For Antonio Polesel, founder of Villa Antonio Winery, winemaking was a labor of love and a callback to his childhood in Italy.
“He knew the art of winemaking, but he didn’t so much know the science,” said his son, Tom Polesel, who now runs the business. “He improved on the process he grew up with, but he didn’t use modern winemaking techniques at the level we do now.”
But, Tom said, his father was “tremendously proud” of the winery he built.
Mr. Polesel died Oct. 11 at age 84 following a fall at his home.
He grew up in an Italian village just north of Venice during World War II.
Before he was born, his father had lived for a while in the U.S. on a work visa, loading railcars at a cement plant in St. Louis until developing an allergy to cement dust.
“Of course they had no masks, no protective gear,” Tom said. “When he got sick, they moved back to Italy and that’s where my dad was born.”
The family was able to buy acreage and a house, and grew a number of crops, including grapes.
“They made their own wine, but it was different from a commercial winery,” Tom said. “This was just a way to preserve the crop. They’d keep what they needed and sell or trade the rest.”
When his father died in 1951, Mr. Polesel’s family returned to the U.S. and he started working in a box factory, taking night classes in English.
“He joined the Air Force at 19, and that inadvertently saved his life,” Tom said. “He was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and he said he most likely wouldn’t have gone to a doctor because the family didn’t have the money for that, and they probably wouldn’t have caught it until too late.”
After Mr. Polesel left the military, he went to an electronics trade school.
“He did so well, the teacher told him about someone who was looking for an apprentice, and Dad got the job,” Tom said. “He quickly got to the point where he was opening, closing, doing all the repairs.
“After a couple of years, my dad kind of thought, ‘Well, if I’m doing it all, why do I need the owner?’ And that’s when he opened his own business.”
In 1966, Mr. Polesel met fellow Italian immigrant Fernanda Tarticchio through mutual friends, and the two were married in 1967. They welcomed a daughter in 1968 and Tom in 1970.
The Polesels had purchased property near Farmington, where Mr. Polesel did a bit of gentleman farming on the weekends.
By the late 1980s, Mr. Polesel was looking for a career change.
“The electronics industry was dying, in terms of repair shops,” Tom said. “Every year, there were better models coming out that cost less.”
In 1989, Mr. Polesel sold the business, sold the Farmington property and bought 40 acres between Pevely and Hillsboro.
“He knew he didn’t want to live in the suburbs forever,” Tom said. “He wanted to get back to growing his own grapes, making his own wine.”
There were a few stumbling blocks along the way, however.
“The pond was surrounded by a thicket of forest so deep you couldn’t even see it,” Tom said. “I swear, every tree in there was a black locust, with those big, long thorns.
It took a decade of work and dedication to get the land cleared and planted, buildings put up and improvements made.
Mr. Polesel worked to improve his winemaking skills as well.
“He bought some books and he would read about different processes,” his son said. “But he really tended to do things the old way. He wouldn’t filter wine, like I do; he’d let it settle. He wouldn’t use pumps; he’d use gravity siphons.”
The two men sometimes butted heads, but nothing serious.
“At the end of the day, he was happy with the wine and the business in general,” Tom said.
Mr. Polesel gradually gave up most of the company leadership to his son.
“I’ve probably been running it for about eight or 10 years,” Tom said.
He said his father had the opportunity to savor the fruits of his long years of labor.
“He liked to sit and watch people, and have people come by and talk to him,” Tom said. “That was happiness for him; that’s all he needed.
“Some of the nicest times for our family and friends have been sometimes after hours, when it’s a nice, soft evening, and we have pizzas in the oven and Mom is making pasta, and we sit around and just enjoy the place.”
Mr. Polesel had knee issues and was somewhat unsteady on his feet recently.
“He was of the generation that didn’t hold with doctors and hospitals,” Tom said. “He could have done knee replacement, but he never would. He just dealt with the discomfort the best he could.”
He was alone at home, bringing potted plants into the greenhouse attached to his house when he took another fall.
“He either lost his balance or his knee locked, and he fell and hit his head,” Tom said.
Mr. Polesel’s legacy is the winery and the opportunities it gives people to enjoy the simple things in life: wine, laughter, friendship.
“He wanted people to remember him by enjoying being with their family and friends,” Tom said. “If this place helps them do that in any way, it would give him immense satisfaction.”
“Life Story,” posted Saturdays on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.