thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." i'm jamie colby. remember -- you can't take it with you. >> an ancestor they knew nothing about... >> i went through 50-some-odd years of my life and had no clue. >> an inheritance they can hardly believe... >> what was your reaction as you opened those first boxes? >> it was mind-blowing. >> why does andrew green have george washington's will? >> bare-knuckle politics, cold-blooded murder, a legacy all but snuffed out... >> this was a cloud of suspicion of having lived a double life. >> what did they do? >> what are the chances that those boxes would've just been trashed? >> very good chance of that. >> what would you do? >> well, it drove me crazy. >> how 'bout 6,000? >> and what's it all worth? >> you think you'll ever get another auction with a story like this? >> no, i kinda doubt it.

[ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby. and today, i'm in kennebunkport, maine. it's renowned as the bush family's summer haven and also for its succulent lobster. but this story has a cast of characters that are up and down the atlantic seaboard. the heirs, they live here, a reclusive aunt from massachusetts and their gilded age ancestor once dubbed "the father of greater new york." >> i'm john green. >> and i'm lisa green buchanan. >> i think it's fair to say that our aunt julie was a hoarder. and when she died in 2009, she left us a mountain of stuff to sort through. >> oh, what a great house! >> thank you! welcome to kennebunkport! i got a story... >> john and his sister lisa belong to a new england family

whose history goes back to mayflower days but whose legacy had been largely forgotten. in 2005, that reclusive aunt i mentioned, julie green, is diagnosed with cancer, and john moves her from the boston area into a condo up here in maine, where the siblings can help care for her. it's a big job to be a caregiver. >> i never thought of it that way. she had nobody else. >> what was she like? >> she was single and independent. >> never married? >> no. >> no children? >> she did not want children. >> nor does aunt julie want anyone to get rid of all her stuff. >> even when we moved everything out of that house, we had a dumpster put in there, and she would guard the dumpster. she would make sure we wouldn't throw anything out. >> so the basement of julie's condo gets overwhelmed with stacks of boxes of books and who knows what else. john, what are the chances that, if you and your sister didn't care for aunt julie,

that those boxes would've just been trashed? >> very good chance of that. >> in her last years, the tight-lipped aunt julie does drop references to their ancestor she says accumulated much of it all. >> the only thing she would say is uncle andrew this, uncle andrew that. we'd tease her that she was living in the past. you know, you're talking about all these people that aren't here anymore, and little did we know why. >> aunt julie dies in 2009 at the age of 73. >> everything was left to my sister and myself. when we started opening boxes, we still didn't know exactly what we had at that time. >> first, they have to separate the wheat from the chaff. and there's plenty of chaff -- decades of old knickknacks, newspapers, mail, and clothing. how many boxes are we talking about? >> hundreds. >> among the boxes, lisa discovers this book which gives them a clue of what's to come. it's a family journal

going back to the 19th century. this is so cool! this is a caricature of andrew green, known as the father of greater new york. i'm from new york. i've never heard of him. did you know much about him before? >> no, we didn't. >> that's when i started to go down the rabbit hole. they learned that this guy, their great-great-great-uncle andrew green, was born in 1820 in an area known as green hill in worcester, massachusetts. >> he had 10 brothers and sisters. his father was a lawyer. they were well-off but not rich. >> 300 miles south of kennebunkport here in manhattan, historian mike miscione has pieced together the story of lisa and john's ancestor and how he left his mark here in the big apple. and while there's no skyscraper, highway, or airport named after him, it turns out there really ought to be. >> he was largely responsible

for creating the institutions that transformed new york into a world-class city. >> mike explains that, as a teenager, andrew green left massachusetts and moved to new york city. >> he worked as a clerk at a dry-goods operation, and, eventually, he decided to settle upon a career of law and came into contact with a up-and-coming lawyer by the name of samuel tilden. >> tilden is making a fortune representing railroads. he's also becoming a big shot in new york politics. >> green's dealings with tilden brought him into democratic political circles. and soon, he was involved in new york city civic affairs. >> green becomes tilden's law partner and begins making a hefty salary. instead of marriage and children, he's devoted to work. but when tough times befall his family up in massachusetts, andrew returns temporarily to worcester to take charge. >> he was able to not just

get the estate out of debt but make it prosper, as well. he became the patriarch of his family for the remainder of his life. >> great shot. is that the house? andrew figures the family home could use some extra rooms, 42 to be exact. one of those rooms is a museum showing off artifacts from the green family's history. >> there was a museum in the home for the family, not for the public. >> and how do you know that? >> this book is the story of the family and green hill. >> can i look? >> sure. >> so this is the story of the home 1754 to 1905. that's a lot of family history. >> mm-hmm. >> andrew's ready to make history himself back in new york by shaping it into a world-class metropolis. among other jobs, he heads the commission that creates central park. >> central park,

the metropolitan museum of art, the american museum of natural history. green would be largely responsible for creating the bronx zoo, the new york public library. >> there's very little green doesn't touch during new york's gilded age. in 1871, when city coffers are almost bankrupt, he becomes the city's comptroller. >> andrew green needed to be escorted by a ring of mounted policemen as he was approaching the comptroller's office on his first day of work. and this was a blood sport in this era. >> green exposes the shenanigans of new york's corrupt democratic machine, known as tammany hall, and helps send the city's notorious boss, william tweed, off to prison. oh, and one other little achievement... >> it was green's efforts to get new york to expand beyond the borders of manhattan island and to annex the municipalities around new york harbor, which included the city of brooklyn, and make that

all one giant metropolis. >> so how could his own family 100 years later not know all about him? could it have anything to do with the way green died? that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. in the presidential election of 1876, andrew green's law partner, samuel tilden, won the popular vote but lost to rutherford b. hayes. the answer after the break. queen is just my everything.

right now, i wouldn't know where my life would be without her. queen: they say chivalry is dead, it's not. terrance is a gentleman, he opens doors. his smile did it. his smile, his eyes, his knowledge. my landlord, he decided that he wanted me to move based on the fact that i was transgender. it takes me to a place of no hope. it takes me to a place of loneliness. it just, it saddens me. when you discriminate against somebody in housing,

where do these people go? let's just respect people in everyday life for just being human. >> it's "a." among other problems, florida democrats printed ballots showing abraham lincoln's face in an effort to trick freed slaves who couldn't read into voting democratic. a special commission was set up to decide the contest, leading to the election of hayes over tilden. >> john green and his sister lisa green buchanan initially think their hoarder aunt julie has simply

left them a big headache when she dies in july 2009. but among the hundreds of boxes that filled her basement, they uncover a 19th-century journal that begins to open their eyes to the legacy of their great-great-great-uncle andrew haswell green, a man theodore roosevelt nicknamed "the father of greater new york." >> nobody told us the story. >> i went through 50-some-odd years of my life and had no clue how important he was. >> john comes to suspect that may be because of the scandal surrounding green's death in 1903. >> a man approached him and accused him of seeing his mistress and shot him in the back. [ woman screams ] >> the stranger -- his name was cornelius williams -- shot andrew green five times, killing the man instantly. he made no attempt to escape,

made no attempt to deny what he had done. >> the confessed killer claims green and a brothel owner named bessie davis were part of a conspiracy against him. newspapers across the country relish the salacious story. >> this was a very troubling, mysterious set of circumstances, and andrew green was under this cloud of suspicion of having lived a double life. >> the police determine green was a victim of mistaken identity. or was it payback from the political machine that he had taken down? whatever the case, the damage to his once-spotless reputation is done. plans to erect memorial gates in his honor at the entrance to central park evaporate. in worcester, green's mansion is sold to the city and later demolished. gradually, even his own kin forget all he accomplished and left behind, the effects of an important man boxed up in cardboard.

>> they cleaned the mansion out. and my grandfather's father took possession of all these items, and then it went to my grandfather. they were passed on to julie. >> and why julie? >> she took care of my grandparents when they got elderly. when my grandparents moved into assisted living, julie was the one that took 'em. >> and because john and lisa take care of aunt julie in her dotage, she leaves them this strange inheritance. what was your reaction as you opened those first boxes? >> it was mind-blowing, really exciting. >> there's china, tiffany silverware, coins, stamps, antique books, clothing, toys, and jewelry. and how many items are we talking about? >> thousands. >> so after tossing aunt julie's actual junk, including decades of old newspapers and mail, they reach out to richard oliver, a family friend and local auctioneer. >> we knew there was enough value to get historians and people

like richard involved. i mean, my brother and i couldn't have settled this estate by ourselves. >> indeed, richard will need an entire team to go through all those boxes and catalog everything. >> i said, "listen. john, you pay the expenses. i'll keep the buyer's premium." >> do all your clients pay up front? >> well, a good part of the time, we take 20% or whatever it might be, and we pay the expenses. >> john agrees but quickly learns he's taken a huge risk. research gets expensive. take this antique hebrew prayer book from andrew green's massive library. to find out where it came from, richard must run an ad in an antiques magazine. >> somebody picked up on it, and i started getting calls from israel and calls from all over the country. >> another example -- this silver cup with a wolf's-head crest. >> it drove me crazy. i wasn't able to find out

what the crest was. >> after much effort, historian bill ralph, a member of the research team, figures out it was from a group called wolf's head. sounds like a secret society. >> and it -- in fact, it is, and it was. it was the third secret society at yale. >> fascinating stuff. but can the siblings expect a return on that kind of research? did you ever say to richard, "i got your latest bill, and we're not gonna do any more research until we sell some of this stuff"? >> i didn't put it like that, but i questioned him. "are you sure we're discovering enough things of importance to pay this bill?" and, richard being richard, "oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. don't worry about it." >> i told john i had calculated we ought to be able to do $600,000 without a problem. >> that's because his team has found plenty. check out these letters apparently given to andrew green as a gift, penned by thomas jefferson, james madison, and james monroe.

>> they were... >> originals? >> yes. >> what were the letters about? >> my favorite letter, james monroe and james madison were talking about this gentleman who happened to be andrew jackson. they were afraid that he might be the ruination of their careful plans to carry on their ideology with the american public. >> the next big find? this rare copy of george washington's last will and testament, printed in 1800, right after washington's death. >> at the time, we knew there were only 13 existing copies. >> make that 14. >> it was in a plastic bag filled with other things, and it very well could've been thrown out without anybody ever knowing about it. >> by july 2010, john and lisa's strange inheritance is cataloged and ready for sale. they've invested a year and a lot of money in it. how much had john spent getting ready for this big auction? >> it was around $225,000.

>> whoa! >> i hope we get enough out of this to pay for what we've discovered. >> will they? >> sold at $1,000. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. when andrew green was new york city's comptroller, the brooklyn bridge was partially financed by renting what? apartments atop its towers, boat slips by its piers, or wine cellars at its base? the answer in a moment. the all-new silverado hd adds to the legendary capability of the strongest, most advanced silverados ever. with best in class camera technology and larger, more functional beds than any competitor. the only truck that can compare to a silverado is another silverado. truck month is the right time to get behind the wheel of the chevy silverado.

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that we can't do, but come in and see what we can do. we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. ask. shop. discover. at your local xfinity store today. >> it's "c," renting wine cellars at the base of the bridge. the granite-enclosed spaces maintained a 60-degree temperature even in hot summer months.

>> it's september 2010, and john green and his sister lisa are preparing to auction off thousands of items they inherited from their aunt julie. many belonged to their great-great-great-uncle andrew green, the long-forgotten father of new york city. they decide everything must go -- well, almost everything. >> these are dueling pistols. when you had to settle a score back in the 1700s, these are the dueling pistols that you used and the powder flask that goes with it. >> now, why would you keep these? >> i'm a gun nut. so i thought it was kinda cool to have dueling pistols. >> the stakes for the auction are high. to appraise and catalog the collection, the greens have spent $225,000. >> every box was another -- you never knew what you were gonna get into. >> the big question now -- will the auction bring in the money they need to break even?

>> here we are. we've extended a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of resources just to get to this far. >> was it important for you to recover enough from the auction to cover your expenses? >> very important. >> lot number 22. let's start with... and how much? and get bidding where? >> john frets as auctioneer richard oliver unloads antique toys, dolls, and music boxes for just a few hundred dollars apiece. >> it was a slow start, like, "oh, boy. is this gonna come into it?" >> next on the auction block, that silver cup that bill ralph finally determined was from a yale secret society. even that only fetches 1,000 bucks. they're a long way from the 225,000k john and lisa paid up front to get their strange inheritance ready for auction and a far cry from the minimum of $600,000 the auctioneer predicted. and then, with one surprising bid, everything starts turning green! >> none

of us thought it was gonna go for what it went for. >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it! send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. ♪ it's surprising how the bigger a city gets... the smaller it starts to feel. which makes it even more surprising, how big it feels in here. with sliding rear seats... and more available second row legroom than say... a chevy suburban. this is the completely reimagined 2020 ford escape.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> it's september 2010, and john green and his sister lisa green buchanan are wondering if they're going to be able to cover the $225,000 they've spent preparing their strange inheritance for auction. >> uh, we had to pay for this somehow. >> at first, the sale moves slowly and ekes out only a few thousand dollars, nowhere near what they need. what was the moment at which it picked up? >> one of the most exciting was the small hebrew book that they found. none of us thought it was gonna go for what it went for. the rare 17th century hebrew prayer book, a gem from andrew green's vast book collection?

>> $33,000. >> that copy of george washington's last will and testament? $16,000. a single letter from thomas jefferson to president monroe? 13k. all of the presidential letters together -- just under 70 grand. 9 booklets from 19th-century india fetch 11k. a cherry tea table? $9,000. this windsor high chair goes for $11,500. the sales just keep ringing up. the final tally at auction's end -- $700,000. so were you pleased or disappointed? >> oh, very pleased. the things in that auction needed to go to people who cared for them so the general public could see it. >> in fact, the new york public library buys a bundle of letters written by green himself for only 500 bucks, a bargain for the guy who helped create the library in the first place. >> if it wasn't for him, who knows what central park would be? he brought the five boroughs

of new york together to make one city. this is a lot of history. >> we told you how john kept those dueling pistols. john's sister lisa keeps something, too -- that dusty old journal that reconnected her to the green family legacy. >> i learned a lot while we were going through this process. it's pretty astounding, and there's no way to deny where i came from anymore, the more i learned. >> in 2012, new york city finally got around to funding a small andrew green park here along the east river for $5 million. but then the city realized that the pilings along the river would need repairs, costing another 15 million. so for now, andrew green has a dog run and a beautiful view to honor him. and his story, which was in storage for more than 100 years, is finally out of the box.

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> an 8-year-old gets a very strange inheritance. >> when my dad died, everyone was heartbroken. >> but what does a boy do with a winery? >> the funniest thing is when i would tell my friends' parents, and they would totally freak out. >> talk about getting your feet wet in a new business. >> drink it. it's grape juice. >> that is really good. >> but how does the family keep it from dying on the vine? >> i didn't know anything about wine except that i like to drink it. >> so what's the heir going to do when he grows up? >> i'm trying to prove that i'm not the owner's kid who just gets handed these things. [ cork pops ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪

>> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm traveling through the willamette valley of oregon -- wine country. in fact, this area is home to around 400 wineries. so you can probably guess what this episode of "strange inheritance" is all about. but it's one that was passed down far too soon, and to a most improbable heir. >> my name is pascal brooks. when i was 8 years old, i inherited something that is pretty special and still blows my mind. ♪ >> thank you so much for having me, pascal. wow, it is an honor to meet you. how unusual is it for somebody your age to be in charge of all this? >> i'm not the one that does the work. i simply own it. >> the 18-year-old may own this winery, but he can't legally drink its product. however, he does pitch in, every so often, to get a good feel for his strange inheritance.

nice to see you helping out the family winery. very nice. the story of how pascal became the world's youngest owner of a winery begins with his father, jimi brooks. janie heuck is pascal's aunt. she and pascal's dad, jimi, grew up in portland. >> as we got older and got out of high school, we both took very, very different paths. >> janie zips through a degree in accounting, while jimi goes on the five-year plan, finally gets his b.a., but then decides to find himself by traveling through europe. >> so he moved over there, took a few jobs, would go spend his money travelling, and find another job. >> for one job, jimi harvests grapes in the beaujolais region of france. at another, he teaches english as a second language in krakow, poland, a position he takes after setting eyes on 20-year-old waitress bozena kutyba. romance leads to marriage in september 1995.

soon baby pascal arrives, and jimi moves his young family back to portland. >> i remember the first time when we drove from the airport into portland. i've never seen anything like that -- this beautiful river and then the lights. >> jimi gets a gig as a vineyard manager, and in his spare time starts his own brand of wine. he enlists the help of a friend, chris williams, who until that point was not a winemaker, but a motorcycle mechanic. >> jimi's whole goal was to be able to make wines that people enjoyed, make wines that we enjoyed. >> but while jimi's focused on his career, his marriage to bozena turns bitter. in 2000, they divorce. they agree that pascal will spend every other weekend with his dad. on many a saturday, jimi takes pascal to work. your dad tried to pull you

into this as a kid, right? he wanted you around? >> whenever i was with him, it was more for the fact that i was with him and he was happy that i was there. >> what do you remember about your dad? >> i remember waking up, and it'd be cold and early, and we'd get into this dilapidated truck, and we'd stop for coffee and a cinnamon roll early in the morning. >> by 2001, jimi is head winemaker for one winery, and as a perk, he's allowed to make thousands of cases of his own brooks wine on the side. jimi starts buying grapes from other farmers, then leases a 20-acre plot planted with old vines. he hopes to buy it one day. jimi becomes a pioneer in oregon of a farming method he learned in france called biodynamics. it uses no chemicals or additives, but focuses on soil fertility and even the phases of the moon. >> so the fruit comes in... >> chris gives me a little backstage tour and shows me how they make their pinot noir.

they're beautiful grapes. may i taste one? >> of course. >> mmm. >> nice and ripe, sweet, but not too sweet. >> amazing. >> the idea behind pinot is to have whole berries, which lets the fermentation happen inside the berry. >> this is a pretty big bucket of grapes. how many bottles of wine am i looking at? >> about a 120 gallons, which would be roughly 50 cases. >> by december 2003, jimi's wines are getting noticed throughout oregon and beyond. he tells the atlantic monthly magazine he hopes that one day his winery will be his son's inheritance. >> he stated in that very clearly that he wanted his winery to be a legacy for pascal. >> then one saturday morning in september 2004, jimi is arguing with his ex-wife about whose turn it is to be with pascal. after that call, jimi makes another one, to his girlfriend.

>> he was on the phone with his girlfriend when he mentioned that his chest was hurting and could she come over. >> before jimi's girlfriend can arrive, jimi dies of an aortic aneurysm. he's 38 years old. pascal is 8. >> i think when my dad died, everyone was heartbroken. kids soak up the atmosphere, and it wasn't that i readily wanted to do that, but you just don't know how to rationalize it. >> jimi's sister, janie, is at home in northern california with her husband and two young children when she gets the call. she immediately begins the long trek up to oregon. she arrives to a find a crowd of people she barely knows in her brother's house. what happens next will not only turn janie's life upside down, but determine whether her nephew's strange inheritance is anything but a crop of grapes about to wither on the vine. >> one of the few things you

can do for someone who's died is help their family take care of their unfinished business. >> that's next. and later... how deep is it? >> oh, about up to your knees. >> you know, i failed gymnastics. ahhh. ooh! >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question... is it because...? the answer in a moment.

more? he has asked for... what? well he did say please (all boys): thank you, thank you, thank you.

[ wind howls ] [ bird caws ] >> so what's the reason some winemakers crush their grapes with their feet? it's, "c," flavor. the human foot is said to be ideally suited to crushing grapes without breaking open the grape seeds that give wine a bitter taste. >> it's september 2004, the middle of harvest season for oregon winemakers. this year, however, shock permeates this beautiful landscape after up-and-coming winemaker jimi brooks dies unexpectedly. the 38-year-old leaves behind a wine label that's won critical acclaim, and his only heir, an 8-year-old son, pascal. there are also loose ends. jimi has no will and zero savings. he's left pascal's mom, bozena, with few options.

>> he was a known winemaker, but when pascal inherited the winery, it was more like a label -- really not much behind it. i said the only thing i can try is to raise pascal. >> but there's another pressing issue. jimi left several tons of grapes still on the vine. his sister, janie, arrives in oregon to settle his affairs. what did the other growers tell you about the importance of jimi's work continuing? >> he was blazing new trails, and they didn't want to see the brand go away, and they all stepped up and offered to take his fruit that year and make his wine for free if i would help them on the business side. >> tad seestedt is one of those other growers and a longtime friend of jimi's. >> one of the few things you can do for someone who's died is help their family take care of their unfinished business. jimi had told me at least a handful of times he didn't

feel like he had much of a legacy for pascal besides his winery. >> so tad and the other growers harvest jimi's crop, make it into wine, and keep brooks winery alive. and janie begins the legal paperwork of transferring ownership of brooks winery to her nephew, pascal. she agrees to be his financial guardian and manager of the winery without pay, but there's one big problem. >> i didn't know anything about wine at all except that i like to drink it. >> so janie bones up on viticulture, the study of grapes for winemaking, and she asks chris williams to be head winemaker. was it important to you to talk him into taking the role? >> he was the only one that had worked for jimi, and that's where he had learned everything he knew about making wine. >> this sounds like a recipe for disaster -- an 8-year-old kid and his accountant aunt get together with a former motorcycle mechanic to make

wine? but let me sit down and taste that pinot before passing judgment. so, aerate? why? >> it blends oxygen with the wine, and it brings out more of the aromatics. >> smell because? >> it gives your senses a feeling of what you're actually gonna get. >> wow. i'm speechless. normally i would come up with tobacco and wood tree and mold, but in a good way, but it's none of those things. okay, delicious wine. not a bad start. but selling wine is a hyper-competitive business, and i've learned getting those first bottles sold while you're making your next vintage can require big bucks. all of this doesn't come cheap. >> and trying to keep the demand side equivalent to our supply was a big learning curve for me. >> so while janie goes on the road to entice distributors, pascal trolleys off to grade school, able to brag about being the youngest winery owner in the world. >> i think the funniest thing

with that is when i would tell my friends' parents, and they would totally freak out. >> soon, several stores in the high-end supermarket chain whole foods agree to stock brooks wines, as do other retailers in nine states and japan. on a roll in 2005, janie re-negotiates a lease for the same vineyard where jimi had been growing his grapes. she also develops a 2,500-square-foot sales and tasting room in amity, oregon, in anticipation of exponential growth... which doesn't happen. >> it did get to a point where i had to really get ahold of how to add more markets so that we could sell more wine. >> faced with losing momentum and losing her brother's only legacy to his son, janie searches for her next move. that is, until affairs of state intervene. >> lo and behold, i got a phone call from the white house.

>> that and the future of brooks wines' young heir next on "strange inheritance." >> here's another quiz question for you... the answer when we return. [ wind howls ] [ bird caws ] there's a company that's talked to even more real people than me: jd power. 448,134 to be exact. they answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say "thank you, real people." you're welcome.

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[ bird caws ] >> so which of these states produces the most wine? the answer is, "c." pennsylvania is america's fifth biggest wine-producing state, behind california, new york, washington, and oregon. ♪ >> it's 2009, and 13-year-old pascal brooks remains the

world's youngest winery owner, following the untimely death of his father, jimi brooks. his aunt, janie heuck, volunteered to oversee brooks wines until its young heir comes of age. but she's struggling to keep her brother's legacy afloat. that is, until she gets a phone call from a wine steward in chicago. >> he called me and told me he was catering a dinner and wanted to serve our riesling, and, lo and behold, the next day i got a phone call and an e-mail from the white house. >> brooks' 2006 ara riesling is selected for president barack obama's first state dinner, honoring the prime minister of india. >> when the white house calls and places an order for wine for a state dinner, does that wine sell out? >> well, in this case, because there was so much hype around it being his first dinner, it made it even more sought-after. >> even though brooks wines is now riding high, things aren't

going as well for pascal. >> i think there's the age when their dad should be at their games, and they know that they will never get that. i think that was the most difficult time for pascal. >> add to that, pascal and his mom have relocated across the country from portland to pittsburgh so that she could take a new job. >> when i left oregon, i was heartbroken. i think, for me, i was still in shock. >> pascal spends summers in oregon, but the trips remind him of what's missing in his life -- his father. what is it like to not be able to turn to your dad and say, "hey, dad?" >> the older you get, you realize there's a shadow of something that should be there, and so you're constantly clinging for something like that. >> during his summer visits, pascal gets hands-on experience in the winery he owns. does it bring you any comfort then to have this be a part of your life? >> it's more for the fact of making those people's lives

easier and trying to prove that i'm not the owner's kid who just gets handed these things. >> it's finally time for me to get some hands-on experience of my own. well, not hands-on, but feet-on. it's the time-honored practice of stomping grapes. >> jamie, come on in. join me. >> all right, where's my stunt double when i need her? how deep is it? >> oh, about up to your knees. >> you know, i failed gymnastics. ahhh. ooh! >> it feels good. >> grapes feel good. i hear they're anti-aging. so what are we doing exactly? >> we want a little bit of separation before we make it into rosé. we're separating the berry itself from its juice. >> wow, what an awesome feeling. they still make wine this way? >> some places they do. drink it. it's grape juice. [ slurps ] >> whoa. >> it's good, isn't it? >> that is really good. now, brooks has become too big

to make its wine this way. you might say it's on more solid footing. [ rim shot ] they're making pinot noirs and rieslings in jimi's style -- at least 12,000 cases a year -- and now selling in 14 states, japan, and the u.k. >> we have a great distribution network right now, so plenty of demand for our product throughout the country, and i feel like we're really solid and really stable. >> solid enough for janie to realize it's time for a big step. a plot of land that was very special to her brother comes up for sale -- a 20-acre vineyard he had always wanted to buy. >> we thought, okay, it's time for us to acquire the vineyard. >> but what about the 18-year-old owner of brooks winery? what does any of this mean for him and his strange inheritance? what if you go to college and you decide, "i want to be an architect"? that's next. while the world keeps fighting for your attention.

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"strange inheritance." [ bird caws ] >> 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of jimi brooks' death, a winemaker whose passion and innovative techniques live on through the dedication of his sister, janie, his best friend, chris, and his only child, pascal, now 18 years old, and the heir to this strange inheritance. since jimi died in 2004, janie has been running the business and growing it by leaps and bounds. >> we grew from jimi making 2,500 cases, and now we make between 12,000 and 14,000, which is really the sweet spot in terms of keeping our wines affordable. >> janie knew that when her brother started the winery, he wanted it to have a permanent vineyard on a special plot of land -- the one he was leasing when he grew his last crop of

grapes in 2004. when it comes up for sale, brooks wines is not able to swing the deal by itself, but aunt janie decides now is the time. did you have to put any of your own money in? >> yeah. my husband and i personally own the vineyard, and pascal leases it from us. >> in april 2014, the brooks winery you see here today broke ground. the business is still 100% owned by pascal. it's no longer the fledgling label his father left behind, but a big enterprise with long-term commitments. so how does all of that sit with a young man headed off to college? will he follow in his dad's footsteps? what if you go to college and you decide, "i want to be an architect"? >> then that's what i'm gonna do. i'll still own it, but i'll be an architect. >> before pascal heads off... [ cork pops ] ...janie throws a party to celebrate the new winery and their loving memory of

jimi brooks. >> so that was your dad's europe backpack, and this is a draft book -- a collection of stories and pictures from your dad's friends. i didn't have time to finish it, but... [ applause ] >> one of my favorite things he left me was his library. i've gone through and found his notes scrawled in the margins or found something that he says there. it's like having a conversation with him. >> i think he's right now at this very good point in his life when he is looking forward to honor his dad's memory, but he is so set on making his own path, and that is exactly like his dad. >> he's my rainbow. the day we broke ground here, there was a double rainbow over the vineyard. i'm not a super spiritual person that way, but i do feel when things might need to be a little bit brighter,

something good will happen, and i attribute that to him. >> the brooks wines label comes from a tattoo that jimi had on his left arm. it's the mythical serpent known as ouroboros, swallowing its own tail. in cultures around the world, it represents the never-ending cycle of life, death, and renewal. when he chose it, jimi could not have known just how appropriate a symbol it would become for the winery that he founded, that his sister rescued and built into a success, and that his son, pascal, has inherited. and now pascal tells me he's going to get that same tattoo. so here's to all that. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share

with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com happy weekend, what a week. welcome to the program that analyzes the week that was and how position over the weekend. happy weekend everyone, coming up mount sinai hospital as our special guest to discuss the ramifications around coronavirus and what it will do to our communities and how prepared we are in the healthcare system. join us for the special to be coming up. but first we'll look at your money, the coronavirus also having serious ramifications on your money and throughout wall street all three majors entering a bear mke