01 Sep Le Vigne Winery: An Unexpected Wine and Cheese Destination in Los Angeles

What does a cheese importing company from California established in 1946 have in common with an award-winning winery in Paso Robles? The answer is family.

I first encountered Le Vigne Winery without knowing anything about its story. As a judge at the Central Coast Wine Competition, I have tasted the wines blind. In 2025, Le Vigne went on to be named the competition’s 2025 Winery of the Year.

Le Vigne is based in Paso Robles. But I recently discovered another side of Le Vigne, tucked away in Vernon, just a few miles from the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles.

The Le Vigne Los Angeles Tasting Room & Italian Market is in an unexpected corner of the city, surrounded by warehouses. But here you can taste the family’s Paso Robles wines, enjoy lunch, shop for Italian specialties, and, perhaps most importantly, discover just how naturally wine and cheese come together when both are part of the family business.

A Family Story From Cheese to Wine

Le Vigne Winery is owned by Walter and Sylvia Filippini, whose story brings together California agriculture, Italian culinary traditions, wine, and cheese.

Sylvia grew up in Southern California and spent summers and weekends at her family’s ranch in Paso Robles. The property began as a working ranch, and her family planted its first Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay vines in 1982. Today, Le Vigne remains family-run and estate-grown, with 113 acres under vine.

Walter grew up in Como, Italy, spending time among the vineyards of Valtellina. But wine was only part of his upbringing. Food became his profession. He trained at the Culinary Institute in San Pellegrino and won Italy’s National Chef’s Competition in 1981 before eventually making his way to California.

Walter and Sylvia met through the food business. Today, together with their son Domenico, they are behind Peacock Cheese, a California company whose history dates to 1946. What began as a small dairy producing cheese evolved into a specialty food company sourcing cheeses and gourmet products from around the world.

With a chef in the family, and a family devoted to wine and cheese, a wine and cheese pairing seems almost inevitable.

A Slice of Italy Hidden in Los Angeles

You don’t have to drive to Paso Robles to experience Le Vigne. Its Los Angeles tasting room is located in Vernon, an industrial pocket of Los Angeles that is probably not the first place you would think to go wine tasting. But step inside and the experience changes.

Along with Le Vigne’s wines, there is an Italian market filled with pastas, sauces, olive oils, cookies, crackers, charcuterie, and an expertly curated selection of cheeses. Chef Walter also prepares frozen meals to take home.

Come hungry, and you can enjoy a lunch of paninis, pizzas, and salads with a glass of wine. The tasting room has also become a gathering place, hosting everything from comedy nights and live music to charcuterie-making classes and other special events. But one of the most interesting reasons to visit is the monthly wine and cheese pairing.

Five Wines, Five Cheeses

Each month, the Le Vigne team creates a different pairing of five wines with five cheeses. And with access to Peacock Cheese’s extensive portfolio of cheeses from around the world, the possibilities extend far beyond the familiar Cabernet-and-Cheddar combination.

PAIRING #1
Wine: 2022 Rosa Maria ($39)
Cheese: Ube Chevre
Why it worked: The 2022 Rosa Maria is a traditional method sparkling wine made from Sangiovese and aged for 36 months on the lees. With only 1 gram of sugar dosage, the wine is dry with aromas of apple and dried rose petals, with notes of brioche and baking spice. The Ube Chevre is a goat cheese infused with sweet and nutty ube, the purple yam. The cheese had a chalky creaminess and balanced sweet and tart flavors, and the fresh, dry sparkling wine cut the sweetness and smoothed the tartness.

PAIRING #2
Wine: 2023 Estate Chardonnay ($38)
Cheese: Président Bucheron
Why it worked: The Chardonnay is 100% barrel-fermented with 20% of the barrels new French oak. The wine offers notes of lemon zest, vanilla, and hazelnut and has a creamy midpalate balanced by acidity. The French cheese is a soft goat cheese with a bloomy rind, aged for 10 days, that is both chalky and creamy with a tangy center. The wine and cheese were a harmonious pairing, with the acidity of the wine coming through.

PAIRING #3
Wine: 2023 Nero d’Avola ($42)
Cheese: Castello Aged Havarti
Why it worked: The wine has aromas of raspberries, black cherry, plum, dark chocolate, and baking spices. The cheese, aged for 12 months, has salty crystals, giving the smooth, creamy cheese with caramel notes a slight crunch that paired well with the smooth, full-bodied wine with soft tannins.

PAIRING #4
Wine: 2022 Sogni di Leo ($75)
Cheese: Armenian String Cheese
Why it worked: The wine is a blend of 36% Cabernet Franc, 36% Petit Verdot, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6% Merlot. It is a deep ruby color with aromas of black cherry, red currant, blackberry, plum, violets, and baking spice and refined tannins. It was paired with the smooth and nutty cow’s milk cheese, seasoned with mahleb, nigella seeds, and salt.

PAIRING #5
Wine: 2019 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, di Domico Estate Vineyard ($66)
Cheese: Piave Oro del Tempo
Why it worked: A reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine has herbal, blackberry, and tobacco aromas and finished with mocha and toasted oak notes. It made a lovely pairing with the nutty and salty Piave, an Italian, cow’s milk, mountain cheese from Belluno, Italy.

Wine and Cheese, Naturally

Wine and cheese pairing is hardly a new idea. But at Le Vigne, it is not simply an add-on to the tasting experience. It connects two sides of the same family.

The family’s California farming history led to vineyards and Le Vigne Winery. Walter’s Italian roots and culinary career brought food into the equation. And Peacock Cheese connects them to cheeses and specialty foods from around the world. The result is a tasting experience that makes sense not because wine and cheese are supposed to go together, but because, in this case, they have grown up together.

A wine tasting of 5 wines costs $20, and the added cheese pairing with each wine is $5. The wine and cheese pairings change monthly.

Le Vigne Winery Los Angeles Tasting Room & Italian Market
2325 E 55th Street
Vernon, CA 90058

Wed: 11:30 am – 5:00 pm
Thurs–Sat: 11:30am — 7:00pm
Sun: 11:30 am — 5:00 pm
Lunch (LA): Wed – Sun from 11:30 am to 2:30pm