Livermore Valley, California—July 26, 2021— Steven Kent Mirassou, 6th-generation winemaker, has just released a book that weaves together his personal experiences in the wine industry with the history of his winemaking ancestors. “Lineage: Life And Love And Six Generations In California Wine,” has been in the making for three decades.
Mirassou explains that it was his father, Steve Mirassou Sr., who motivated him to get the manuscript into shape to publish. “After having scribbled about 15,000 words over many years, the manuscript sat dormant until my father shared it with a friend who shared it with my eventual publisher, Paul Chutkow of Val de Grace books. He reached out and told me that he liked the writing and wanted to publish the book when it was done. This set of fortuitous circumstances and the time afforded by Covid lit the proper flame.”
Although his winemaking heritage goes back six generations, Steven Jr. was never encouraged by his father to pursue the family wine business. Instead, Steven attended The George Washington University, where he intended to teach and write novels. There, he met his late wife, June. After their second child was born, they returned to California, where he briefly worked, ungratifyingly, in municipal landscape management and street cleaning. A Christmas gift of a 70-year-old Angelica from his grandfather’s stash, bequeathed by his father in 1994, awakened Steven to the allure of wine.
Father and son first became partners in Iván Tamás, a brand subsequently sold to Wente Vineyards. They then started the Steven Kent Winery in 1996, with a singular focus on Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the Livermore Valley. And then came Lineage, his throw-down-the-gauntlet effort to make a world-class Bordeaux blend from Livermore grapes.
Because it is a tale of love and life, all wrapped up in the not so glamourous, dirty nitty gritty reality of winemaking, Mirassou says he feels the book will appeal to a broad range of wine lovers, as well as history lovers.
“I think that almost everything worthwhile in life starts with passion. Steven Kent Mirassou clearly has a passion for making wine and this radiates from every page of his book. But Mirassou also has a passion for people, a passion for healthy food, and a passion for writing. He has crafted every line of this book much as he crafts his very fine wines, and his life. Give the book Lineage a taste. You’ll finish it and be glad you did.”― James Patterson, celebrated New York Times best-selling author.
Says Mirassou, “Wine is an ideal vehicle by which to convey my life’s work which is to take care of people by bringing joy and richness to their lives.” In fact, he dedicates the book to his family, and to all who work in the hospitality business, saying, “We are compelled to take care of people, and there is glory in that.”
Mirassou admits that he long wanted to be a writer, and became a winemaker instead. “With Lineage, the book, I feel as if the these two powerful and emotional strands of my life have finally intertwined to become one, both feeding the other, both making the other stronger.”
Lineage: Life and Love and Six Generations in California Wine – Order your signed copy at: www.stevenkentmirassou.com
About The Lineage Collection
Today, Mirassou and his son Aidan, 7th generation winemaker, along with Assistant Winemaker, Beth Refsnider, make wine for The Lineage Collection which consists of Lineage Wine Co., The Steven Kent Winery, L’Autre Côte Cabernet Franc, and Mia Nipote Wines, four wine brands widely regarded as among the most prestigious in the Livermore Valley appellation.
As CEO of The Lineage Collection, Mirassou oversees management and operations of the company, and holds the title of Chief Winemaker for all wine projects.
