The Little Winery That Could
Have you heard the buzz about “Papa loves Mambo” filtering through the social media channels. At first, I was confused. Is Papa a wine? A band? Or is it a state of mind emanating from a storefront on Main Street and is slowly taking a life of its own and changing downtown Walla Walla? Dare I say, all of the above? And along the way, this little winery has become an overnight success story!
For the uninformed, or anyone who doesn’t stay completely up to date on everything happening in our favorite little town in the corner of the state, technically Papa loves Mambo is a song made famous by Perry Como in the 50s. However, we know it best as a local latin-jazz band and a proprietary blend of Syrah, Sangiovese, and Cabernet Sauvignon crafted by Sapolil Cellars’. Usually, the two modern versions can be found together in exuberant form at the only place at the moment to offer live entertainment on weekends in downtown WW. We say, at the moment, for a posh new drinking with dancing venue will open this fall (corner Alder and 3rd) that will bring life after work to that end of town.
Sapolil Cellars’ is a family winery owned by Bill & Linda Schwerin and their daughter, Abigail. Bill, a wheat farmer, started making wine about seven years ago. Linda has an interior design business and Abby lives in Los Angeles. They might have been one of any number of WW small wineries, trying to realize a dream by making some wine and maybe make a few dollars doing it. In Bill’s case, things changed when he took over a small corner in Linda’s Main Street shop just two doors down from Merchant’s Deli.
You see, Bill needed Main Street, and Main Street needed Bill. Bill is a genuine people-person, not someone who gets their nose into a computer or other projects and then has to wrench himself away to pour some wine. Bill gravitates to folks like a bee to honey. In fact, the whole family is super friendly and spending any amount of time with them, makes you feel better about life. And that is even before you have their wine.
Before long, the little corner took over the front of the shop. Then, as it often does with these overnight wonders, the details get fuzzy, but somewhere along the way, Linda’s shop name came down, we began to see Abby a lot more often and they added live music every weekend.
In the beginning, it was a place for local musicians to jam on the old piano that serves as their tasting bar, then it started to catch on. Wine visitors stopped in, before and after dinner for a glass of wine, music and a warm welcome. Single-handedly, Sapolil Cellars’ was breathing life into downtown after 6PM.
The neighbors have noticed and we hear that starting this September, Merchants’ (who are now staying open on Fridays) will have a rotating roster of guest wineries pouring on Friday evenings.
As I said earlier, an overnight wonder! And the wine, well, their 2007 Papa loves Mambo (with its lovely Jeffrey Hill label) is now sold out! But don’t let that stop you from dropping in. They have several Syrahs and a Chardonnay to pour and they are looking forward to welcoming you. Check out Abigail and Bill’s interview with ‘idrinkyourwine.com.’