and manage the vineyard, the winery, and the other crops. Richard Sauret always helps Mervin prune and harvest in the Rotta Vineyard. Richard remembers that grapes in the vineyard were not Mervin’s favorite crop to farm.

1968: Emilio Rotta died on July 18, in Bellinzona, Switzerland. He and his wife lived in Switzerland during their married life. Their children also lived there. None of them immigrated to the United States.

1970: Annita Rotta, Joe Rotta’s wife, dies on June 13, in Santa Maria, California.

1970: One of the 7,000-gallon redwood casks is converted to the tasting room. The tasting room had a 55-gallon barrel with the Zinfandel wine ready for tasting. Romilda placed jugs on the barrel and those customers who came to taste filled the jug and enjoyed the wine.

1970s: Customers include hippies. “During the hippie days, a lot of people came up here and got the organic wine. We never added anything to it. The wine was touted as natural and organic by the era’s flower children so the appearance of natural elements like the occasional leaf or spider leg was applauded.” Quote by Vicki Dauth, Paso Robles Press, Wednesday, May 15, 2002.

1971: Mike Giubbini moved to San Luis Obispo County to attend Cal Poly State University. He continues to help Romilda with the vineyard and the winery. He lives at the house with her while attending Cal Poly.

1971: The 1971 Sunset Magazine California Wine Book dedicates one page to San Luis Obispo County stating, “All the county has only 400 acres of vines, centered on Templeton where three wineries crush most of the crop. These are neither large nor widely known these days, but they do have a colorful history. The specialty is always Zinfandel. The names are Pesenti, Rotta, and York.”

1973: Michael Giubbini and Sharon married. Michael drops out of Cal Poly to pursue a new career.

1974: Jason Michael Giubbini is born to Michael and Sharon Giubbini on August 13.

1974: Mike chooses fire fighting as a career and is employed by the Forestry Service for 30 years. Around this time Irene Giubbini and Mervin Rotta make the decision to sell the Rotta Winery. They “thought it would be too hard on the grandkids to run a winery,” according to Mike Giubbini.

1976: Romilda Rotta dies on September 24, in Templeton, California.

1976: James Allen Giubbini, son of Irene and Joseph Giubbini dies on October 26.

1976: The following description written in 1976 is printed in the Sunset publication California Wine Country, February 1977, “Rotta Winery, one mailbox from Pesenti, has a longer history. The winery is housed in a white barn-like structure. Visitors can amble through with a guide who will point out which parts go back to founder Siot and then end up with a practical tasting of the Zinfandel and other wines.”

1976: Rotta Winery is sold to John and Della Mertens. They renamed the winery Las Tablas.

1979: Irene Giubbini, daughter of Clement and Romilda Rotta, dies on April 4, in Palo Alto.

1979: John and Della Mertens, owners of Las Tablas Winery, are upgrading outworn cooperage and equipment. They are also renovating the winery. The Mertens are producing the same wines as the Rotta Winery had made: Dry Zinfandel, off-dry Zinfandel, sweet Zinfandel, and a Muscat. They have added a new white wine, varietal unknown. The tasting room is housed in the 7,000-gallon redwood tank attached to the front of the main aging cellar.

1990: Michael Giubbini repurchases some of the original winery and vineyard property and begins to rebuild the vineyards. He replants the 37-acre old family vineyard with 20 acres of Zinfandel, some of the vines on their own rootstock and some on St. George rootstock. He also plants some Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab Franc. Mike moves from producing the old field blend in the vineyard to produce varietal wines. Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are now on his labels.

1990 to 2002: Mike Giubbini’s Zinfandel grapes are sold to Castoro Cellars with the Giubbini vineyard designated on the bottle.

1995: In March, journalist Vicki Dauth writes that the old winery with its redwood tasting room still stands on Winery Road west of Templeton but has not been in operation since the late 1970s.

1995 to 2013: Mike and Sharon Giubbini live in Romilda’s home constructed in 1965.

2001: With the rapid expansion of the Paso Robles AVA, Mike Giubbini decides to resume operations at Rotta Winery.

2002: Michael Giubbini applies for a bond to reestablish the Rotta Winery.

2002: Drawing of the original winery is produced.

2002: Mike and Steve Pesenti become partners in the business venture to refurbish and reopen the Rotta Winery.

2003: Mike moves ahead with plans to reopen the original Rotta Winery. He hires the firm of Bertrando and Bertrando to prepare the Historic Structures Report. Mike hopes to establish the historic importance of the winery as he seeks to apply for building permits.

2003: Robert Giuibbini and Jason Giubbini work with Mike in the vineyards.

2003: Steve Pesenti is named as the winemaker at Rotta Winery.

2003: San Simeon Earthquake rocks SLO County in December and damages the Rotta Winery. The magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the Central Coast and severely damages the original winery buildings.

2004: In February, the firm of Bertrando and Bertrando prepares an addition to the structural report chronically the earthquake damage.

2006: Rotta Tasting Room Bar opens at Cider Creek in Templeton.

2006: With financing and permits in place, a new Rotta winery with state of the art construction and equipment is completed on the original winery site.

2006: Mark Caporale from Napa Valley is hired as a winemaker. He was raised in a family of Zinfandel winemakers who make wine for their own enjoyment. He allows nature to do the work and does not actively intervene in the process.

2007: Mike builds a new tasting room.

2008: The Financial Crisis of 2008 spreads worldwide, slowing global economic growth and causing hardship for millions in the United States.

2010: Mark Caporale, the winemaker, becomes Mike’s partner. They make 10,000 cases from the 2009 harvest. Most of the grapes are sourced from Mike’s 20 acres of estate Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. Many of the gnarled vines have grown on the steep hillside for more than fifty years, farmed in the old head-pruned, dry-farmed old-world tradition.

2010: Mike Giubbini is honored at the annual Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival as this year’s Zinfandel Blend Master working with 33 Zinfandel wines donated by participating wineries to create the Collaborative Zinfandel Blend. It is poured and auctioned at the Saturday event.

2013: The Rotta Winery is sold for an undisclosed sum.