Summer in the Vineyard

It's the first summer season at Sorrento Vineyards outside of St. Madeleine, California for new co-owners Frankie Baldwin and Nate DeLuca, who were able to overcome the longstanding business feud between the two families and their own animosity to become not only business partners but to fall in love with each other. The general division of responsibilities has Frankie being chief vintner, her goal to produce a Cabernet Sauvignon this season equal to if not better than her award winning wine from the previous season using grapes from her father's vineyard, it more important now to stake a name that is solely Sorrento, while Nate, using his Ph.D. in Science, is in charge of the vineyard and growing the best grapes possible. They hope to stake Sorrento's reputation under their ownership at the upcoming Taste of St. Madeleine, an annual end of summer festival hosted by a local vineyard, at great expense, to pair food prepared by a hired professional chef by each vineyard with the wine produced by that vineyard. Against tradition of hiring a professional, Nate, a home cook, wants to use his culinary skills to match what is sure to be Frankie's sublime Cabernet Sauvignon for this year. A last minute problem leads to Nate making the unilateral decision for Sorrento to host this year's festival. The problem in not clearing it with Frankie is that this year's batch of wine has not aged to the point that it will be ready for the festival, serving a substandard wine or not having a wine to serve as host which would ruin Sorrento's name and thus bust them at the bank. She is reluctant to tell Nate the problem as she tries to figure out a way to hasten the aging process. Another unilateral decision by Nate has the potential to ruin this season's crop of grapes which would further jeopardize their business viability. Frankie and Nate's relationships, both business and personal, may not be able to survive these issues, especially as it exposes fundamental problems in the way they deal with each other. Meanwhile, Marco DeLuca, Nate's younger womanizing brother, has his eye set on Frankie's visiting cousin, up and coming pastry chef Lexi Moreau, a relationship between the two which would be against Frankie's wishes. However, Marco may truly be changing his stripes as he sees Lexi as different than anyone else he's ever met. He just needs to convince Frankie, Lexi, and to some extent himself.