Ferdinando DiBernardo is one of [Tony Marabella]'s steady customers. The 92-year-old retired fisherman, who has been making wine in his garage for as long as he can remember, buys 50 gallons of grape juice from Marabella every year. There is Marabella's business, the Marabella Vineyard Co., founded in 1932 by an uncle of Marabella's wife. Years ago, Marabella had a handful of competitors. But today, he is the only grape and grape juice supplier left in San Pedro. It is a position he retains with a sense of pride and duty. PHOTO: Ferdinando DiBernardo, 92, checks a 1989 bottle of wine he made in his garage workshop in San Pedro. The retired fisherman says he's been making wine for as long as he can remember.; PHOTO: Tony Marabella sits at desk amid the clutter of small office in his winery, founded in 1932.; PHOTO: Tony Marabella, with wine press in background, says old-timers get used to homemade wine. "They drink store-bought, they get sick."; PHOTO: OLD-FASHIONED: Tony Marabella is the last of a breed that makes wines the old-fashioned way: crushing and pressing the grapes so customers can take them home to ferment in their cellars. B1 / BRIAN VANDER BRUG / Los Angeles Times
Full text: Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext), Feb 15, 1990
homemade wine