Daniel J. Ferrelli is a 100% second generation Italian, originally from Kenosha, WI.

Daniel's parents Joseph Ferrelli and Jenny Maccarone were born in Calabria, Italy. The families immigrated to the U.S. after the War. Jenny's family lived and worked on an onion farm in Walla Walla, Wa. When her parents passed away early in life, nine children ages 5-20 were left to raise each other. Joe was raised in the heart of Chicago during the Great Depression-with prohibition and the rise of the mafia.

"Big Papa" had many stories about the struggle of living in Chicago during that difficult time. Just getting by included his family selling Italian Zinfandel jug wine out of the basement his parents, Russell and Mary Ferrelli's brownstone. Joseph & Jenny's courtship began at the 1938 World's Fair in Chicago. The young Ferrelli family moved to Seattle, WA. with their sons Russell and Daniel in 1947. They resided in Queen Anne for 30 years. Dan and Russ attended both St. Anne's and Queen Anne High School.

Helen Stylianopoulos daughter to Father George and Vasiliki Stylianopoulos was born in Mouzaki, Greece beyond the Peloponnese. Helen's family had to flee Greece due to the war. Her father was a sought after man by the Nazi's as a priest and mayor of the town. She came to America through Ellis Island in 1952 and went on to San Francisco for a short time, finally residing in Seattle, Washington. Her father took the job as parish priest at The Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Seattle. Helen went to the University of Washington ('69) and went on to be a school teacher at Meany Elementary in Seattle.

Daniel & Helen married as high school sweethearts in 1967. They had their first daughter Angela in 1971, their second daughter Tina in 1973, and son Tony in 1975. When the oldest started school in 1977 they decided to raise their family in Redmond. As Daniel moved up the ranks at Western Optical he soon realized his dream was to work for himself. He and Helen looked at various businesses and decided on dry cleaning.

Daniel & Helen opened Daniel's Cleaners in February of 1983. It quickly grew busy and famous for its quality. The operation at its height had six locations: Issaquah, Madison Park, Coal Creek, Redmond, Queen Anne and Renton. They retired from the business after a fire destroyed the main plant 2004. They began their new life, able to spend more time with their 7 grandchildren: Daniel (12), Paul (9), Adrienne (9), Joseph (7), William (6), Luke (4) and Lola (2).

Even with Daniel's busy life of running a business and three children, he always maintained the yearly tradition of making wine with his grandfather's old wine press. He did this with various winemaking partners over the years including his father, brother, high school buddies, neighbors, and finally in 1989- with his future son-in-law (and Efeste partner) Kevin Taylor.

Dan and Kevin started a new tradition of bottling and labeling their garage wine in 2001. In 2003, Daniel introduced Kevin to friend and business associate Patrick Smith over dinner. Patrick, a wine connoisseur at heart, heard about Dan and Kevin's hobby and offered to put them in contact with his friends in the Woodinville Wine community.

With state of the art wine making equipment, "We could just make a couple of barrels". "Making a couple of barrels" spiraled into EFESTE winery.