The North Bay Business Journal
September 18, 2023, Jean Saylor Doppenberg
MAVA and the American Dream
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The economics of a small-production facility are pretty brutal. One of the best things about joining MAVA is the relationships we're building," says Lola Llamas, of Llamas Family Wines. Read more
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The North Bay Business Journal
January 15, 2020, Jessica Zimmer
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How migrant farm workers created Napa Valley's Llamas Family Wines, an inspiration for entrepreneurs
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Llamas Family Wines is more than a winery. It's a way for co-founders Oscar and Lola Llamas and Alex Castillo Llamas to stay connected across generations and state borders. The company is comprised of Oscar Llamas, a former migrant field worker; Lola Llamas, Oscar's wife and Alex Castillo Llamas, Oscar's nephew, who also grew up harvesting grapes. Alex is now the company's winemaker. Read more
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Vinepair.com
Alejandro Castillo Llamas Is Making Napa Cabernet with Famous Grapes Planted by His Family
Words: Emma Cranston; Illustration: Danielle Grinberg
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Long before he settled in the Napa Valley and began producing his family wine, Alejandro Castillo Llamas grew up following the harvest cycle. The California-born son of migrant workers from Guadalajara, Mexico, spent much of his childhood with his family, traveling from California’s Coachella Valley, where he was born, up north to Oregon and back down to Mexico picking cherries, pears, olives, and grapes. It was during this period that Llamas learned a skillset that would later become the core of his work as a winemaker. Read more
Smithsonianmag.com
L. Stephen Velasquez, October 22, 2019, Three Mexican-American Vintners Tell Their Stories
Alex Llamas, Gustavo Brambila, and Amelia Ceja arrived as migrant workers and today thrive as entrepreneurs in the California wine industry.
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The wine-making bug bit Alejandro “Alex” Castillo Llamas early on. His parents, migrant workers from Mexico, had settled in Napa, California, finding work in a vineyard, when he was just nine years old. He labored alongside his family, harvesting the grapes from the fields. Later, as a young man in the early 2000s, he worked a year at two of the country’s finest dining restaurants—the three-Michelin-star French Laundry in the Napa Valley and New York City’s Per Se. Back in Napa, he worked in the vineyard, the tasting rooms and cellars at several wineries. Read more
Napa Magazine
The Latinx Legacy in Napa Valley
September 15, 2023, Gabriela Fernandez
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with "The Latinx Legacy in Napa Valley". Read more
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What started off as a passion project with their first vintage in 2009 eventually grew as a living marker of their legacy. “I want there to be a legacy, for the Llamas family and our children,” notes Lola
The Napa Wine Project
Llamas Family Wines is a partnership between winemaker Alejandro (Alex) Llamas and his Aunt and Uncle, Lola and Oscar Llamas
Their first vintage was 2009, a mere 45 cases of Syrah. The family is passionate about wine and vineyards, but it was not wine that we initially spoke about when we first met. Rather it was farming and culture and the history of how their family came to the Napa Valley. Read more
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BELatina
October 5, 2021. The Empowering Story of Las Amigas Cuvée, the First Latina-Owned Sparkling Wine in the Napa Valley
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The story of Las Amigas Cuvée, also known as Las del Vino, is both unique and typical. It is a collaboration of two Latina friends who decided to join forces and create the first Latina-owned sparkling wine in the Napa Valley. It is typical because, as usual, they are two empowered Latinas, entrepreneurial and ready to change the rules of the game.
During the COVID pandemic, Miriam Puentes of Honrama Cellars and Lola Llamas of Llamas Family wines, who have been friends for many years, began spending more time together. The uncertainty of the public health crisis led them to question the future of their family businesses and look for a way to start a new chapter with the resilience inherent to Latina
entrepreneurs. Read more
Introducing the Llamas Family Wines' Scorpion Logo
Oscar and Lola on YouTube: On the road to the AltaMed Food & Wine Festival
