Page 103 - SLO Visitors Guide Winter 2026

slovisitorsguide.com WINTER 2026 103
Wine Tasting
VISIT CASTORCELLARS.COM FOR RESERVATIONS • @CASTOROCELLARS
1315 N. BETHEL ROAD • TEMPLETON, CA 93465 • 888-DAM-FINE
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Le Vigne Winery, from cattle ranching
to 2025 Winery of the Year
Le Vigne Winery grew from a
tradition that created an award-
winning, sustainably farmed winery
from a place of soil and spirit. It
began as a family passion for farm-
ing and ranching, raising chickens
and cattle in Ramona, California,
in 1968. Eventually, that passion
turned to the 400-acre Rancho
Roble, which the family owned in
Paso Robles, and then to grapes.
Today’s Le Vigne (Italian for
“the vineyard”) rose from Sylvia
and Walter Filippini’s commitment
to their individual family heritages.
Born a half a world apart, Sylvia in
California, and Walter in Italy, the
couple met over a business deal in
Gardena, California. Walter was a
partner in the Ital Cheese Factory,
and Sylvia was seeking to be the sole
distributor of their products.
Before Sylvia and Walter met
and wed, her father, Sylvester
Feichtinger, had already planted
vineyards on Rancho Roble. His
first plantings were in 1982, a year
before the Paso Robles AVA was es-
tablished. By 1990, he had launched
Sylvester Vineyards and Winery.
Thirty-five years later, one of the
region’s oldest family estate winer-
ies was honored as 2025 Winery
of the Year by the Central Coast
Wine Competition and the 2025
Paso Robles Winery of the Year by
the New York International Wine
Competition.
Pairing wine with romance
Walter was raised in Como, Italy,
and grew up among the vineyards
of Valtellina. That region is known
for the nebbiolo grape, which is
High honors from
the Central Coast
Wine Competition
and the New York
International Wine
Competition
similar to the sangiovese, barbera,
and aglianico grapes grown in Cali-
fornia vineyards. Walter followed
his passion for cooking at the Culi-
nary Institute in San Pellegrino. In
1981, he earned first place in Italy’s
National Chef ’s Competition. In the
mid-1980s, he was lured to Califor-
nia, where he soon met Sylvia.
Along with pursuing her own
business and personal interests,
including a passion for rescuing
animals, Sylvia had a role in her fa-
ther, Sylvester’s, winery, and Walter
joined her in the business. By 1996,
the Filippinis were managing the
winery and restaurant. In 2013, they
renamed it to Le Vigne.
Sylvia’s passion for rescuing ani-
mals started as a child, “Much to my
mother’s dismay,” said Sylvia. The
Fillippini’s personal residence near
the winery is home to retired race-
horses, donkeys, and some goats
and sheep. “I even rescued some
swan cygnets, once,” she relates.
Someone called her at her home in
Southern California, announcing
that turtles were eating cygnets at a
local lake. “So I raised four cygnets
in my kitchen. We have pictures of
my 6-month-old girl with the swans
in her stroller.”