... and the gentile world-class winemaker decided it was time for some mischief.

As we sat in the parlor of a small Victorian known as the "Yellow Castle," peacefully sipping our latest batch of nocino, he set the dominoes in motion:

He: "You should be selling this stuff."
Me: "What?"
He: "Really."
Me: "Really?"
He: "Really."
Me: "No way!"
He: "Yes way!"
Me: "OK, maybe."


The chorus soon included a dashing sommelier, the winemaker's viticulturalist wife, an irrepressible wine distributor and a ragtag crew of gourmands whose motivation may really have been to increase the amount of nocino available for absconding.

Whatever the reason, Monteverdi Spirits and our first creation, Nocino della Cristina, were born that night.