Kickstarter for Labor of Love

DAY 12 –  KICKSTARTER FOR LABOR OF LOVE

55%

I’m so humbled by the outpouring of support for my Kickstarter campaign to raise $13,000 to fund the second printing of my book Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte. 

Loyal friends and readers helped me pass 50% of my goal today with 18 days left to go of the 30-day all-or-none funding campaign.

Since I am offering the book as a reward, there are many opportunities to obtain it with free shipping (in the United States and special book rate shipping within Italy) and discounts for multiple books (rewards of 2, 4, and 6 books are available). There are also some exciting, unique opportunities for Piemonte wine family experiences and a ski day with the author in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Sneak Peek

So how’s about a sneak peek at my Labor of Love:

Chapter Seven
ODDERO
Barolo

ODDERO family tree

Three generations of the Oddero family of Poderi e Cantine Oddero. (Back row: Giacomo Oddero and grandson, Pietro Viglino Oddero, and the Langhe ladies of the family - left to right - Mariavittoria Boffa, Isabella Boffa Oddero, and Mariacristina Oddero)
Three generations of the Oddero family of Poderi e Cantine Oddero. (Back row: Giacomo Oddero and grandson, Pietro Viglino Oddero, and the Langhe ladies of the family – left to right – Mariavittoria Boffa, Isabella Boffa Oddero, and Mariacristina Oddero) Photo Credit: Elisabetta Vacchetto

Luigia Borgna Oddero (1854–1943)

Giacomo’s grandmother, Luigia Borgna Oddero, was the wellspring of the family’s current landholdings, not through a landed dowry but through her savvy financial transactions. Giacomo described her as an “entrepreneurial spirit, a strong and smart woman with a tough character.” Luigia was born in nearby Albaretto della Torre in 1854. School attendance was not compulsory at the time, and literacy was almost unattainable for women, but Luigia’s enlightened parents paid for her reading and writing lessons. Their unconventional decision set the stage for their daughter to become a key figure in the Oddero lineage.

Following her marriage into the Oddero family, Luigia began purchasing vineyards while still in her 20s. Giacomo recalled that Luigia “lived her life with a lot of debts.” She would save money. She would buy more land. Luigia repeated the cycle many times from the 1870s until her death in 1943. In the late 1800s, Jewish families from Cherasco to the north, who owned most of the land below La Morra near the Oddero home, decided to begin selling their land. They sought buyers who could demonstrate an ability to care for vineyards, and Luigia convinced them to sell to Oddero. Over the closing decades of the 19th century, Luigia began acquiring parcels from these Cherasco families, securing important vineyards for the family business, including the highly regarded Bricco Chiesa cru. Giacomo credits his grandmother with vision and courage. “We must be thankful to Luigia for the land she acquired,” he said. His daughters and granddaughter nodded their heads in accord. It was a solemn moment of deep recognition for a pioneering ancestor.

Luigia possessed not only the financial competence to expand the family’s holdings at a crucial time when land was obtainable, but the instinct for an innovative collaboration with her husband’s uncle, Luigi Oddero. The “almost priest,” as the Oddero family refers to Luigi, studied at seminary and suffered a personal crisis before he could take his final vows. What that crisis was, Giacomo didn’t say. Luigi returned home to his enraged father, who forced him to work in the vineyards as punishment for not finishing his studies. After one week, Luigi threw down his shovel.

Want to know the rest of the story? Pre-order your signed, first limited edition copy of “Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte” from my Kickstarter campaign today! Kickstarting my labor of love just one click away at: 

Kickstarter for Labor of Love

 

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