An Introduction...

Welcome to "Behind The Seeds" , hereinafter referred to affectionately as BTS.

BTS is a television program about passion. It's about what people do because of their love of wine.

The show is hosted by the wonderful Spencer Christian. You'll remember Spencer from his many years as a member of the ensemble on ABC's "Good Morning America" some years back.

Spencer is now the host of his own talk show, "The View From The Bay", on KGO-TV in San Francisco. Anyone familiar with Spencer will know about his love of wine. When the creator of BTS, Kevin Weyl, (Creative Director at Atlantic Video Productions in Amherst, Massachusetts) met Spencer while on assignment for ABC News in New York the two of them hit a common note and BTS was born. The intention of the show is to travel the world to discover people whose lives have been deeply affected by their love of wine.

The pilot episode centers on just such a person. Mia Wood, the show's producer, found Dario Sattui, a well known winemaker in The Napa Valley of California. Dario is the great-grandson of Vittorio Sattui, a winemaker from San Francisco, who made delicious wine in the old world Italian tradition in the Mission District of the city during the early part of the 2oth century.

Vittorio's winery closed as a result of Prohibition and young Dario had dreamed for many years of restarting it.

With very little money, he founded V.Sattui Winery on Route #29 just south of St. Helena and he was on his way.

The other great passion in Dario's life had always been medieval architecture. He had developed his love of the style while travelling and living in Europe just out of college in the 1960s.

Because of the success of V.Sattui Winery, Dario decided to take his dreams head on. He decided to build a...castle! Not in Tuscany or Provence...but in...Napa.

So, in 2007. after nearly 30 years and over 30 million dollars, Castello di Amorosa opened to the public in Calistoga, California. Dario imported stone, fixtures and stone masons from Tuscany and the result is not a replica of a castle..but a real, medieval castle...in fact! (you can see pictures at the castle's website, http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/)

In BTS, Spencer spends time with Dario and goes on a complete tour of the castle. He tastes the wine and gets to know Dario in a way that few people have.

Watch for the episode of BTS that features Dario and his passion...Castello di Amorosa.

You'll be amazed.

We hope to see you soon on "Behind the Seeds"...