MARIO'S VINEYARD
by
Michael Legat



Mario Gilardone has one ambition in 1879 when he sets out on the long and tortuous journey from his little town in Northern Italy to California: it is to own his own vineyard. But he is penniless, and though he finds work, his own vineyard seems an impossible dream.

Until he meets the wilful and wealthy Emily King - epitome of that new breed of independent woman that contrasts so intriguingly with the women of his Italian home.

Realising that he has talents beyond those he displays in her bed, Emily sets him up at the San Christoforo vineyard in the Napa valley, and the long years of loving, backbreaking work begin.

Mario sends to Italy for his childhood sweetheart, and begins to raise a family and slowly establish himself as a winemaker. Through natural disaster and personal tragedy, his skill and driving ambition carry him on undaunted.

As the years pass by, Mario becomes conscious that he has founded a dynasty; and that he must confront a new problem: which of his children is to succeed him? The right successor must be for San Cristoforo, the vineyard, the land, must live on.

Mario's Vineyard is a rich and engaging saga, filled with drama and peopled with a host of the wild and brilliant characters whose efforts founded the now flourishing California wine industry. It is a story very lovingly told and researched, sunny and stormy like the untamed landscape of its setting.

Mario's Vineyard was first published by Souvenir Press in 1980
and republished in 2001 by House of Stratus.

Mario's Vineyard is now out of print.