Sad news. He was a very nice and welcoming man. Prayers for his family.
Why people would make this stuff up in an obituary is beyond me. If the man is as great as he is, his life will stand on it’s own.
Can I suggest that we follow that path, these are bits of information Lou shared with me during the course of our relationship.
To turn this thread into challenging those facts is a shame, for any of have known Lou - then you were most probably touched by something quite special.
His life is truly a Horatio Alger story, which is about a man who lived a distinguished life, an example of perseverance, integrity and Excellence.
I shared 20+ years closely aligned with the man and the family because he so strongly was bound by his code - that we shared.
I always placed the winery 1st, and did not think of myself, and Lou always looked had my back.
I’ve never been to war or shared a foxhole, yet it is that saying about sharing a foxhole with a man.
He was generous and thoughtful towards me to a fault, and when I phoned him and said - I’ve got the buyers of EMIRATES AIRLINES who will come visit-
I’m flying in and will be present - he hired a Napa chef and laid out a big spread, and brought out the wines and sat back and let me handle it
and we started a relationship that led to writing the very largest business
with the Airline and Duty Free shops.
Let’s not trivialize his life with this debate… it really misses the point
There was that trust and constant support in each other.
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This is very sad news. Thank you for your comments, William. I never had the opportunity to meet Lou, although I did have the great fortune to visit the winery last year. My friend (and wine Svengali) had talked up the Kapcsandy label and set up the visit, hoping we could meet with Lou, with whom he had met several times during his previous tastings. Unfortunately, Lou wasn’t available that day, because all I heard about was this amazing character who created this vineyard, where they studied the wind patterns before planting the vines at just the precise angles to catch the wind blowing up the valley and off the river next to the property just right. Lou used his engineering to design the vineyard, or so I was told.
I was also amazed at his story - not the sports, but the courage the flee Hungary, come to the U.S. and to be as successful as he was. What a story, just that part alone.
I will say that the wine was just like something I had never had before, with incredible movement in your mouth, with subtleties and nuance, and power. I had never spent as much on wine as I did that day. I hope the family continues the meticulous work that Lou began. I hope they keep it in the family.
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Thank you - that is an unusually warm note.
What Lou did which I believe it was Helen Turley’s husbands’ idea, he purchased ‘time’ on the NASA satellite - to gather images of the Suns trajectory over the 20 acre parcel of land and then made unusual decisions of planting the rows of vines in a direction based on the findings.
Lou said it was the best investment he made - to use NASA’s images for laying out the vineyard.
Later on (he told me) that quite a few of his neighbors slowly took the information and laid out their rows in the same direction as they made replanting.
In the bowl of that canyon temperatures can go to above 110 degree’s, so while he wanted the earth and rocks to hold the heat over night he wanted to shade the vines as much of the day as was possible.
He was truly a very special man.
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Sweet dreams Lou, with the last of our holiday latkes. Some pair!
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