84 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM grounds) up to the top floor for crushing. Skins and juice flowed down chutes to the second floor for fermenting. Once ready, the wine was pumped downstairs to the ground-floor aging tanks. The winery closed in 1905, putting a cork on the abundant flow of wine California’s former governor envisioned— —Until chef Rocco Scordella opened Vina Enoteca in the Stanford Barn 101 years later. Within its sturdy walls, the Italian native entices patrons into an orbit of fine European wines, delectable cuisine and international palate adventures. As you sit near brick archways where lofty redwood tanks once stood, sip a 1984 Montepulciano by Emidio Pepe, or another choice from their encyclopedic wine list. Relish greens and veggies fresh from the Stanford Educational Farm along with handmade pastas, and see why Vina Enoteca has been Michelin-recommended since 2022. Mr. Stanford would approve. Vina Enoteca was Born in a Barn In a roundabout way, Rocco Scordella’s restaurant and wine shop embodies Leland Stanford’s dream. Enamored by French wines on an 1880 Bordeaux visit and convinced of their healthfulness, Stanford developed three vineyard wineries—Sacramento’s Vina Ranch his favorite, and the world’s largest at the time. Winery architect Hamden McIntyre, designed Palo Alto’s three-story brick barn for maximum efficiency with a gravity flow operation. A steam engine in the small building, now housing another eatery called Tootsies, powered a chain elevator that carried grapes (grown on the {food coloring} HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF STANFORD HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION ABOVE: (historic photo) A grape "elevator" at Stanford's winemaking facility takes fruit upstairs for crushing.
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