By STAN VAUGHN
Register Staff Writer
It started out as a labor of love, making wine to give to friends during the holiday season. That's what Robert and Mimi Buoncristiani started doing 10 years ago and while the intent has changed some, the feelings remain the same.
It seems only natural that Robert and Mimi would have an interest in making wine. "Both of us were raised on wine instead of milk," Mimi recalled one recent afternoon, while her husband busied himself in the garage of their Browns Valley home preparing to bottle some of last year's zinfandel.
"We were given wine and water with our meals. Our parents thought it was good for the blood," she said.
Both are native San Franciscans, having moved to Napa three-and-a-half years ago, having lived in San Jose and Sonoma before that. During the week Robert is an administrator at Altamira Intermediate School in Sonoma, but on the weekends he
continued on Page 2...
|
FOR ABOUT A MONTH each year the garage of the Buoncristiani family home in Browns Valley is transformed into Chatteau Mattina, a home wine making operation. In the photo above Robert Buoncristiani, left and neighbor Bill Walter check the progress of a barrel of chenin blanc, as 8-year-old Matthew Buoncristiani looks on. Robert and Bill, who became oartners three years ago after staying up nearly all of a night discussing wine making have devised a cooling system to keep their wines fermenting at a constant temperature. Cold water is circulated from two old refrigerators through a system of tubes in the fermenting barrels. It's not as sophisticated as the stainless steel tanks and the modern facilities in the Napa Valley, but the cost is much less. One side of the garage serves as the bottling room, complete with a two bottle gravity forced filler system and corker. When the crush is over, the equipment is torn down and stored, turning the winery back in to a useable garage. (Photo by J.L. Sousa) |
