Our dream started 43 years ago in 1970 when Celeste Larenas decided to spend her senior year in high school as a foreign exchange student at Santa Clara High School in Califronia. Celeste was from a small town in Chile and only sixteen years old. There she met and fell in love with Sal Leone. Unfortunately, Celeste had to return to her home country but they made a promise to someday find each other again.

 

The times were difficult in Chile with a revolution and poor communications. There was no internet or social media, so the two lost touch with each other. Both Celeste and Sal went on with their separate lives to raise their own families. In 2011, 41 years later, Sal found her on Facebook, the two reconnected and immediately discovered that they were still in love. As they compared their lives, they discovered they both had something in common, wine.

 

Sal had started Silver Lake Winey in 1987 and owned a vineyard in Zillah, WA, Celeste's father owned a vineyard in Talca, Chile.  Together they started to tour the wine country of each others countries and on a visit to Chile and Peru, Sal learned about the Chilean drink, Pisco. Sal was fascinated with this ancient spirit made from grapes and suggested to Celeste that perhaps they could try to make this together in the United States.

 

The opportunity became a reality in 2013 when the Woodinville Whiskey Company decided to sell thier equipment and move to a new facility. Sal and Celeste bought their equipment and opened the doors to Grapeworks Distilling in September 2014.