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Orion Stang found a way to give back.
Uncertainty surrounds every part of daily life with the COVID-19 outbreak and forced the owner and winemaker at Dilecta, a brilliant boutique winery in Paso Robles, California, to close his recently remodeled tasting room.
He's donated wine to area doctors on the front line, started local delivery of wines so people don't have to leave their house, and has been successful with digital sales. The Dilecta website, at dilectawines.com, is a showcase for the wines and the stunning artwork on its labels.
Winemaker spotlight
A true small business, Dilecta started from the humblest of roots. Stang worked in the vineyard for Eric Jensen at Booker, and eventually became assistant winemaker. Later, he’d work in the cellar for Scott Hawley, the Torrin winemaker, who for a while doubled in the same role at Law.
If winemakers were musicians, Jensen and Hawley would be indie rock darlings. While they might scoff at the comparison, both started small wineries and made dynamite wines unlike anything else in the state. And Stang, trained as a chef in Italy and the Culinary Institute of America, was on the same trajectory.
While Stang worked for wineries to pay the bills, he’d moonlight as winemaker under his own brand, which started in 2011, when he made Dilecta at Herman Story, a winery owned by Russell From.
“It’s been my dream to start my own label,” Stang said. “I started Dilecta in my kitchen with 150 cases, selling wine on the weekends, when I wasn’t sitting on the tractor mowing the fields at Booker Vineyard. The lifestyle, the interaction with people who are interested in wine, the food, the friends, the passion, everything has contributed to my everlasting love for this profession. I’ve been in the cellar, a vineyard guy working behind the scenes. Learning the business side of things and creating the image has been a unique experience for me. My mom, Betty Wick, and dad have been a huge support along the way.
“My mom has provided all the inspiration for artistic feel of the brand and created all the images at her house here in Paso Robles. My dad, Mike Stang, has helped tremendously with building couches, tables, bar tops and having input in just about every aspect of the building of Dilecta. It’s been a family creation, honestly, and it’s brought us closer together along the way. I love art, wine and food. I think they fit together pretty well, and if I can have all of it in a work/lifestyle, I think I’m where I need to be.”
With more people at home because of the coronavirus, Stang has noticed an uptick in orders. An online release of library wines quickly sold out.
“Shelter in place has been a learning experience for me,” Stang said. “It’s also taught me quite a bit about the power of online sales and marketing. I’ve been spending most of my time sitting in front of my computer reaching out to my wine club, having great conversations with everyone, and learning more about the people who keep my label thriving.”
After eight years, Dilecta will thrive a little differently when its latest vintages are released. A self-proclaimed “sucker” for cool climate Rhone varietals, Stang sourced heavily from vineyards in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.
Paso Robles’ vineyards were but a niche in his portfolio. He said perhaps he “was attracted to what Paso is not,” in terms of the warm, sunny and sometimes riper wines that follow.
While colleagues gave him grief for his source material, and there’s an eclectic crew of winemakers in an area where personalities vary from small business CEO to a fan awaiting the next Rage Against the Machine reunion tour, there’s a prodigal son opportunity on the horizon.
It started with the 2019 vintage. Stang came full circle and turned to Paso vineyards to craft Dilecta wines. They’re vineyards he knows well, Full Draw, G2 and Law. The former are neighbors to Booker, and the latter is where he worked until 2017, when he ventured out full-time to focus on Dilecta. They’re some of the most exciting sites. Paso and Dilecta will be must-find wines when released.
“I’ve finally made it back to my roots starting in 2019, all of my reds are sourced from my favorite vineyards in Paso Robles,” Stang said. “I’m beyond excited to work with these guys in years to come.”
• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.