Sour Grapes Over Napa Bubbly

Lawsuit divides members of top wine-making family
By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 19, 2008 5:34 AM CST
Sour Grapes Over Napa Bubbly
"No child is entitled to their parents' property while their parents are still alive," said the attorney for the defense. "His mother is acting in accordance with her rights."   (Shutterstock.com)

A feud between members of the family that produces one of the top sparkling wines in the US is making California's Napa Valley the setting for a real-life soap opera, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Hedge-fund manager John Davies is battling for his stake in Schramsberg Vineyards, charging that his mother is mentally unstable, favoring his younger brother, and scamming investors.

Davies is appealing a November ruling that his mom, 72, is mentally competent to administer a trust in which the family's late patriarch provided each of his three sons with equal shares in the winery. "This is about my mother treating all her sons equally and preserving my rightful place in the family," said Davies. (More Schramsberg Vineyards stories.)

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