The Ponzi Legacy

Tim Fish looks back at the pioneering Oregon winemaking family's contributions, and bright future

The Ponzi Legacy
Senior editor Tim Fish (David Yellen)
From the Sep 30, 2020, issue

Dick Ponzi came to Oregon in a flatbed truck. In the mix were his wife, Nancy, their kids, two cats, a dog, a canoe, a piano and four barrels of homemade wine. He was 36, and it was 1969, a time when many Americans were going “back to the land.”

The Ponzis, however, were anything but a hippy family. Dick was an aerospace engineer who later designed rides for Disney—but after a trip to Burgundy he was committed to making Pinot Noir in Willamette Valley. 

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