It’s no secret that our family has a love of motorcycles and motorcycle racing. So when an opportunity arose to host two of the biggest stars in the MotoGP race world at our winery, we jumped at the chance to welcome them! Both Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso stopped by for two separate evenings filled with good food, great wine and of course, plenty of race talk!
Through some unique networking, I was able to connect with the race stars and start a conversation over, what else- motorcycles! First, there was World Champion and Ducati Factory Team racer Andrea Dovizioso. I was actually introduced to Dovizioso by fellow Temecula resident and business owner Primo Del Cin. Primo currently owns Gelato Italicus right here in Temecula. This is one of our favorite new places to take the kids, because the gelato is always fresh and the flavors are amazing! Before he was creating sweet desserts, Primo actually raced motocross in Italy. During this time, he became connected with Dovizioso. After I found this out, it was just a matter of time before Primo introduced us. I also met another Ducati Factory Team racer and 5 time World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, through my relationship with Monster Energy Drink. I hit it off with Andrea and Jorge immediately and when they both learned of my dad Marcelo’s MotoDoffo Collection and the number of Ducati’s included in it, I knew that a trip to the winery was in order.
I took it upon myself to to meet these two stars in person and what better place then at my dad’s house, for a traditional Argentina Style BBQ. The first night, we were joined by Andrea Dovizioso and the second night by Jorge Lorenzo.
I invited a small group of friends and fellow racing enthusiasts over each night to help welcome our guests. We even had custom magnum bottles of 2014 Doffo Malbec created for each racer, with their signature number on the bottle-Andrea’s with #4 and Jorge’s with a #99. Each signed their own bottle as a memento to the winery’s collection of important race memorabilia. The two also took the time to sign a few other things, at one point I asked Andrea to sign my baby Marco! He politely declined.
Finally it was time for the meals. The funniest part about both nights was that we had some salmon prepared for the guys, because we wanted to respect their training and their diets. But both racer’s took this as an opportunity to break away from their usually strict diets, because they both looked at the salmon and said no thank you, give me the meat!! Everyone sat around family style and talked as if they were old friends.
Our adopted son Gabriel prepared and cooked all of the food and he spared no expense on the beautiful cuts of meat.
During dinner we discussed different aspects of racing with Andrea and Jorge. It was a perfect time to tell Andrea how much of a beast we thought he was on the brakes! We also discussed his decision to ride carbon brakes in the rain. Jorge gave me some great insights on turning tactics and the mechanical aspects of the bike in a race.
It was such a humbling experience to just sit with these two celebrities and have a conversation about something we all loved so much, just like normal people.
We ended the night with of course, gelato from Gelato Italicus! Primo helped scoop out some of his favorite flavors.
These were definitely two nights that no one who attended, including myself, would ever forget! Thank you again to Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso for taking time out of your busy schedules to spend an evening with us! We look forward to watching these two in the continuing MotoGP season. Until we meet again..CIAO!
-Damian Doffo