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.
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
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
I’ll delve much deeper into the overall quality and scope of the 2021 vintage in a future post, but I just wanted to share – at the end of the harvest season – that we finished much as we began…with cleaning stuff out. Here is your moment of Zen:
I am gratified to share another wonderful review for my book – Lineage: Life and Love and Six Generations in California Wine. “This is a book like no other. It is a combination of autobiography and beautiful poetic prose: “This sweaty ferment that is the wine production business is like
Thank you, Mary Orlin, for your wonderful story in Edible Silicon Valley about the Mirassou family and its legacy of winemaking in the South Bay. Below is a little taste. MO: Why is it important to tell your lineage story, and what is the Mirassou legacy? SKM: The fundamental reason for wanting
Mourvèdre is an amazing grape that pulses at the heart of Bandol. Wearing the M in family photos of its G and S brethren, Mourvèdre, similar, to Cabernet Franc, sports its sometimes funky aromatics and flavors as a garland. Sometimes reeking (in the best way!) of cured and roasted meats, sometimes
“The best Cab Franc continually resonates at a pitch and frequency just out of the range of comfortable explication. It is the great conniver, is Cabernet Franc. At one moment it is as prosaic in the nose as mediocre Merlot—all cherry and wood. In the next though, it’s as mysterious
More than a perfect spot to grow important grape varieties well, Ghielmetti, or Out From Land, as it came to be called by my family, became the center of a vision for living that captivates to this day. Nestled in the 100 acres of vines is an olive grove of 111
“The genius of the best wine and food is the seemingly effortless way in which complicated and disparate ingredients harmonize a series of notes into an irreducible and unrepeatable song. No matter how many components are in the dish or how many different grape varieties are in a blend, there
