Hope Floats

By Alison Bailin Batz

Kristen Shroyer now has a ONEHOPE Winery in the heart

of Napa. (Photo by Taylor Hotter)

Third-generation Arizona native Kristen Shroyer grew up knowing two things.

“I knew I loved Scottsdale, especially going to school at Cochise Elementary, Cocopah Middle and Chaparral High. I am North Valley proud from day one,” Shroyer says. “I also knew that I knew far more about wine than most kids, which sounds weird saying it out loud!”

Shroyer clarifies that her parents were wine aficionados, so much so they would visit Napa often, sometimes allowing Shroyer to tag along on cellar, vineyard and cave tours. Though she didn’t get any sips, she did soak in a lot of information about grapes, harvests and winemaking that would serve her well as early as high school.

“I worked at Houston’s in my teens, and though a hostess I was always ready with a fun fact about wine for guests,” Shroyer says. “There I found myself fascinated by all the distributors who would visit, each with what seemed like hundreds of wines to sell to the restaurant.”

Upon graduating from Chaparral in 2001, Shroyer moved to Tucson to study marketing at the Eller College at the University of Arizona.

“Freshman year I attended the school’s job fair and marched myself directly to the Gallo Wine table, determined to earn an internship with them,” Shroyer says. “Alas, as I was just 19, they had to decline.”

The representative at the table, however, was impressed with her moxie and challenged Shroyer to stay in touch for an opportunity once she was of age.

“Let’s just say I spent the next two years

being very persistent,” Shroyer says. “So much so, they created a summer internship for me in Southern California after my junior year.” Armed with her research, work ethic, and proof she was finally 21, Shroyer worked in grocery stores across California that summer, merchandising wine. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Gallo moved Shroyer to Newport Beach, selling wine from their extensive portfolio to Orange County grocers. “There were seven key colleagues I met in my first months of working at Gallo, all of whom became dear friends,” Shroyer says. According to Shroyer, it was while with colleague Jake Kloberdanz stocking wine at a grocery store in the wee hours of an October morning that the seeds for their empire would be planted. “We noticed the entire store — save for the wine aisle — was pink, Kristen Shroyer plants grapevines with her daughter. thanks to the many products sup(Photo by Taylor Hotter) porting Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” Shroyer says. “We loved it but found ourselves sad both that wine wasn’t represented in support of the cause and that come November 1, all of the pink was gone yet there was no other cause to support.” The two friends, along with six other …continues on page 12

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colleagues, put pen to paper on a pie-in-the-sky concept: a wine company that partnered with a host of causes and transparently donated a portion of every dollar made directly back to each group.

“Being that most of us were just 23 years old, the idea stayed on paper for what I thought would be forever,” says Shroyer, who was eventually transferred to Napa but dreamt of making her way back to Scottsdale one day. “Turns out ‘forever’ was just a few years away, as was being back in Scottsdale.

In 2006, Kloberdanz called Shroyer with the sobering news that a friend was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma at just 24 years old. Realizing life was short, Shroyer, Kloberdanz and their six colleagues quit their jobs, committed to building a wine company that supported people like their friend.

They named their company ONEHOPE Wine because they wanted to give hope by giving back with funds from every bottle in order to create a lasting impact for local and global causes.

“I was only 25 at the time. It was before kids and a mortgage, so I made the biggest leap of faith of my life,” says Shroyer, who relocated back to Southern California to start the ball rolling.

After connecting with a custom crush facility and developing an initial concept — wines where each varietal raised funds for one cause they cared about — the team began selling ONEHOPE from their cars and to their friends, quickly learning the former was technically illegal.

“Within a few months, we got a distributor who believed in us, and Arizona was one of the first markets we were able to sell in. This was huge for me, as it meant I could move home to oversee the region,” Shroyer says.

In the years since starting the brand, in addition to getting married and starting a family, there have been lots of changes for Shroyer.

ONEHOPE, for example, is now available in all 50 states, including hotels and restaurants, and has more than 200 investors. And in 2020, despite COVID-19, the brand opened its first fullscale tasting room in the heart of Napa. Upon opening the 10-acre property, ONEHOPE became the first (and still only) impact-driven winemaker in the region. Located in the coveted wine region of Rutherford, the space allows it to host wine tastings, events, and even its own formal harvest parties, the most recent of which raised $317,000 to provide clean drinking water to thousands in the developing world.

Shroyer also co-launched the ONEHOPE Foundation, funding causes all over the world using proceeds from wine sales versus just one varietal for one cause at a time.

“We’ve made contributions to more than 30,000 local nonprofits in excess of $7.5 million in the past 14 years alone,” Shroyer says. “We also launched a direct-to-consumer program where anyone can host a ONEHOPE wine tasting to help fundraise for a nonprofit of choice, and we have a wine club where you can have our winemaker curate wines for you, or you can pick and choose yourself.”

Just as busy at home as at ONEHOPE, Shroyer also coaches a youth volleyball team, serves on the board of the Scottsdale Unified School District Foundation, and is the cookie manager for her daughter’s Girl Scout Troop.

“My parents inspired me to entrepreneurism though wine, and I am doing it with my own children through cookies,” laughs Shroyer, noting she was attracted to the program for its focus on goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. “I want them prepared to come work with me, or to branch and dream big on their own, all with my full support.” 

By David M. Brown

Give the heralded Silverleaf lifestyle to your family with this 10,660-square-foot North Scottsdale estate, featuring meticulous architecture by Dale Gardon Design and construction by Salcito Custom Homes.

“The attention to details in this home is all by design, not by luck,” says Frank Aazami, RLSIR Brand Ambassador, principal of the Private Client Group, Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty, Scottsdale.

On a 1.89-acre lot in Silverleaf at DC Ranch –– one of the Southwest’s premier luxury golf course communities –– the two-story view home, 21376 N. 110th Place, is at exactly 2,000 feet elevation on a southwestern-facing-view lot built on a gentle foothills slope, providing a cooler microclimate than lower Valley areas.

“This remarkable home offers its new owners an unparalleled balance of sweeping views to the south of city lights, the Scottsdale Airpark in the distance with its incoming and outgoing corporate jets, the landmark McDowell Mountains and the world-famous McDowell Sonoran Conservancy to the north and east,” Aazami says.

Gardon, AIA, LEED AP, aligned all of the primary rooms on distant city lights and sunset views, and the pool/spa are centered between the nearby mountain peaks while offering views as far as South Mountain Park 25 miles away; from a distance, the owners enjoy the view as planes approach and leave Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. And, the highest point of the house, the View Tower, at the front, is on axis with the community approach drive.

The architect masterfully created an authentic formal Mediterranean estate, “commensurate with estate neighborhoods from Greenwich, Connecticut, to Montecito, California, and beautiful cities and towns in between as well as Europe,” he says.

“It has quintessential estate character inside and out,” Gardon explains. “The quality of natural carved-stone details such as at the entryway, rusticated stone wainscoting, custom inlaid wood and tile flooring is reminiscent of the finest estate homes. The home envelopes exterior courtyard spaces, allowing daylight to penetrate rooms and corridors, and custom wrought iron details are used throughout for gates, balconies and awnings.”

“The key one-word description of this magnificent estate is balance,” says Bill Ramseyer, a Private Client Group associate who is co-brokering the home with Aazami. “This home has a formal look, with its arches, varying window configurations, corbels, interior balconies, decorative stonework and ironwork, hand-troweled plaster, yet it’s also warm, welcoming and inviting.”

Built in 2012, it has five bedrooms and five full bathrooms, a guest powder room, pool bath and semi-detached guest quarters accessed via a covered exterior walkway from the main house. “It’s cozy, private, luxurious and has great views,” Aazami says.

The owner, a car lover, ensured that the four-car garage included high ceilings so that full lifts could be added for an expanded collection, doubling the capacity of the space. In one of the bays, he has installed a golf simulator to use when the weather or his schedule do not permit him course time.

Enjoyed by the owners as a second residence, the home is in pristine condition, as they have retained the Salcito company’s Concierge maintenance service during ownership. “Our work is not simply done once the project has been completed,” explains Anthony Salcito, whose family-owned company has provided superlative luxury custom home construction since 1978. “The property’s integrity and value is upheld by the ongoing maintenance every noteworthy property deserves.”

Other rooms include a wood-finished library den/ office with a coffered ceiling and built-in bookcases; a fully equipped exercise/sauna room connected to the master suite; living room and dining room with an adjacent wine cabinet; a 12-seat home theater with the best A/V technology; family room; and an upper-level game room loft. And, the many cozy courtyards and patios affirm that the home was designed and built for the indoor/outdoor Arizona lifestyle.

The eat-in kitchen has a breakfast bar and a walk-in butler’s pantry for entertaining convenience. The welldaylighted semicircular breakfast room is adjacent. Among the many kitchen features are 220-volt service; Energy Star appliances; built-in recycling; wall ovens; granite countertops and an island.

On the main level are the master bedroom, another guest bedroom and the semi-attached guest suite. The master bedroom includes a walk-in closet, sitting room, a view patio and an outdoor shower garden with a custom laser-cut metal trellis. Well-appointed his and her master bathrooms and closets are in place.

Upstairs are two additional large guest bedrooms, one with double queens and the other with a king. “We have been seeing that a high percentage of buyers want a floor plan like this,” Aazami notes.

The home is connected to city of Scottsdale water and its sewerage system. Heating is natural gas, and the home has a recirculation pump for a consistent supply of hot water.

“The house features all of the latest and greatest energy-efficient and state-of-the-art electronics,” Salcito explains. These include a programmable thermostat, satellite dish, an owned security system and advanced Apple/Savant Smart Home technology, allowing control from anywhere in the world from your iPhone or other Apple device of components such as TVs, lights, shades and security.

For its mix of amenities, beauty and convenience, the Silverleaf lifestyle is state of the art, too –– perhaps incomparable among luxury communities in the Southwest. Aazami succinctly describes it as “safe grounds, avid golfers, hikers, bikers and active bodies and activities in the Silverleaf Clubhouse that can include group and fun social gatherings.” One of the first to buy in the community, the owners, native Midwesterners, chose it as their Arizona home because of this unique mix.

The husband praises, too, the robust cosmopolitan spirit of the Valley and its wide range of activities. “‘Metropolitan’ is a word people often don’t appreciate,” he says. “The Valley has the arts; it has the sports, it has everything. That’s what makes it special. It has a mix of people who come from all over the U.S. and from all over the world here; it’s a melting place.”

Everyone has his and her favorite rooms.

For Gardon, the notable distinguishing features are the dramatic grand entry foyer for its “distinctive guest arrival,” including an upper-level cross-over bridge between the living room and the grand foyer; the library den/office “for the club-like feel”; and the outdoor terrace areas.

Salcito also stresses first impressions, in this home and all of his homes. “The front door is arranged in axial alignment, with immediate adjacencies from the grand foyer to the living room to an outdoor living patio, all arranged on the primary view to the southwest toward the Scottsdale Airpark,” he explains.

In addition, he notes the attention to details: meshmounted mosaic on the floor, the reclaimed Chicago brick, the foyer chandelier, the marble fireplace. “It is hard to discern what is more impressive: the views or the quality of work and the overall aesthetic of the interior architecture,” Salcito adds.

For the husband, the library den/office is perfect for operating his business interests, and it’s close to the home’s interior and exterior amenities. His wife says, “The kitchen has the best of everything.” And, the “Little Italy” courtyard and marble sculpture remind her of the country: “historical, cozy and private.”

Ramseyer admires the al fresco dining and covered entertainment patio with those extensive views. And Aazami just loves the pool placement: “Imagine relaxing in the water and admiring the mountains at Silverleaf and in the distance across the Valley. Next to this is a shade pavilion with a changing/bathroom and an outdoor shower the owners’ grandchildren just love. Pure joy.”

The owner says that Silverleaf is the premier residential destination in the Southwest. “You can’t go wrong with this community,” he says, adding, “You can’t go wrong with this house.”

This superlative Paradise Valley home is offered at $14 million. A video with the owner and images are at pcgAgents.com/SilverleafCustom. Showings are by appointment. To schedule a visit, call Frank Aazami at 480266-0240, text “SIRFAAZAMI” to 87778, or email frank@ pcgAgents.com. For Bill Ramseyer, call or text 602-576-9496 or email bill.ramseyer@russlyon.com.

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