Before Jonah Dewhurst and Gianna Berlingeri ever touched a cluster of grapes, they learned how to navigate the passing of their mothers.
Meeting as Paso Robles High School students in late 2018, the pair quickly bonded over a shared reality. Berlingeri’s mother, Rochelle, had already passed away from breast cancer. Dewhurst’s mother, Kirsten, was battling the same disease and passed away shortly after. From that shared loss grew a romantic and business partnership.
Now 23 and 22, the two launched Rosten Wines, a name combining Rochelle and Kirsten, with an inaugural four-bottle release on Oct. 26. Rosten’s wines are crafted from grapes grown in rocky vineyards on Paso Robles’ Westside, and while the business is growing, the winemakers hope to one day have a vineyard of their own.
“I think sharing that burden at such a young age is what brought us close together,” Dewhurst said. “Like most moms, the story I like to [tell] is [that] the most important thing to them was when our family was together. So Gianna and I thought [that] creating this winery and dedicating it to them [is] our way of keeping their legacy alive.”
Breaking into Paso Robles’ wine industry as 20-year-olds without family ties required hustle, Dewhurst said.
“Pretty much everybody’s parents have a winery [in Paso Robles],” Dewhurst said. “Gianna and I were the opposite. My mom actually never drank wine. My dad doesn’t; he just likes gin and beer.”
Berlingeri said she’s “blessed” to be creating wine in her hometown.
“Being raised in Paso’s wine country, wine has always been a prominent part of my life,” she said. “Some of my earliest memories are of running through vineyards while my parents went wine tasting around town. That’s where I fell in love with the world of wine without even knowing it.”
Without vineyard property or a legacy to back them up, both founders started by working for other wineries. Dewhurst took a job at Booker Wines at 18 years old, working in the vineyard, cellar, and tasting room. To secure production space for Rosten, he approached former Booker winemaker Kyle Jury, offering free cellar labor in exchange for mentorship and space at Jury’s facility, Truss Wines.
“For close to three years, it was seven days a week, no days off, essentially,” Dewhurst said. He balanced a full-time schedule at Booker Wines with off-hours work at Truss.
Meanwhile, Berlingeri pursued the technical side of the craft, earning her winemaker certificate from the UC Davis while working harvest shifts at Law Estate, Epoch Estate, and currently Clos Solene. The division of labor plays directly to each of their strengths, Dewhurst said.
“Over the past five years, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most well-respected producers in Paso Robles,” Berlingeri said. “My time with each of them has allowed me the space to thrive as I expand my knowledge for wine. It has also given me so much respect and admiration for what they’ve built.”
Dewhurst said he handles the business side while Berlingeri works at the cellars. With harvest in full swing, Berlingeri’s demanding schedule at Clos Solene has her working long vineyard and winery shifts, while Dewhurst handles logistics and media outreach.
“Gianna has a harder time [being here all the time] because for her, I want her to go and learn from as many different winemakers as possible, and bring that knowledge back,” Dewhurst said. “I always say Gianna is the winemaker and I’m the one doing the work, at least boot work. When [she gets off], we’ll come back to the winery and taste all of our ferments and talk together.”
Using 10 percent of their proceeds, Rosten created a $2,500 annual scholarship specifically for Paso Robles High School seniors whose mothers or guardians are battling or have lost their lives to breast cancer.
Having received a local breast cancer scholarship himself after high school to attend Cuesta College, Dewhurst said he understood the relief that financial support offers a teenager facing parental cancer.
“I wanted to know exactly what my money was doing, and I felt like if I just gave it to a charity, it would just get lost,” Dewhurst said. “We wanted to give back to Paso. This pretty special community; they’ve done a lot for us.”
‘I think that we have a pretty incredible story, how we’ve taken this thing that is so terrible to happen, how young we are, and to try and flip it into something positive.’
—Jonah Dewhurst, co-founder of Rosten Wines
Rosten’s 2025 rosé honors this cause, featuring artwork of their mothers’ favorite flowers, a sunflower and a rose. The wines, sourced from Armory Vineyard in the Adelaida District, are what Dewhurst calls “bigger in body” than lighter natural wines.
In addition to Armory, Dewhurst and Berlingeri sourced all four wines from high-stress vineyards, including G2N Vineyard and Paper Street Vineyard in the Willow Creek District and Lambooy Vineyard in the Templeton Gap District. Lambooy is on a cool, north-facing slope, and is consistently the last vineyard Rosten picks each harvest, allowing their mourvedre extended time to develop a spicy and savory complexity, Dewhurst said.
Credit: PHOTO COURTESY OF ROSTEN WINES
Dewhurst said that the G2N Vineyard is notoriously difficult to access in the winemaking world, but Top Winery owner Stanley Barrios put in a personal word for him and Berlingeri, leading G2N owner Bill Gibbs to take them on.
“Gianna and I had no business even buying fruit from this vineyard for our first vintage,” Dewhurst said. “We feel incredibly lucky to even work with it.”
Along with 48 cases of the 2025 rosé, the Oct. 26 release includes 75 cases of the 2024 G2N syrah, 50 cases of the 2024 Lambooy Vineyard mourvédre, and their flagship blend, the 2024 Tether.
Self-funding a winery in their 20s meant pouring their savings into contracts and barrel inventory rather than buying a home, Dewhurst said. But he views their youth as an advantage when taking on such a financial commitment.
“Being young definitely made it feel a little bit easier,” Dewhurst said. “I’m 23, and if this didn’t work out, I’m 23 and I can figure it out. It pushed us to go fully into it.”
As they prepare for the launch, manage their day jobs, and plan their April wedding, Dewhurst said he and Berlingeri see Rosten as proof that grief can become something that gives back.
“It’s scary starting a business. We pour so much into this, not just emotionally, but financially as well,” Dewhurst said. “I think that we have a pretty incredible story, how we’ve taken this thing that is so terrible to happen, how young we are, and to try and flip it into something positive.” ∆
Reach Flavor writer Sam Fickett at sfickett@newtimesslo.com.
