MEET STEPHANIE CUADRA
Stephanie Cuadra founded Terrestoria Wine Imports on a simple conviction: that Utahns deserved access to the kind of wines usually reserved for a handful of coastal markets, and that Utah's state-controlled system, far from being an obstacle, could be the very thing to bring them here.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, and a former Salt Lake City resident, Stephanie has made Italy her home for the past two decades. Her path began with the study of intergroup relations at Georgetown University and a career in journalism, both driven by a conviction that people are essentially the same everywhere. Wine turned out to be the most natural way to act on this worldview.
Before Terrestoria, she spent six years leading global communications and business development for Querciabella in Chianti Classico, where she still serves on the Advisory Board. That experience introduced her firsthand to the opacity of the U.S. three-tier system from the standpoint of foreign wineries, and convinced her that Utah could offer an alternative pathway for small-scale producers into the world's largest and most complex wine market.
Since Terrestoria's first shipment of Noelia Bebelia Albariño landed in 2017, Stephanie has worked directly with every producer in the portfolio—favoring lesser-known regions, indigenous grapes and sustainable farming, often at women-led estates. Each wine is imported direct, warehoused in Salt Lake City and sold through state wine stores or via the DABS special order system. From day one, Terrestoria's purpose could be summed up in three words: WINE FOR UTAH.
Along the way, Terrestoria has surprised many by putting this corner of the Intermountain West on the map of wine connoisseurship, through regular coverage in local, national and international media outlets, including VinePair, Monocle Magazine and Wine-Searcher, the documentary On the Fringes of Tierdom, and countless wine-centric events such as The Masterclass Utah Summer Series.
Stephanie and her husband, Roberto Lasorte, are also producers in their own right. At Lasorte Cuadra, in Puglia's Valle d'Itria, they work alongside generational farming families and the region's last traditional cellar cooperative to make Silos, a field blend of rare Apulian grapes that reaches the United States primarily through Utah.
Importing to Utah, producing wine in Puglia and living in Chianti Classico have all been, in their own ways, about bringing unlikely partners to the same table, ultimately paving the way toward an endeavor that connects the dots for Stephanie: Enopolitik, a platform devoted to citizen diplomacy over a shared glass, scheduled to make an official launch in spring 2027.