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 Livermore, CA with his wife, Beth Murray Mirassou, and their two dogs
I had the wonderful opportunity to taste the Steven Kent Winery 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, one of our very early vintages, after locating a half-bottle in a case that was being moved to another warehouse. Beth Refsnider, a member of our winemaking team, took the wine to one of the
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, one of the five First-Growths from the Left Bank of Bordeaux has worked with some of the greatest artists of the 20th century to create original artwork to adorn their grand vin. Back in 2003, I borrowed this idea and
I dream of the pruning shear. And the wood unmoored, And the fulgent buds as they fall. I come upon a hand of shading fingers Where one will suffice, A crone’s polydactyly. The chink of shear, and the weep at the reaping. The blood tastes Of sweet clean water. On
I’m an unabashed lover of French wine (and Italian, Californian, etc.), and there are certain grapes we grow in California that just don’t ring my bells like the French versions do. Syrah is one of those grapes. Making up the red wines of the northern Rhône almost exclusively and extremely
Harvest snuck up on me again. I’ve been doing this long enough to know when the first grapes will come in, but each year I’m still surprised. Harvest is holy. Harvest is hard. Harvest is healing.
The senses are the winemaker’s greatest tools. The ability to smell and taste and remember what you’ve experienced from barrel to barrel are crucial in putting together consistent wines. Outside influences, like Brettanomyces, a spoilage yeast that lives everywhere in the winery, can get in the way of the true expression of
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