![]() ![]() Later in my life, when finally I had earned a little money, I suggested to my wife that we buy a summer cottage in the Napa Valley, hopefully with a few grapevines, and the agent showing us these modest possibilities said, “This isn’t for you, but the Niebaum estate is being auctioned and that was once part of the great Inglenook, the most beautiful wine estate in the world, and this would be a chance to see it.” So we said “sure” and went to see it, but to behold it was to wish it could be yours, and eventually that wish, after the success of The Godfather came true. Those childhood stories made winemaking sound like so much fun. ![]() We loved hearing those stories sitting around the table where we kids were allowed a little wine mixed with 7 Up.ĭid you get serious about wine at some point in his life? Imagine a single orange divided up between seven boys! There were elaborate schemes of lowering the youngest in a basket on a rope into the cellar where the grapes were kept, and as the old man approached letting go, with the littlest brother crashing into them. ![]() But I also heard great stories my uncles told me about the days during Prohibition, when the government allowed families accustomed to drinking wine with food, to make two barrels of wine in their homes. My grandfather had seven sons and expected them to help out in making this home wine, but the boys were more anxious to steal the grapes, because fresh fruit was a luxury and they were quite poor. Did your family drink wine when you were a child?Īs an Italian-American, I confess I never saw a dinner table that didn’t have wine on it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |