Angela’s Share

Growing up, Angela Taylor—née Ferrelli—had no idea she’d land in the wine business, despite the family’s home winemaking roots and legacy. Mom Helen’s family is from Greece; her dad Daniel’s family is from Calabria. When her father’s family first migrated to the US, they landed in Chicago, where they made wine during Prohibition. Then they migrated to Walla Walla and Seattle, and still they always made garage wine, initially getting grapes from California, Taylor says. 

“They would go—all the Italians in the Seattle area or Chicago, you know—to the train station. You meet the train. You get your allotment of grapes that you pay for through your connections, which I can only imagine how that was,” reflects Taylor.

While there was a family history in winemaking, it wasn’t what drove Taylor. Sporty and competitive by nature, she played basketball and soccer and ran track and was even named Redmond High’s scholar athlete of the year. Yet while Angela was on the pitch and field, her boyfriend, Kevin Taylor, was hanging out in her garage with her dad and uncles, making wine.

It was while getting her BA in communication and media studies at Washington State University in the early ’90s that the ever-competitive athlete was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Not that she let it stop her—then or now. After graduating from WSU, Angela and Kevin both returned to the Seattle area—and have been members of the Bellevue Club ever since. Today, she gets most of her exercise from tennis and pickleball. 

Back to the wine. In the early aughts, Taylor, who had married Kevin in the mid-’90s, was a mother to two boys and working at advertising agency DDB in downtown Seattle, and loving it all. Yet with her RA progressing, Kevin began pushing her to stop working and take care of herself and the boys. She agreed, and in 2004 she, her mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law took a “retirement tour” to Italy. 

Daniel and Kevin spent that time back in the garage, fermenting grapes, and by the time the women returned, the men had decided to start a winery. “Don’t worry about it,” they said. “We’re only going to make two barrels.” And thus, EFESTĒ was born. 

What may have started as a two-barrel pipe dream began to flourish. Soon, the family was buying up grapes being unloaded during a recession. Then in 2007, the Taylors bought a vineyard.

“All of a sudden we’re in the wine business,” says Taylor. 

Wine isn’t made in a day. So, as the family waited for their reds to ferment and age and be ready to bottle, Angela was trying to learn all she could and get the winery off the ground. 

“I’m working on the website; I’m stressed out,” she says. “You know, we’re trying to launch, we’re trying to teach ourselves this business, and our youngest son is not feeling well, and we can’t figure out what the heck is wrong with him.” What was wrong with then-5-year-old Joe, it turns out, was leukemia. 

“I’m basically finalizing the website from Children’s Hospital with my laptop as he starts his treatment,” says Taylor. That was the beginning of a three-and-a-half-year journey, but not the end. Today, Joe is a defensive back with the WSU Cougars—and the face and name behind EFESTĒ’s muscular red wine Tough Guy, a portion of proceeds which go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society every year.

As for Angela? So much for that retirement that birthed a winery. After coaching herself up from an early career in marketing events through the business of operations and budgets and finance and more, today she is the force behind the scenes running EFESTĒ. 

“I’m proud to feel strong enough and confident enough to operate in this business,” says Taylor. “Once you learn to operate in your field, and feel confident about what you’re doing, you know you’ve arrived.” 

Being able to guide your people and your business in the right direction, without making silly errors with money and purchasing and overhiring is a real gift, she says. 

Out of the garage and into the world of wine. What started as a two-barrel promise has seriously blossomed. Today, EFESTĒ produces 10,000 to 13,000 cases a year, and its wines have appeared on the Top 100 lists of both Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. 

And Taylor? She’s there to make sure it all gets done right.