Lineage: Life and Love and Six Generations in California Wine
by Steven Kent Mirassou
Hardcover – June 2021
Steven Kent Mirassou received his BA in American Literature from the George Washington University and his MA in Literature from NYU. He was born in the Salinas Valley and grew up in San Jose and Los Gatos before going east to college. Lineage: Life and Love and Six Generations in California Wine is his first book.
Mirassou started his wine career in sales but found his true passion after moving into the production side of the business in 1996. Steven has made the highest rated wines from the Livermore Valley, is a founder of the Mount Diablo Highlands Wine Quality Alliance, and the President of the Livermore Valley Wine Growers Association.
Steven has four adult children, April Coffey, Aidan Mirassou, Katherine Mirassou, and Sara Mirassou. He lives in Pleasanton, CA with his fiancée, Nancy Castro, and their three dogs.
A friend of mine, Brandon Wood, just opened up a new and magical cheese shop in downtown Livermore. As our wine region becomes more mature and begins showing off its world-class bona fides, it needs more artisanal places like The Cheese Parlor. Brandon and I talk cheese and wine in
Keynote Address to the 3rd Annual Cabernet Franc Celebration Copperopolis, CA April 7, 2022 ________________ Finding Home: Why the Livermore Valley Should Become Cabernet Franc’s New Spiritual Center Hello, I’m Steven Kent Mirassou, Proprietor & Winemaker of the Lineage Wine Collection, and I call the Livermore Valley home. I
Aging away gracefully is a puncheon of 2021 Cabernet Franc from the Ghielmetti Vineyard destined for Lineage or L’Autre Côte. The 2021 vintage is stunning, perhaps the finest we have yet made though the newly released 2018 is now available and setting the current standard of excellence for Livermore Valley
Recently, a growing number of Livermore Valley winemakers has been meeting frequently to taste wines from all over the world. Beth Refsnider, Assistant Winemaker from the Lineage Wine Collection, Julie Schreiber from the Livermore Valley Quality Alliance, and others have led the effort to give our winemakers new examples of
I’ve written extensively over the years about how one of the most magical characteristics (out of the innumerably extraordinary things) of wine is its desire and ability to evolve constantly. Every sip, every moment of added air, elicits new and profound aromas and flavors from the glass. Going back to
The Lineage Wine Collection’s winemaking team talk about great Cabernet Francs from Leah Jørgensen Cellars in Oregon and the Steven Kent Winery in the Livermore Valley.
In this video, I talk about the effect of different-sized barrels on Cabernet Franc. By looking at samples of the same wine from puncheons and barriques, we can see how the wood choices of winemakers can highlight or obscure the most important characteristics of Cabernet Franc.
“If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
I explore the history of Cabernet Franc in the Old World and in the New; expand upon recent thoughts of why the Livermore Valley ought to set itself up as the home of the variety in California, and what makes Cab Franc so hedonistically perfect! Check out the White Paper.
I am thrilled to let you know that my first book, Lineage: Life and Love and Six Generations in California Wine is now available on Kindle. My love letter to cellars and vineyards, to wine, and to those whose mission is to add joy and richness to peoples’ lives is
