By the end of Saturday, the Rominger West Winery will be shutting down. The business, located in East Davis on Second Street, was founded in 2006. Over the years it has hosted many concerts, fundraisers and other community events.
The Winery was founded by Mark West and the late Charlie Rominger. Rominger grew grapes and West produced the wine. Rominger and his brother were involved with agriculture in the region for many years before the partnership started.
“I was working in Napa and I met Charlie because I started buying grapes from him and we became good friends and decided we wanted to set up a company that would showcase the quality of his fruit. And we could use the company and resources to support the community,” West said .
From the beginning, the winery was geared toward serving the community. They held many concerts at the venue featuring musicians and various bands from the area. Additionally, they held fundraisers for the Davis High School and other causes.
The company suffered a setback in 2006 when co-founder Charlie Rominger passed away from cancer. His brother Bruce Rominger then took over the grape-growing and they were able to keep the company afloat.
However, even though the winery was heavily involved in the community, their wine sales did not reach the projected amount.
“One of the great things about this company is that they try to be sustainable for economics, society and the environment, so they did a really great job incorporating sustainability into the environment,” said Jennifer Kilroy, a staff member at Rominger West Winery. “The reason we’re really closing is because we can’t be economically sustainable and not enough people from the community come to us on a regular basis. We sized this place to make upwards of 6,000 cases and right now we’re only selling 1,500 a year.”
The winery is known for holding weekly live music events Wednesday through Saturday, and this is the last week the events will be held.
Wine-In-Wednesdays will feature the local band Souterrian, who will perform from 7 to 9 p.m. This event is more geared toward the college crowd.
Happy Thursdays are from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. On Thursday, the winery will host the Mike Justis band.
Friday Night Live will feature artist Elizabeth Busch, who will perform from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The final event is the Last Saturday event. This April, the focus of Last Saturday is staying green and being sustainable. There will be vendors from noon to 5 p.m. and live music from 2 to 5 p.m.
All events are free and open to everyone; only those over 21 can get drinks.
“The winery closing means an end to all these great live music events. I always enjoyed attending them and it will truly be missed,” said sophomore genetics major Robyn Lindsay.
Managing staff at the winery is still looking for a potential buyer to take over the company.
“We really enjoyed being here and being a part of the community. We’re just sad that we weren’t able to become financially stable, so we could continue serving the community,” West said.PAAYAL ZAVERI can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
