When Prohibition took effect in 1920, only a few months after one of the greatest California grape harvests of all time, violence and chaos descended on Northern California. Federal agents spilled thousands of gallons of wine in the rivers and creeks, gun battles erupted on dark country roads, and local law enforcement officerssympathetic to their winemaking neighborsfound ways to stonewall the intruding authorities. For the state's winemaking familiesmany of them immigrants from Italysurviving Prohibition meant facing a crucial decisiongive up their idyllic way of life, or break the law to enable their livelihood to survive.
Sosnowski's intimate history provides us with a new view into Prohibition America, away from the flappers and speakeasys of Chicago and New York, and into the lovely hills and valleys of wine country, where families hid vintages and prayed for the days when they could resume the craft that they loved. When the Rivers Ran Red tells of the extraordinary adventures of the stalwart efforts of immigrant familiesthe Seghesios, the Foppianos, the Nichelinis and the Cuneoswho saved one of America's most beloved traditions.
