[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15746]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING ANGELO REGUSCI OUTSTANDING AGRICULTURALIST OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 12, 2005

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Angelo 
Regusci who has been named the 2005 Agriculturalist of the Year by the 
Napa County Farm Bureau.
  I have had the privilege of knowing the Regusci family for nearly all 
of my life. Angelo, the family's patriarch, has spent the last eight 
decades as a dairyman, cattle rancher, farmer, businessman, 
viticulturalist and winemaker in the heart of the Napa Valley's Stags 
Leap District. Mr. Regusci, as I always referred to him while growing 
up just a short distance from his family's ranch, is a man of great 
talent and practical wisdom.
  Mr. Regusci grew up living the hardscrabble life of rancher's son. He 
and his sister Isabella worked side-by-side with their parents Gaetano 
and Livia as they wrestled a living from the land through hard work and 
perseverance. Their stunning 286-acre ranch on the Silverado Trail was 
purchased by Angelo's father in 1932 or the princely sum of $22,000. As 
the economics of agriculture evolved over the next fifty years, Angelo 
and his family transitioned their love of labor and land from dairy to 
prunes to beef and ultimately to premium wine grapes. Throughout this 
entire time, Angelo and his family remained pillars of their community 
for their contributions to the advancement of agriculture and their 
work on behalf of local youths wanting to pursue future careers in 
farming.
  Angelo Regusci began selling grapes door-to-door decades before his 
now famous Stags Leap District started producing coveted $100 bottles 
of Cabernet. He and his brother-in-law sold grapes by the ton to first 
and second-generation Italian, Portuguese, German and Greek home 
winemakers who kept alive the custom of making wine at home. I am told 
the price varied from $50 to $70 per ton, depending on whether they had 
to carry the bins more than two flights of stairs.
  Angelo and Mary Regusci have produced many of the Napa Valley's 
greatest resources, but their finest contribution to our community has 
been the wonderful children they have raised and shared with all of us. 
They should be extremely proud of Jim, Joe, Bernadette and Martha.
  Mr. Speaker and colleauges, it is appropriate at this time that we 
recognize and honor Angelo Cesare Regusci for his contributions to 
American agriculture and for being awarded the 2005 Napa County Farm 
Bureau Agriculturalist of the Year.

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