"Piacere" - we are pleased to meet you. We are the two founding owners of Gadino Cellars, Bill Gadino and Aleta Saccuti Gadino, who share a similar Italian heritage of home winemaking. Our grandfathers immigrated from Italy in the early 1900's and brought with them the custom of making wine for their family and neighborhood. These rustic and often robust wines were part of our daily lives. As children, we were permitted a small glass during Sunday and holiday meals. The love of a glass of wine with good food and family was instilled in both of us at an early age. Needless to say, technology has come a long way since then.

While living in California, we visited many small wineries and started on our own journey into amateur winemaking. In 1983, our first vintage, a hearty backyard Zinfandel was produced placing ourselves steadfastly in the footsteps of our Italian grandfathers. Despite a move to the East Coast in 1984, Bill arranged for grapes to be shipped from California. This "Gadino Vino" crafted in the cellar of our home continued to improve each vintage year. Our relatives and friends were the grateful recipients of our labor of love.

Several years later, the emerging Virginia wine market caught our attention with the ever improving quality of a handful of new wineries. In 1989, harboring a dream of someday running our own commercial winery, Bill and Aleta purchased fifteen acres of land in Rappahannock County, Virginia. We began planting vines and for the next twelve years we managed the vineyard from afar as "weekend warriors" traveling from our Fairfax home. Our commitment was truly a labor of love and determination.

We always looked forward to our yearly harvest festival when friends, family and acquaintances braved whatever the weather presented and helped us harvest several tons of grapes. We couldn't have done it without them! The Cabernet Franc harvest from our vineyard was sold exclusively to a newly established local winery from which many medals were garnered. The rest of our harvest filled our wine cellar throughout the years as our noncommercial Echo Ridge wines. During these years we observed that the rolling land in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains yielded fruity, spicy wines, particularly our Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

With an eye toward retirement in 2002, we built a home on our Rappahannock property. Finally, we took the leap to open our own commercial winery when our daughter Stephanie and her husband Derek showed interest. Ground was broken for Gadino Cellars in April 2004. The cellar was dug into a ten foot hillside to maintain a more constant temperature for wine production. With only days to spare before our 2004 grape harvest, the construction of the cellar was completed. Our first crush followed utilizing the latest winemaking equipment and processes.

We are excited to carry on the family tradition and believe these wines would make our grandfathers proud. Having come full circle we hope to pass on the passion for winemaking to the next generation.