The inspiring story of business success, family drama, and two brothers who built from scratch the world's greatest winery. Their life story reads like a great epic novel. Full of drama and wonderful characters, the story is a celebration of life, of brotherhood, of wine and business, and of America and its dreams. 60 photos.

Both an eye-opening account of the financial and personal scandals at the nation's number-one winery and a devastating portrait of patriarch Ernest Gallo, Blood and Wine tells the riveting saga of the ruthless Gallo family and the history of the business that dominates the American wine industry. Photographs.

First published in 2009, this book has already received several awards. Tuccille reveals how the Gallos, a secretive family with political and organized crime connections, rose from near poverty after Prohibition to conquer the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine market.

Winner of the 2013 New York Book Show Award in Scholarly/Professional Book Design From Ernest and Julio Gallo to Francis Ford Coppola, Italians have shaped the history of California wine. More than any other group, Italian immigrants and their families have made California viticulture one of America’s most distinctive and vibrant achievements, from boutique vineyards in the Sonoma hills to the massive industrial wineries of the Central Valley. But how did a small group of nineteenth-century immigrants plant the roots that flourished into a world-class industry? Was there something particularly “Italian” in their success? In this fresh, fascinating account of the ethnic origins of California wine, Simone Cinotto rewrites a century-old triumphalist story. He demonstrates that these Italian visionaries were not skilled winemakers transplanting an immemorial agricultural tradition, even if California did resemble the rolling Italian countryside of their native Piedmont. Instead, Cinotto argues that it was the wine-makers’ access to “social capital,” or the ethnic and familial ties that bound them to their rich wine-growing heritage, and not financial leverage or direct enological experience, that enabled them to develop such a successful and influential wine business. Focusing on some of the most important names in wine history—particularly Pietro Carlo Rossi, Secondo Guasti, and the Gallos—he chronicles a story driven by ambition and creativity but realized in a complicated tangle of immigrant entrepreneurship, class struggle, racial inequality, and a new world of consumer culture. Skillfully blending regional, social, and immigration history, Soft Soil, Black Grapes takes us on an original journey into the cultural construction of ethnic economies and markets, the social dynamics of American race, and the fully transnational history of American wine.

An epic, scandal-plagued story of the immigrant family that built--and then spectacularly lost--a global wine empire. Award-winning journalist Flynn Siler brings to life both the place and the people in this riveting family drama.

Praise for Thomas Pinney's "A History of Wine in America" "Exhaustively researched. . ..invaluable to serious scholars of the grape. Fascinating reading." --"San Francisco Chronicle" "Revealing a sharp eye for detail and a dry, low-key wit, Pinney writes in an engaging style and with remarkable clarity." --"Wine Spectator" "Definitive. . ..an important work of historical literature." --"Wine & Spirits" "An indispensable view of. . .a remarkable time." --"Decanter"

A definitive statement of YPAR as it relates to education with an informative combination of theory and practice, this edited collection addresses both the political challenges and inherent power imbalances of conducting research with young people.