Seated at a picnic table at Sequoia Grove Winery, gazing out over the vineyards, high school sweethearts-turned-spouses Ramon and Sandra Guerrero looked at each other and mused, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to someday be able to have something like this.”
Now, 23 years after planting their first vine, Ramon and Sandra are excited to be opening the Amada Cellars tasting room in Los Alamos.
“For many of those years, between the time we planted the vines and the time we opened our tasting room, we were busy living our regular lives, making sure our children had everything they needed to succeed,” Ramon said. “Now that our children are all grown up, and Sandra and I have more time, it was the right time to begin thinking about the next step in this wine dream and to open a tasting room to expose more people to our brand, our stories, and our wine.”
Decades earlier, after Ramon graduated from medical school at UC Davis and completed his residency for anesthesiology in Texas, the couple decided to move back to California to be closer to family. In 2002, while searching for places to live on the Central Coast, they hoped to find a property with land, which ultimately led them to the Santa Ynez Valley.
“Everything was green and beautiful,” Ramon said. “It was along the banks of the Santa Ynez River. The river was flowing, and everything just looked beautiful about the property. Sandra and I fell in love with the property and decided to buy it.”
They planted their first vines shortly after buying the land, and knowing that it takes about three to five years to get a full harvest, Ramon decided to use that time to learn more about winemaking.
“I took enology courses at UC Davis,” he explained. “I started reading as much as I could about the winemaking process, and then, once we finally had a harvest, I learned from local winemakers. I kind of followed them once we had our vines that were mature, and we had our harvest.”
After that first harvest, Amada Cellars was born. The word amada means “beloved” in Spanish and honors Sandra’s grandmother, who, according to Ramon, was the “impetus” for the success of his and Sandra’s relationship while they were long-distance.
The same passion and dedication that guided them through long-distance dating, raising a family, and learning the art of winemaking is what ultimately shaped Amada Cellars. While anesthesiology and winemaking are completely distinct fields, Ramon explained how the former taught him the importance of precision, patience, and care.
“When we started this process, we came from very, very humble beginnings,” Ramon said. “So everything we do is with that in mind, and we have to take care of everything that we have and everything that we make. As an anesthesiologist, I was very meticulous with all the medications that I gave. We are very meticulous with our winemaking process because everything we have we value.”
This year, as part of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, three of Amada Cellars’ wines received medals. According to Ramon, they received a silver medal for their 2016 syrah noir, a gold medal for their 2019 syrah noir, and a double gold medal for their 2020 syrah noir.
Ramon said that the recent competition accolades show that they’re on the right track with “making a wine that people will fall in love with.”
He said he hopes that with the new tasting room, they will be able to give more people a taste of their wines and their story.
“In the next three to five years, we would like for Amada to be a fairly known household brand, at least here in the Central Coast and Southern California,” he said. “After that, if we’re successful enough, perhaps having distributors start distributing our wine further away with interstate commerce.”
Staff Writer Emma Montalbano can be reached at emontalbano@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Mar 20-30, 2025.
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