A newspaper article initally appeared in "The Daily News" (published in Palo Alto/Menlo Park) of March 20th 2026,
and then a few days later, essentially the same text appeared in the "Food" section of the Sunday Edition
of the San Jose Mercury News (April 5th, 2026) - but with the addition of a very grainy photo.
By Laura Ness
CORRESPONDENT
Back in 1976, Dick Stark
decided to dig a hole under
the house and create a
winery. Little did he know
that this crazy little side
project, inspired by spending
time in Germany while
selling laser technology for
Varian and later Spectra
Physics, would turn into
a winery that survives 50
years later.
Today Page Mill Winery
is no longer under a house,
and it is far from where it
began on Page Mill Road on
the outskirts of Palo Alto.
"My Dad was traveling
to universities around the
world, showing physics
professors this amazing
new technology none of
them had seen before," says
current Page Mill Winery
proprietor Dane Stark, the
youngest of Dick and Ome
(Allison) Stark's four sons.
"One day, he went wine tasting
in the Rhinegau and saw
all these family operations
with 10 or 12 barrels under
the house, and that planted
the seed."
Dick dug the hole in the
hill, cemented it all in and
then borrowed 2 acres of
land from a friend who
had 13 acres—back in those
days, such transactions
were simpler—and planted
a vineyard. The deer
promptly ate it all.
So, in 1976, he began
purchasing grapes. Dane
says his dad bought cabernet
from Napa and the
Central Valley, as well as
from Monterey and some
from the Santa Cruz Mountains.
"His philosophy was to
just buy really good grapes,
and it was all built around
what you could put on the
back of flatbed truck: about
4 tons at a time," he adds.
"The initial business model
was to have folks come to
the winery twice a year to
taste and buy wine."
Dick created a mailing
list that would grow to
over 3,000 people, and they
would invite 40 at a time, to
sit at picnic tables and taste,
usually in April and October.
They would do 40% of
their sales for the year in
those two months. The rest
was sold to restaurants and
retailers throughout the
Peninsula, and eventually
beyond. Dane remembers
putting stamps and address
labels on the fliers they
mailed out twice yearly.
An avid backpacker who
loved to hike, Dick saw wine
as a way to spend more time
in the Sierras. "We would
put 40 pounds on our backs
and we would hike all day
in the dirt and mud," says
Dane. "That cured me of
backpacking, but all my
siblings still love it."
Dane says wine was
his dad's paying hobby.
"Remember, there were
only 300 wineries then."
Among those wineries
were Woodside Cellars,
Cooper Garrod and Ridge.
At the time, the wine
industry was becoming
segmented into AVAs
(American Viticulture
Areas), and the eastern side
of the Santa Cruz Mountains
spanned several
counties, among them San
Mateo, Santa Clara and
Santa Cruz.
"My parents were instrumental
in bringing together
the Santa Clara and Santa
Cruz sides," says Dane.
"They created fundraisers
with Duane Cronin, the
Martellas, the Obesters,
JefFEmery (Santa Cruz
Mountain Vineyard), Dr.
Fogarty — lots of neat of
folks, including Don Riesen
of Ridge. Those were good
times."
Getting into the wine
industry wasn't a given
for Dane, but he eventually
wound up there. While"
attending college in Boulder,
CO, he applied to study
abroad the summer before
his junior year to bolster
his major in French studies.
"We did a blind tasting with
my uncle and mom and dad,
and they tried to get me up
to speed because I didn't
want to look like an idiot in
Bordeaux!"
Dane learned French
the hard way by enrolling
in the enology program at
the University of Bordeaux,
where he learned about
the wine and the language.
"That's where I got the bug,"
he admits. "They have such
a different way of looking at
things in Europe, especially
in France."
His year abroad over,
Dane came back in 1989
with what he calls "a bit of
an epiphany, or perhaps it
was a mental breakdown."
He called his dad to ask if he •
could come back and take
a semester off and work for
him during harvest. That
went great, but then his Dad
told him, "We're gonna do
sales."
Dane admits that first
sales trip spoiled him for
life. "We drove around to
all these great accounts like
Bambino, Flea Street Cafe,
Iberia restaurant, and they
each said they would take
three cases. They loved the
wines and we even got it
back on the shelf at Drager's.
I thought, 'This is really
easy!' But I've spent the
whole the rest of my career
trying to emulate that day."
Dane eventually became
a member of the Santa Cruz
Mountains Winegrowers
board and was president
when his parents decided
to retire in 1996. "There
were under 30 wineries
when I joined board in the
mid-'90s," he says. "I held
the first trade tasting at the
Palo Alto Sheraton, and I
also organized the Santa
Cruz Mountains certificate
for servers. It was one night a week for
eight weeks. We wanted front line people
to be familiar with Santa Cruz Mountains
history."
Dane says that after his parents retired,
his intent was to take over the winery and
keep it local, but they needed more space.
The cellar was filled to the floorboards
above, and barrels hit the floor joists.
By 2004 he and his wife Angela were
thinking about a family of their own. "We
looked all around the mountains and even
asked the Fogarty's if they could sell us
some land on Skyline," says Dane. They
also looked in the Sierra Foothills, Healdsburg
and Livermore but wanted to stay
close to Silicon Valley. It became clear that
Livermore was experiencing a renaissance
and had the wine country feel they sought,
and it was far less expensive.
The couple found the ideal house right
away, and the late Dick Bartlett of Charles
R offered them barrel storage. Soon they
found the vineyard and winery property
next to Concannon on Tesla that would
become the new home of Page Mill Winery.
After years of buying fruit from as far south
as Santa Maria and as far north as Napa,
they now source everything from Livermore.
"I could have coffee with Angela, and the
fruit would show up on the crushpad and
it made better wine," Dane says. "By 2014,1
was totally Livermore."
He feels the same spirit of camaraderie
in Livermore as he did in the Santa
Cruz Mountains. "The regions are similar
in that they have red-headed stepchild
syndrome,'" says Dane. "Both live
in the shadow of Sonoma and Napa and
Paso. Neither wants to be Napa, and it
has fostered an underdog mentality that
works in our favor. And yet, the Santa Cruz
Mountains is still the Wild West: there are
so many remote outposts, it fosters an independence
that still works."
As for his parents, when they sold their
property on Page Mill Road, they moved
to Twain Harte, where they lived happily
hiking, skiing and generally enjoyingthe
great outdoors. Dick passed away in January
2023 and Ome died on Jan. 30,2026,
having lived to see the winery that became
part of her life mark 50 years.
"My Mom was the quintessential good
sport, open to any adventure, from river
rafting to skiing and backpacking," says
Dane. "Our front yard was chaos four
months out of the year during harvest
After my Dad retired, she got a job as a tour
guide and traveled the world. One night
she called from Fiji to check in, and my Dad
was beside himself with the four of us, telling
her 'The kids are driving me nuts!' To
which she replied, 'Oh, so sorry to hear. I've
got to run to a luau now
=====//=====
Following is a series of pictures taken at (the "old") Page Mill Winery on May 28th, 2004, not long before the winery departed Los Altos Hills for Livermore.
 Some bottles from that era |
 The casks were stacked all the way up to the floor joists above |
 The "cellar" also served as tasting room |
 With bottles of wine tastefully stacked in cubbies along the walls |
 Tasters could purchase immediately and right there on the spot |
 "Le Padron" as he was then... Quite a bit younger and as yet unmarried |
 Dane emerging from the ramped entrance to the cellar under the house |
Around the time that the above pictures were taken, Dane had gotten married to Angela, and fairly soon thereafter
the following article appeared in the Los Altos Town Crier.
| |
Page Mill Winery leaving Los Altos Hills for Livermore
|
• Steve Hicks - Special to the Town Crier
• Oct 13, 2004
Twenty eight years ago Dick and Ome Stark founded the Page Mill Winery at their home on Page Mill Road. It has been there ever since; and the only major change was when their youngest son, Dane, took over the operation in 1992. Grapes have been crushed and vinified at this location since day one. The basement of the house has served as the tasting and barrel room.
Dane, wife Angela, 3-month-old daughter, Stella, and dog Syrah plan to pack up lock, stock and literally barrel and move to a 100-year-old Victorian home in Livermore.
They will stay in the wine business. There are more than 20 wineries in the Livermore area, and many have excess capacity.
Dane will continue to be the winemaker but at another winemaker's facility. When the other site is eventually chosen, Page Mill Winery will have a new home across the bay.
Dane currently manages and uses grapes from 10 local vineyards and will continue to do so with the expectation that he will add grapes from Livermore vineyards.
Dane has been a one-man band performing all winery functions, including sales, marketing and delivery.
Alexia Moore, one of the area's premier wine distributors, will take over the sales and marketing.
The Starks have been an integral part of the community. They have been very generous with charitable donations and have always poured at the Los Altos Arts and Wine Festival and Vintage Affaire. I am sure they will continue to be involved as their customer base and heart is here.
Many residents have known the free-spirited, adventuresome Stark family for many years. It was always rumored that Dick purchased a two-story house so he could rappel out the second- floor bedroom window when he went to work.
Ome took up ocean sailing when Dick started the winery. Their four children have all been involved in climbing and professional river rafting, and all are basically extreme skiers. Dane has added paragliding to his activities.
Many locals have attended the Ski Finis weekend that the Starks have run for the past 45 years. When Sonora Pass reopens in May or June they tromp up to the top and have a ski race down.
