Vinatero Wine Shop - Whittier, CA
It’s official! Vinatero is now open for business!
Below you can read the blog written during Vinatero’s construction. We received the keys to the shop on September 1st, 2006 and after alot of love and hard work, we opened our doors for business on March 3rd, 2007. THANK YOU to everyone who was a part of this. We are forever indebted to our friends & family. We love you!
Ernie & Lisa
Yay! Today it was official… we now have our Active Alcohol License! This was the last of the big hoops for us to jump through. We worked so hard just to get to this point. It feels amazing. There couldn’t have been a better reason to celebrate on Valentine’s Day.
We are now able to officially announce:
Vinatero’s Grand Opening!
Saturday
March 3rd, 2007
The ribbon cutting is at 12 noon.
Festivities go on all day until closing @ 10pm.
We hope to see EVERYBODY there!
Meanwhile, here are some more pictures.
Dad sporting Vinatero shirt
Mikey and his molding. Do you need something you need to patch over or cover up? Just do like Mikey does, and “put molding on it!”
Marc and Emily volunteering @ Vinatero!
Dad painting
Christian helping Grandpa.
Jim replacing electrical plates.
It’s Jeff, celebrating a job well-done!
Tony, Mr. Gomez, Dad, & Ernie
Starting to stock shelves… finally!
Here are pictures from our Commercial Shoot for Charter Media, Whittier’s local cable.
It was fun to pretend to be open! It was a little difficult though to not be able to actually consume anything while the camera was rolling since you can’t actually be shown drinking in the commercial.
Coming soon to a TV soon near you!
(Well, only if you live in the City of Whittier and have cable.)
Meriden, the producer.
Angie, the sister.
David, Rose & Biz… the actors. (And teachers too.)
Mikey & Fuzzy
Beverly & Monty (of Monty’s Camera next door).
The Proud Owners.
Ernie giving a wine education class to a group of eager learners.
Uncle Gilbert, Mom Lupe, & Bob
And finally… the last two.
The celebratory picture taken immediately after we passed our Health Inspection.
Needless to say, there was champagne involved.
AGAIN, we are so proud to have Louie as our brother!
Don’t we make a great team?! Job well done.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
LOVE,
LISA & ERNIE
We decided to take the night off from the shop and
celebrate at Disney’s California Adventure.
P.S. You can buy the shirt that Ernie’s wearing at our shop!
Since time is so precious these days, we’re going to let the pictures tell the story in our latest update.
Picture above taken at 2:35 AM.
Thank you to everybody who has been super supportive this last month. It’s been difficult at times to deal with the rollercoaster of opening up a new business, but everybody’s constant support and excitement has made it all worth it.
Here are some of the latest pics from the shop. Enjoy!
First, a few of the regulars at work… again!
This is Jim at work. Even at 2:51am in the morning!
Gabe fixing drywall under the sink.
Randy helping out.
Lisa with Niki and a very special bottle of wine.
Niki sporting a very smart looking Vinatero baby-t.
Louie and Christian.
The dudes building a bar.
Pops painting all the detailed parts. Somehow he managed to paint all day and not get one drop of paint on himself! I don’t know how he does it. And check out his fancy painting clothes. You’d think he was going to church, not to paint.
Alicia and Lisa painting the restrooms.
Mikey Miller, with his favorite bottle… notice it’s NOT wine.
Our super plumbers: Vince Gomez Jr. and Sr.
Ernie admiring all the hard work that goes into building Vinatero.
What Vinatero looks like TODAY, 1/27/07. We’re almost there!
Get it? The gifts the Three Wise Men (Magi) brought to Baby Jesus? …
Gold, frankincense, & Myrrh … Merlot!
————————————————————–
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Vinatero!
We had the Uptown Whittier Christmas Parade go by the front of the shop today. It was exciting to set up a table and present ourselves to the public. We are getting nothing but a positive and enthusiastic response from the entire community.
We are getting the same question asked quite frequently though: “When are you going to open?” Our answer is: “We are shooting for before Christmas! We are only waiting on the completion of a few things and we will be ready to go! Come back soon and visit us when we open our doors.”
Below you will see the latest construction and Christmas pictures from Vinatero
—————————————————————-
Here are pictures of real men mixing, pouring, & setting concrete;
Ernie, Dad, Louie & Lauren.
And now for the handiest of handymen: Jim!
Can you believe somebody can get this excited about a new POS system!?
Matt can!
Our beautiful new pendants with our super cool electrician Eugene.
Sommelier Gabe is prepping the floor at Vinatero.
Cousin Martin helps out Vinatero during the day, then works (more!) at night. What dedication!
Here everybody is helping out decorating the window for Vinatero’s First Christmas.
Alicia under the tree.
Lisa under the tree.
Mom wrapping presents that will go under the tree. Can you tell what they are?
Whittier Christmas Parade in front of Vinatero.
And last of all, Vinatero at night.
This update is dedicated to Ernie Ceja. He is not only my business partner, but he is almost my best friend, husband and the hardest working man I know. This last week has been especially difficult with last minute surprises. Ernie has been amazing at dealing with the non-stop phonecalls, non-stop questions, and the non-stop stress of opening up a new business. Somehow he still manages to keep his sense of humor and positive attitude through it all. I really love him for that. You can see why he so well-loved by everyone that gets to know him.
Vinatero will be a success. And it will be so because of Ernie.
Below is a picture of Ernie taken at Esquire’s Best Dressed Real Man Contest on 3/29/06. Here he is onstage as one of Los Angeles’ finalists! I wanted to post this picture here so you can see how handsome he looks, whether he’s covered in paint or wearing a vintage suit.
THIS PAST WEEK IN PHOTOS:
Our gorgeous new wineracks.
The proud wine rack installers; Ernie and Mikey.
AGAIN, Louie saved the day. Friday at 5pm we had a really last minute “surprise” and change to our layout and plans. We called my brother, Louie immediately. He said he’d be out first thing early on Saturday morning. Yes, he showed up early. He took notes, consulted with the plumbers and Ernie, then returned later with Christian to drop off other plans he prepared. By Sunday afternoon Louie showed up with all the completed and updated plans. Can you believe it? What dedication. He knew how important it was that we had the plans ready first thing Monday morning. Wow. We joke that his only compensation so far has been a Vinatero pen and a Vinatero t-shirt. I can only imagine what an outside architect would have cost so far. THANK YOU, LOUIE! WE LOVE YOU!
Louie consulting with plumbers Dave and Vince (sitting).
Louie and future architect son, Christian.
My sister Angie & her Fiance (tech support) Lauren in the newly painted Vinatero Office. I really like Angie’s shirt since it says: “TALK NERDY TO ME”
Our plumbers and our good friends, Vince Gomez Jr. & Sr.
The men (Jim, Ernie and my Dad Louie) looking at wall that needs to be fixed.
Lauren and my Dad Louie assembling Ikea furniture for the office.
Here I am with a screwdriver in my hand. Yes, I’m also good for things that don’t require the use of a computer or calculator. =)
The curtain installers - Tony, Ernie & Jeff
Jim with curtain rod.
The proud curtain installers - Ernie & Jim
And I’ll leave you with a beautiful sunset as viewed from Vinatero’s back loading dock.
Yes, Fudge Brownie is another color for Vinatero. It’s the color of the molding.
Here are the latest pics from today. One during the day and a couple at night. It’s coming along! It’s finally starting to look like a shop. =)
Want to know how to take advantage of a Sommelier(Niki) and somebody with an MBA(Matt)? Let them volunteer to paint! Thanks you guys! Check out Niki’s Skunk Hair and Picasso Matt.
In all this madness we still find time to go wine tasting. But what’s even better now is that it’s in the name of work! Here is a group of us (Clockwise starting with Ernie; Lisa, Matt, Niki, & Gabe) at the November 6th Southern Tasting.
One last thing, at the Southern Tasting we had a very interesting wine. It’s called Unico Luis Miguel. Nobody could love this wine more than Alicia, Luis Miguel’s Number One Fan. Thought I’d end this by posting her picture at Vinatero next to a picture of his wine. Now there’s a website online that has their faces together!
http://www.unicoluismiguelwines.com/
“Red Red Wine” & “Toast” are the colors of our new shop. I think they are very appropriate names. The following pics are a few of the pictures of the last week. As you can see, there has been a significant amount of work done. And again we want to give a “shout out” to all our “peeps” that have been helping us. Thank you!!!
Ernie on ladder
Tony on ladder. Don’t you love how we’re using our sommelier friends to do non-wine related work for Vinatero!?
Lauren has volunteered for two jobs @ Vinatero:
computer network security & construction!
Jeff; he has a passion for Echo & the Bunneymen and a passion for helping out Vinatero!
Masked Mikey
Red Red Wine:
Me, Lisa @ computer:
And last of all, us at a private event for our dear business neighbors down the street at Casita del Pueblo. Noticing how we’re representing Vinatero.
http://www.casitadelpueblo.com/
This is difficult work, but we must research for the wine shop. We finally took a well-deserved break last weekend and headed up to Paso Robles to do some Wine Tasting. What a beautiful weekend. Here are some of our favorite photos.
Us at the Opolo Party.
They know how to throw a party!
Gabe, Ernie & Matt
grape-stomping at Opolo Winery.
All of us with Gaetano’s Restaurant Owner, Gaetano himself
http://www.ristorantedagaetano.com/
& Toby (himself) of Tobin James Winery.
Gorgeous meal.
Some of the wine we had with our delicious dinner @ Gaetano’s.
In the foreground, “Charisma” from Tobin James Winery.
A beautiful dessert wine in a beautiful blue bottle with decorative stopper.
This will definitely sell well in our shop.
All of us with Raquel from Hug Cellars.
This amazing woman took the time to present her impressive wine
and also give us inside tips on helping us start up our business in the wine industry.
Thank you, Raquel!
Matt, Gabe, Me & Ernie;
all outside enjoying great cigars and great wine.
Tasting @ McKeon-Phillips Winery.
http://www.mckeonphillipswinery.com/
Vista Del Rey, not only beautiful wine, but also beautiful people and beautiful vineyard as witnessed on the next two photos. They truly were a highlight of our trip.
And last of all, a shot at sunset of Opolo’s Vineyards.
Breathe deep, go to your “Happy Place” and Enjoy:
This update is dedicated to ALL the amazing help we’ve been receiving in the past month. It amazes us how many people are truly happy and excited about our shop. Friends and family have gone beyond anything we expected to be a part of our exciting venture. Even better, our contracted help has been nothing but professional and amazing. We couldn’t be more satisfied. Below you can see a little of this in pictures.
Here is our brother, Louie Garcia the Architect, measuring the shop in order to create the numerous plans and diagrams he is continually drawing up for us. Louie has given us hours of his precious time to make sure everything was perfectly and professionally done for the City of Whittier and the ABC. They have been nothing but impressed.
Planning with Louie. Doesn’t this look like serious work? Ignore the fact that there’s a wine glass in the photo and also that this work is being done at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, in their gorgeous bar, the Hearthstone.
Mike Miller has not only been our wedding caterer, but now he has become our drywall expert. Here he is on the step ladder with Ernie holding the drywall on the right. This was loud and dusty work, but the results were amazing.
This is our close friend, James Timothy. (Also known as OMJ or Jim.) He not only married us, but now he has become our “extra”-handy man. Jim helped to make our marriage official, why not help to make our business official, too?
This is Donna Bolduc and Ernie. Donna, of Spectrum Interiors, has been instrumental in securing our amazing contractors and making sure that everything runs smoothly. Her dedication to our venture has immensely alleviated some of the stress of us trying to do it all by ourselves. Also, Donna’s son, Brian has dedicated a generous amount of time to seeing that all goes well.
This is a cute picture of Ernie with black paint all over him. He literally is getting his hands dirty to make this all happen.
I thought I’d throw this in here to show you that once in a while I get someone else to take the pictures and show me at work for Vinatero. I may not be getting paint on my face and hands (yet!) but the work I do is super time consuming and there’s really no way to show it in photos. It truly is a labor of love.
We’ve been fortunate to have Jonathan, one of Whittier VFW’s newest members, become a part of our working crew. He’s a Marine who’s just returned from being deployed. He’s been generous with all the time he’s given our shop and we appreciate it all!
This is Gabriel Trevino; friend, sommelier, and sometimes drywall cutter. I’m sure when Gabe volunteered to help he thought it would have more to do with wine than drywall!
Here are two of our electricians: Eugene and Zane. We are blessed to have such professionals be such an important part of our shop. Doesn’t it look like they’re having fun while working in Vinatero?
