I'll drink to that where we get behind the scenes of the beverage business.

I'm Levy Dalton.

I'm Erin Scala and here's our show today. Oh, The famous vineyard Romanicante was first sold under that name in the 1790s during the French Revolution when the vineyard was seized from nobility and auctioned off.

Before that it was known as La Romine, and before that it had a different name, Crow de Clue, when it was tended by monks from the

Priory of Saint Vivant.

In 1760, the La Romene Vineyard was sold to Louis-Francois de Burban, the Prince de Conte.

Since then, the Vineyard has been called Roman-A-Conti.

But how did Louis-Francis become interested in the property?

Who was he?

And how did he influence the vineyard's social clout?

Louis Francois was born the great-grandson of Louis the 14th. His convivial and

extravagant nature was apparent from his teenage years, and he experienced a successful

military career, the confidence of King Louis 15th, and an active social life at his Parisian

palace where he rubbed shoulders with Mozart and Rousseau.

He purchased the vineyard for 8,000 livres, a currency introduced by Charlemagne and used for

about a thousand years.

One levray was supposed to equal one pound of silver.

So the Prince de Conte bought the vineyard for an equivalent of 8,000 pounds of silver,

which in today's money would be something close to $2 million.

A hefty sum, but a drop in the bucket considering he had just gotten

1 million livres as a dowry when his son married the year before.

But why was the Vineyard so expensive? when his son married the year before.

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