Steve and Paula Dooley remain focused on Edna Valley and the next chapter for Stephen Ross Wine Cellars
September 23, 2026 (San Luis Obispo, CA) — Steve and Paula Dooley, owners of Stephen Ross Wine Cellars, have made the difficult decision to move on from their involvement with the EdnaSLO collaborative tasting room on Biddle Ranch Road in San Luis Obispo.
The property, formerly home to Edna Valley Vineyards, had been owned by E. & J. Gallo Winery before being sold to a group of local San Luis Obispo investors in December 2024.
The decision to leave EdnaSLO is part of a longer-term plan by the Dooleys to focus the winery’s operations and concentrate their efforts on Stephen Ross Wine Cellars.
“For the past few years, we’ve been working toward simplifying our operations and putting more emphasis on the wines that are most important to us, while still having fun with a few new wines each vintage,” says Paula Dooley. “We remain passionate about Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the San Luis Obispo Coast AVA, but Steve has always made a few wines each year that fall outside our usual boundaries. We’re currently working with Albariño from Spanish Springs Vineyard, along with both Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir from the Trestle Vineyard on the Cal Poly campus.”
For Steve Dooley, the move represents another turn in a winemaking career spent mainly on California’s Central Coast. After graduating from UC Davis in 1977, he began his career working with California wine pioneer Louis M. Martini. A decade later, he joined Chalone and took over winemaking operations at the company’s Edna Valley Vineyard. Steve and Paula founded Stephen Ross Wine Cellars in 1994, and over the ensuing three decades the winery has become a fixture in the San Luis Obispo Coast wine community. Mentorship has always been a defining aspect of his approach—several of his assistants have gone on to significant wine careers after working at Stephen Ross Wine Cellars.
After more than 40 years of involvement in the local wine community, the Dooleys have no plans to go far.
“We anticipate landing our operations somewhere in the Edna Valley soon,” says Steve. “We’ll be without a tasting room until we find the right place, but our web store and wine club releases will continue.”
About Stephen Ross Wine Cellars
Founded by Steve and Paula Dooley in 1994, Stephen Ross Wine Cellars is a San Luis Obispo County winery with a longstanding focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Edna Valley and the San Luis Obispo Coast AVA. Winemaker Steve Dooley has worked on California’s Central Coast since the 1980s, building the Stephen Ross Wine Cellars reputation around cool-climate vineyards, small-lot winemaking and a deep connection to the region’s growers and wine community. The wines are distributed nationally.
