Being of Italian heritage, our family enjoys the benefits of the many wonderful traditions passed down from generation to generation, and that has extended to the family business of making wine. Holidays and Sunday dinners, including homemade pasta and sauce and the many side dishes and trimmings, always accompanied by good wine has kept our family close. Wine has always been a part of my family's Sunday dinners. When I was a child, there were always 70 family members together for the holidays. Still on Sundays there are at least 22 of us! My great uncle, 'Sonny' Elliott, made wine each year, and my father, John Balistreri, kept up the tradition of making wine the way my ancestors had for generations, employing traditional Italian procedures and hand-dipping the bottles in wax. As a child, I was always helping in the kitchen, learning how to prepare the many traditional Sicilian specialties. Now, making wine with my father in the same traditional way and being able to share it with others makes us all very happy. In short it's lotsa family, lotsa food, lotsa wine, and lotsa fun with family and friends.

Oh! I just want to share that we'll have our Annual Harvest Party on October 9. One of the fun events is a children's grape stomping from which we produce our wine called "Little Feet Merlot". We have released the Little Feet Merlot from the 2003 and 2004 grape stomping. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of these wines at the harvest party will benefit the Children's Hospital Foundation.