Amada Cellars Builds a Home

Ramon and Sandra Guerrero Finally Return Their Family to Santa Barbara County

Ramon and Sandra Guerrero of Amada Cellars | Credit: Courtesy

Now is probably a good time to dust off that original notion of the American dream, in which education, determination, and hard work leads to success — even, if not especially, for immigrants. Add to that a love of family, a thriving next generation, and intense passion for an avocation — in this case, wine — and you’ve got the outline for the story of Amada Cellars, the vineyard and winery owned by Ramon and Sandra Guerrero.

Ramon Guerrero works the press at Amada Cellars | Credit: Courtesy

More than two decades after buying their own slice of land and planting a vineyard near the Santa Ynez River, the Guerreros just opened their first tasting room on a prominent corner in Los Alamos. They’ll be celebrating with a party on April 19.

“Everything we do is crafted with love,” Ramon explained to me in an email introducing himself and convincing me to visit. “Amada means ‘beloved’ in Spanish. Our logo represents a dahlia. The dahlia is the national flower of Mexico, and this symbol connects us to our Mexican heritage. At the core of the dahlia is a heart. The heart represents the love, warmth, and compassion that defines our culture.”

Both Ramon and Sandra were born in Mexico — he in Guadalajara, she in Juarez — but arrived in the Santa Barbara area by junior high, he graduating from Santa Barbara High, she from Dos Pueblos two years later. He decided to become a doctor after a teacher convinced him to participate in a science fair, where he decided to study asthma because he’d dealt with that since childhood. In what would never be allowed today, Guerrero pricked his fellow students’ fingers, tested their blood, and found that those who had asthma all had high levels of a certain white blood cell. His exhibit won the tri-county competition.

“I was pretty much a big geek in high school,” he admitted. But at a multi-school function during his senior year, Ramon asked a sophomore girl named Sandra to dance. “We’ve been together ever since,” he said. “It’s been over 45 years.”

Amada Cellars’ sauvignon blanc | Credit: Courtesy

He was soon off on a scholarship to Carleton College in Minnesota, figuring his relationship with Sandra would just be a casualty of his career aspirations. But her grandmother, whose name was Amada, thought Ramon was a keeper, and ensured Sandra knew as much. “I went to college and Sandra and Amada made sure I didn’t forget about Sandra,” said Ramon, who was showered with baked goods through the mail that warmed up his time in frigid Minnesota.

They moved to Northern California together in the late 1980s so Ramon could attend medical school at UC Davis, which is where they first went wine tasting. When initially invited, they thought it would be expensive, and declined. But then their friend said, “It’s free! Just bring a picnic.”

“We loved it,” said Ramon, who recalls being at Sequoia Grove when he leaned into Sandra, asking, “Wouldn’t it be great to someday do something like this?” She demurred, “Just concentrate on your career right now.” He understood, explaining, “I do get sidetracked quite a bit.”

He originally wanted to be in general surgery, but realized that job was nonstop during a two-year residency at a hospital in Oakland. One weekend, despite all of his attempts not to, he missed his young son’s birthday. On Monday, he told his boss he wanted to change jobs, and did some anaesthesiology rotations. “They were talking about what they were doing on the weekend and for vacation,” he recalled. “That never happened in surgery.”

Ramon and Sandra Guerrero’s vineyard near the Santa Ynez River | Credit: Courtesy

His anaesthesiology residency took the couple to Galveston, Texas, and then he joined a large group in Plano outside of Dallas, where they lived from 1993 to 2019, raising two sons and a daughter along the way. They always longed to come back to Santa Barbara, so in 2002, they bought an empty 17-acre lot on flat land near the Santa Ynez River. Ramon quickly said to Sandra, “Why don’t we plant a vineyard?” To which she replied, “You’re loco!”

Ramon and Daniel Guerrero of Amada Cellars | Credit: Courtesy

Crazy or not, Guerrero approached Sunstone Winery’s vineyard manager Salvador Bernal to help, and Bernal offered services for free, planting four acres of Syrah that same year. Those grapes would form the foundation for Meadowlark Vineyards, the Guerreros’ original brand, most of which was sold in Texas.

Over time, they grafted some of the syrah over to grenache, cabernet sauvignon, and just enough sauvignon blanc to make a barrel each year. They recently launched Amada to better represent their heritage, and signed a lease on the new tasting room two years ago. Fast forward through the usual rounds of frustrating permit issues, and they’re finally open, pouring both the Amada and Meadowlark wines.

They’re also selling something totally unique: Amada Wine Pearls, which are beautifully crafted, golf ball-sized cake pops made with wine (or not, for the non-alc versions). They were developed with the help of family friend, Monica Robles. “We call her the Mexican Mary Poppins,” laughed Ramon. Having studied pastry in Mexico, she brought cake pops to their granddaughter’s baptism, which inspired the development — and trademarking — of Amada Wine Pearls.

These sweet treats are just the literal icing on the Guerrero family’s cake. Their granddaughter, Serena, and daughter, Dahlia, (who is also a radiologist, focused on breast cancer) now live on their property, and their middle son, Esteban, who is very interested in cooking and winemaking, is also a physician, moving back to town soon to become the associate medical director of the Chumash Tribal Clinic. Their youngest, Daniel, is not a doctor, instead flying the F-35 stealth fighter for the Air Force, and will be stationed in Alaska for the next couple years.

Though now moving quite quickly into the future, this generational saga does ultimately emerge from the past. When Ramon was a child, growing up in the old trailer park at the freeway end of Salinas Street, his father was a gardener for exclusive estates in Montecito, even being named the wealthy town’s top landscaper one year.

“I loved helping him,” recalls the doctor-turned-vintner. “I loved the plants.”

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Amada Cellars is now open at 490 Bell St., Suite 104, in Los Alamos. They’re throwing a grand opening celebration with wine & food on April 19. See amadacellars.com or call (805) 245-4768.