>> i'm jamie colby. today i'm in picturesque roanoke, virginia. the name "roanoke" is believed to come from an algonquin word that means "shell money," which is very appropriate to the story of this strange inheritance. >> my name is ryan givens. in 1992, my mother, melva givens, died at the age of 79. as executor of her estate, i found a lock box in her closet which contained a strange envelope. >> ryan, this is the box? >> this is the box that she kept it in in her bedroom closet, and she kept it along with other things in this envelope right here. >> so, it says, "this is a changed date," and what else does it -- "not real"? >> not the real one. >> "changed date," "not real," "1913." melva's terse note reflects what she'd been told about the coin inside -- that it's a clever fake of one of the rarest and most valuable coins ever minted -- the 1913 liberty head 5-cent piece. coin expert and auctioneer paul montgomery wrote a book about the nickels. >> from 1883 to 1912, the liberty head nickel was the design that the u.s. was using for commerce. it was in 1912 that they made the decision to move on to the next design, which was the buffalo nickel. at the end of 1912, they really should have stopped making liberty nickels. instead, somebody made five before the dies were destroyed. >> the five nickels are legal tender, but the u.s. treasury has no record of them. >> samuel brown was a mint employee at the time when the coins were transitioned from the liberty head nickel to the buffalo nickel. there's a lot of speculation that sam brown was the one that actually had them made and put them away. >> five specimens make their first appearance in chicago at a 1920 convention. the seller -- surprise, surprise -- samuel brown. >> it was seven years later. the statute of limitations had passed for any crime that might have been committed, and so, all of a sudden, there is a huge story that five coins that had never existed were now gonna be at the chicago coin club show. >> four years later, all five coins are purchased by a single wealthy collector for $2,000. it's not until the early 1940s, in st. louis, that the set of five nickels is sold in public again. egypt's king farouk scoops one up for his collection, and, the following year, so does a prominent coin collector from roanoke, virginia -- ryan givens' uncle george walton. enter the enigmatic benefactor of our strange inheritance. ryan, tell me more about uncle george. >> i like to refer to him as a professional collector. he had a pretty decent stamp collection. he had books, almanacs, but coins were his main thing. >> truth be told, ryan doesn't know his uncle george well, and neither, it seems, does anyone else. he's a lifelong bachelor and successful estate appraiser, a job that keeps him constantly on the move. he lives in a series of hotels from north carolina to florida. exactly how walton came to acquire his 1913 nickel is equally murky. the most oft-told story is that in 1946, he trades $3,750 worth of gold for the rare nickel. the seller, the story goes, may or may not be an heir to the camel cigarette fortune. >> it was said a member of the tobacco reynolds family, so we can assume that it may have been r.j. reynolds. >> however he acquires it, the 1913 nickel gives walton a special status on the coin-show circuit. >> it was a calling card of sorts because if you were one of the owners of a 1913 nickel, you were an important collector. >> walton plays the role of swaggering, inscrutable collector to the hilt. once he's seen nonchalantly flipping his famous nickel! wasn't he worried about scratching it? his reply -- "no, because it's a fake." >> the reason being since it's a valuable coin, he used it for display rather than the real one. >> he promises to display the real one at a show in wilson, north carolina, where he's a headliner. with about $250,000 worth of rare coins, he sets out on the drive from roanoke to wilson. nowadays you'd be in some sort of, like, armored truck! >> that's how things were back then. you would never see that today, but wilson was having their first show, so it was going to be a big deal. >> it's march 9, 1962. >> he was almost within the town limits... [ tires screech, crash ] ...when he was hit by a lady that was driving a car. apparently, she had been drinking. he was killed instantly. >> george walton was 55 years old. he dies without a will, so his siblings name a bank in roanoke to act as his executor. what was the process? >> the bank sent letters to every bank that they knew in north carolina and virginia and said, "do you have anything there that belongs to george walton?" >> once all his collections are reassembled and catalogued, the family gets some shocking news that also stuns coin aficionados around the world -- george walton's 1913 liberty nickel... is declared a fake. >> the nickel had no value. it was just a piece of junk. >> a piece of junk? could it be? that's next. >> and now for our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the answer in a moment. as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchemel... cut. liberty mu... line? cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. cut. liberty m... am i allowed to riff? what if i come out of the water? liberty biberty... cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ through everys hamoment of your life. they were with you when you felt unbreakable. and with you when you had your heart broken. they were with you when you shared your love with the world. and with you when she became your world. they're still with you right now. but... how well do you know them? it's "a," martha washington, who appeared on the $1 silver certificate in 1886. >> on his way to a north carolina coin show in march 1962, eccentric coin collector george walton dies in a car crash. it's front-page news in the coin world. >> george walton was a respected numismatist. he put together one of the greatest collections of all time. the executor calls in stack's, a new york city auction house, to appraise george's coin collection. >> so stack's sent a man to evaluate and catalogue all the coins. it took approximately two to three weeks. >> how much did the family get for what was sold? >> the total came to over $850,000. it set a record for an individual collection. >> it would have been even more -- maybe $60,000 more -- if not for the stunning pronouncement that walton's prized 1913 nickel is... a phony! because the "3" in "1913" is unlike any font used by the u.s. mint, stack's concludes the date has been altered. >> there were so many altered dates out there that it wasn't difficult to take another liberty head coin, such as a 1910, and alter the zero to make it look like a 3. >> in fact, walton has a number of suspect currencies in his collection -- so many that the bank feels it needs to notify the secret service. >> the secret service came and took some of the items that he had because they were either counterfeit, altered, or illegal to own. >> stack's declared the nickel a fake, but the secret service said, "keep it, it's okay"? >> it was not totally illegal to have an altered date, but if you tried to sell it to someone, that was illegal. >> the secret service returns the nickel but warns the family never to try to pass it off as the real mccoy. in the meantime, george walton's reputation as an esteemed coin collector takes a posthumous beating. >> it was just a piece of junk, so it was put in with the odds and ends, so my mom picked out the 1913. she was born in 1913, so that could have been a reason. my other thought was she wanted it put away permanently, and that's what she did. >> to protect his reputation? >> right -- in other words, try to keep it from getting any worse. >> melva givens never wavers in her belief that her brother george had the real nickel somewhere in his vast coin collection, but she accepts that the one in her closet really is a fake. >> she had some coin magazines, newspaper articles, that kind of kept up with other 1913s, so she knew he had it. she just couldn't find it. >> she's not the only one who's looking. everyone in coin-collecting circles is wondering where the vanished nickel has gone. some assume it must still be by the side of the road where walton crashed and show up at that spot with metal detectors. over the decades, the nickel enters into american cultural lore. it's even the subject of tv episodes on "hawaii five-o" and "the hardy boys." then, in 1992, melva passes away at the age of 79. >> i was executor of her estate, so it was up to me, of course, to go through what she had and split things up between my brother and my sisters. she had a box of items in her closet, and i got the box out. the nickel was there. >> ryan takes the envelope with the nickel in it and places it on his nightstand. >> i used to look at it late at night, and one time i just imagined she's sitting there saying to me, "they say i'm not real. what do you think?" >> with each passing year, the 1913 liberty legend grows, and so does the value of the four confirmed specimens. in 1996, one becomes the first coin to sell for over $1 million. then in april 2003, a cub reporter on a local feature assignment sparks the most stunning turn of events ever in the coin world. everything the experts thought they knew about the most famous coin in the world was wrong. >> i wasn't looking to find the million-dollar nickel. i was looking to tell a good story. >> that's next on "strange inheritance." >> for this "strange inheritance" quiz question, you might want to get up close to your television set. one of the coins you're looking at is a fake 1913 liberty nickel. the other is genuine. can you tell which is the real one? hint -- the numbers tell the story. and inspired to learn. i want my kids to have better oppurtunities than i had. i wish we had classes like the schools across town. i want to hold our elected officials accountable. school boards transform communities. speak up at yours and make your voice heard. text school to 225568 to find out how you can get involved. wthat's why xfinity hasu made taking your internetself. and tv with you a breeze. really? yup. you can transfer your service online in about a minute. you can do that? yeah. and with two-hour service appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. so while moving may still come with its share of headaches... no kidding. we're doing all we can to make moving simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. it's our most dangerous addiction. and to get the whole world clean? that takes a lot more than an alternative. so we took our worst vice, and turned it into the dna for a better system. materials made from recycled plastic - woven and molded into all the things we consume. we created bionic and put the word out with godaddy. what will you change? make the world you want. >> take one more look. can you tell which is the real 1913 liberty head nickel? it's "b." stay tuned to find out why. >> one of the five super-rare 1913 liberty head nickels has been missing for decades, ever since george walton's was declared a fake after his death in a car crash in 1962. 41 years later, in 2003, paul montgomery's company is trying to come up with a way to raise excitement for a coin show that summer in baltimore. >> our publicist remembered that it was the 90th anniversary of the making of the 1913 nickel. we thought it would be a nice thing to have a reunion for all the coins. >> that prompts another brainstorm. what about a $1 million reward for that fifth nickel, regardless of the condition it was in? i said, "well, sure. i guess i'd pay a million bucks even if it had a hole in it'. >> the press picks up on the story, and within days, a reader of the roanoke times calls the newsroom suggesting a local angle. >> somebody said he knew george walton when he lived in roanoke. we had our research librarian at the roanoke times start digging up information on mr. walton's relatives. >> adams' research leads him to ryan givens. >> ryan knew about the nickel. he didn't know about the million-dollar reward. >> adams' pursuit of a good story sets in motion a series of extraordinary events. >> mason adams also contacted the editor of coin world. she asked him if he knew where the altered-date coin was. so, she finally got in contact with me and said, "we'd like to have that altered-date coin on display in baltimore." >> ryan's uninterested in dredging up the bogus walton nickel tale. but that 90-year-old lady is calling out to him again. >> so i asked my brother and my sisters if it was okay to take it up there, and they said fine with them. >> wow. did you think to yourself, "what if it's real?" >> you always wonder, but i wanted more to find it was real for uncle george because it was basically his reputation. >> on july 30, 2003, he drives from roanoke, virginia, to baltimore and meets with his siblings to show paul montgomery the nickel. >> i was ready to tell them that their coin wasn't genuine, but, at the same time, you always want to meet someone that has history in the business. >> but once he has the coin in his hand, paul montgomery does a double-take. he was expecting to see a fake, but this doesn't look like a fake. paul invites jeff garrett, a numismatist with a pedigree as solid as his own, and four other experts to assess the nickel's authenticity. >> he says, "i think we found the coin" and i was like, "wow! that's almost like goosebumps stuff," you know? >> they were the coin experts, and you try to get some indication from their expression as to whether it's real or not, but they didn't really show any, so i was a little nervous. >> this convention holds an unprecedented opportunity that stack's auction house didn't have in 1963 -- to compare george walton's nickel with the four others that had already been authenticated. >> we spent 45 minutes talking about the different nuances of the coin. >> the experts hone in on that strange "3." what shocks them is that it's identical on all five coins! >> it took a long time, but, finally, paul called us over. they had all decided... that it was real. >> the very defect that caused stack's to declare walton's nickel phony proves, four decades later, that it has to be real. what's more, its mint condition and incredible story make it worth much more than the million-dollar bounty montgomery was offering. >> i am the only dealer in the history of our industry that has gotten to tell a family who thought they had nothing that they indeed had millions of dollars, and that is the best thing that happened to me in my career. >> the givens are newly minted millionaires. >> it was almost like having a lottery ticket. >> all they need to do is cash in -- but not so fast! that's next on "strange inheritance." vo: mrs. and mrs. jimmie and mindy beall. jimmie: i came from five generations of teachers. losing my job was the bottom falling out of my world. ♪you can be the best ♪you can be the king kong ♪bangin on your chest ♪you can beat the world you can beat the war♪ ♪you can talk to god while bangin on his door♪ ♪you can throw your hands up you can beat the clock♪ ♪you can move a mountain you can break rocks♪ ♪you can be a master don't wait for luck♪ ♪dedicate yourself and you can find yourself♪ ♪standin in the hall of fame ♪yea ♪and the world's gonna know your name, yea♪ >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in july 2003, ryan givens and his siblings find out that the strange inheritance they thought was fake is real and they can cash in for millions. >> it was very clear to me that this was a family that was not interested in selling the coin. ryan will tell you he would much rather have the coin because he loved having it in the family. >> they don't have the money to insure the coin, so they loan it to the american numismatic association, which displays it at its museum in colorado springs. then, in 2013, the liberty head nickel's 100th birthday is approaching. >> we started to realize, "hey, we're not getting any younger." we knew we'd have to sell it, and it was part of my mom's estate, so any one of us couldn't hold on to it. >> paul montgomery introduces the givens to greg rohan, c.e.o. of heritage auctions, the world's largest coin auction house. >> the 1913 nickel is arguably one of the most famous coins there is, so for the opportunity to handle one is like a paintings collector getting the mona lisa. >> $1,000. >> heritage sets a date of april 25, 2013, in chicago -- fitting, since that's where the five liberty head nickels were first revealed back in 1920. >> the auction shut down and said, "now we're gonna prepare for this very, very special offering," so we sat there on pins and needles, and then the numbers start climbing. >> $180,000. now $190,000. bid $190,000. >> then jeff garrett, one of the experts who helped authenticate the nickel in 2003, decides to place his own bid with another collector, larry lee. >> i was sitting in the audience, and i send a text to larry. i said, "larry, this coin's gonna to sell in about 15 minutes." i said, "last chance to bid," kind of almost half jokingly, and he calls me. he says, "what do you think it'll bring?" and i bid $2.1 million. >> jeff and larry bid against another collector as the price rises by $100,000 each bid. jeff and larry win the auction. how much did they pay for the nickel? >> the total price on it came to $3.2 million. >> it was almost a surreal experience, really, 'cause from a personal perspective, it was kind of like my everest. it was like the chance to handle one of the few great coins in numismatics. >> larry lee, now the nickel's sole owner, puts it on display at this coin shop in panama city, florida. the givens siblings split the net proceeds four ways and donate $100,000 to the american numismatic association in honor of uncle george. any regret in not waiting to sell it for more money? >> if you hold on to it, it'll keep growing and growing, but how long do you think you're gonna live to enjoy it? >> although the mystery of the walton nickel is solved, george himself made noises about knowing of a sixth 1913 liberty head nickel out there somewhere. in fact, we can't know for sure how many 1913 liberties were minted. think about that if you inherit some of grandpa's old stuff. there could be gold in those drawers or sofa cushions. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance," and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. >> an 8-year-old gets a very strange inheritance. >> when my dad died, everyone was heartbroken. >> but what does a boy do with a winery? >> the funniest thing is when i would tell my friends' parents, and they would totally freak out. >> talk about getting your feet wet in a new business. >> drink it. it's grape juice. >> that is really good. >> but how does the family keep it from dying on the vine? >> i didn't know anything about wine except that i like to drink it. >> so what's the heir going to do when he grows up? >> i'm trying to prove that i'm not the owner's kid who just gets handed these things. [ cork pops ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm traveling through the willamette valley of oregon -- wine country. in fact, this area is home to around 400 wineries. so you can probably guess what this episode of "strange inheritance" is all about. but it's one that was passed down far too soon, and to a most improbable heir. >> my name is pascal brooks. when i was 8 years old, i inherited something that is pretty special and still blows my mind. ♪ >> thank you so much for having me, pascal. wow, it is an honor to meet you. how unusual is it for somebody your age to be in charge of all this? >> i'm not the one that does the work. i simply own it. >> the 18-year-old may own this winery, but he can't legally drink its product. however, he does pitch in, every so often, to get a good feel for his strange inheritance. nice to see you helping out the family winery. very nice. the story of how pascal became the world's youngest owner of a winery begins with his father, jimi brooks. janie heuck is pascal's aunt. she and pascal's dad, jimi, grew up in portland. >> as we got older and got out of high school, we both took very, very different paths. >> janie zips through a degree in accounting, while jimi goes on the five-year plan, finally gets his b.a., but then decides to find himself by traveling through europe. >> so he moved over there, took a few jobs, would go spend his money travelling, and find another job. >> for one job, jimi harvests grapes in the beaujolais region of france. at another, he teaches english as a second language in krakow, poland, a position he takes after setting eyes on 20-year-old waitress bozena kutyba. romance leads to marriage in september 1995. soon baby pascal arrives, and jimi moves his young family back to portland. >> i remember the first time when we drove from the airport into portland. i've never seen anything like that -- this beautiful river and then the lights. >> jimi gets a gig as a vineyard manager, and in his spare time starts his own brand of wine. he enlists the help of a friend, chris williams, who until that point was not a winemaker, but a motorcycle mechanic. >> jimi's whole goal was to be able to make wines that people enjoyed, make wines that we enjoyed. >> but while jimi's focused on his career, his marriage to bozena turns bitter. in 2000, they divorce. they agree that pascal will spend every other weekend with his dad. on many a saturday, jimi takes pascal to work. your dad tried to pull you into this as a kid, right? he wanted you around? >> whenever i was with him, it was more for the fact that i was with him and he was happy that i was there. >> what do you remember about your dad? >> i remember waking up, and it'd be cold and early, and we'd get into this dilapidated truck, and we'd stop for coffee and a cinnamon roll early in the morning. >> by 2001, jimi is head winemaker for one winery, and as a perk, he's allowed to make thousands of cases of his own brooks wine on the side. jimi starts buying grapes from other farmers, then leases a 20-acre plot planted with old vines. he hopes to buy it one day. jimi becomes a pioneer in oregon of a farming method he learned in france called biodynamics. it uses no chemicals or additives, but focuses on soil fertility and even the phases of the moon. >> so the fruit comes in... >> chris gives me a little backstage tour and shows me how they make their pinot noir. they're beautiful grapes. may i taste one? >> of course. >> mmm. >> nice and ripe, sweet, but not too sweet. >> amazing. >> the idea behind pinot is to have whole berries, which lets the fermentation happen inside the berry. >> this is a pretty big bucket of grapes. how many bottles of wine am i looking at? >> about a 120 gallons, which would be roughly 50 cases. >> by december 2003, jimi's wines are getting noticed throughout oregon and beyond. he tells the atlantic monthly magazine he hopes that one day his winery will be his son's inheritance. >> he stated in that very clearly that he wanted his winery to be a legacy for pascal. >> then one saturday morning in september 2004, jimi is arguing with his ex-wife about whose turn it is to be with pascal. after that call, jimi makes another one, to his girlfriend. >> he was on the phone with his girlfriend when he mentioned that his chest was hurting and could she come over. >> before jimi's girlfriend can arrive, jimi dies of an aortic aneurysm. he's 38 years old. pascal is 8. >> i think when my dad died, everyone was heartbroken. kids soak up the atmosphere, and it wasn't that i readily wanted to do that, but you just don't know how to rationalize it. >> jimi's sister, janie, is at home in northern california with her husband and two young children when she gets the call. she immediately begins the long trek up to oregon. she arrives to a find a crowd of people she barely knows in her brother's house. what happens next will not only turn janie's life upside down, but determine whether her nephew's strange inheritance is anything but a crop of grapes about to wither on the vine. >> one of the few things you can do for someone who's died is help their family take care of their unfinished business. >> that's next. and later... how deep is it? >> oh, about up to your knees. >> you know, i failed gymnastics. ahhh. ooh! >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question... is it because...? the answer in a moment. [ wind howls ] [ bird caws ] >> so what's the reason some winemakers crush their grapes with their feet? it's, "c," flavor. the human foot is said to be ideally suited to crushing grapes without breaking open the grape seeds that give wine a bitter taste. >> it's september 2004, the middle of harvest season for oregon winemakers. this year, however, shock permeates this beautiful landscape after up-and-coming winemaker jimi brooks dies unexpectedly. the 38-year-old leaves behind a wine label that's won critical acclaim, and his only heir, an 8-year-old son, pascal. there are also loose ends. jimi has no will and zero savings. he's left pascal's mom, bozena, with few options. >> he was a known winemaker, but when pascal inherited the winery, it was more like a label -- really not much behind it. i said the only thing i can try is to raise pascal. >> but there's another pressing issue. jimi left several tons of grapes still on the vine. his sister, janie, arrives in oregon to settle his affairs. what did the other growers tell you about the importance of jimi's work continuing? >> he was blazing new trails, and they didn't want to see the brand go away, and they all stepped up and offered to take his fruit that year and make his wine for free if i would help them on the business side. >> tad seestedt is one of those other growers and a longtime friend of jimi's. >> one of the few things you can do for someone who's died is help their family take care of their unfinished business. jimi had told me at least a handful of times he didn't feel like he had much of a legacy for pascal besides his winery. >> so tad and the other growers harvest jimi's crop, make it into wine, and keep brooks winery alive. and janie begins the legal paperwork of transferring ownership of brooks winery to her nephew, pascal. she agrees to be his financial guardian and manager of the winery without pay, but there's one big problem. >> i didn't know anything about wine at all except that i like to drink it. >> so janie bones up on viticulture, the study of grapes for winemaking, and she asks chris williams to be head winemaker. was it important to you to talk him into taking the role? >> he was the only one that had worked for jimi, and that's where he had learned everything he knew about making wine. >> this sounds like a recipe for disaster -- an 8-year-old kid and his accountant aunt get together with a former motorcycle mechanic to make wine? but let me sit down and taste that pinot before passing judgment. so, aerate? why? >> it blends oxygen with the wine, and it brings out more of the aromatics. >> smell because? >> it gives your senses a feeling of what you're actually gonna get. >> wow. i'm speechless. normally i would come up with tobacco and wood tree and mold, but in a good way, but it's none of those things. okay, delicious wine. not a bad start. but selling wine is a hyper-competitive business, and i've learned getting those first bottles sold while you're making your next vintage can require big bucks. all of this doesn't come cheap. >> and trying to keep the demand side equivalent to our supply was a big learning curve for me. >> so while janie goes on the road to entice distributors, pascal trolleys off to grade school, able to brag about being the youngest winery owner in the world. >> i think the funniest thing with that is when i would tell my friends' parents, and they would totally freak out. >> soon, several stores in the high-end supermarket chain whole foods agree to stock brooks wines, as do other retailers in nine states and japan. on a roll in 2005, janie re-negotiates a lease for the same vineyard where jimi had been growing his grapes. she also develops a 2,500-square-foot sales and tasting room in amity, oregon, in anticipation of exponential growth... which doesn't happen. >> it did get to a point where i had to really get ahold of how to add more markets so that we could sell more wine. >> faced with losing momentum and losing her brother's only legacy to his son, janie searches for her next move. that is, until affairs of state intervene. >> lo and behold, i got a phone call from the white house. >> that and the future of brooks wines' young heir next on "strange inheritance." >> here's another quiz question for you... the answer when we return. [ wind howls ] [ bird caws ] some people say "dress your age." that's ridiculous. i dress how i feel. yesterday i felt bold with boundless energy. this morning i woke up calm and unbreakable. tomorrow? who knows. age is just an illusion. how you show up for the world, that's what's real. what's your idea? i put it out there with a godaddy website. make the world you want. [ bird caws ] >> so which of these states produces the most wine? the answer is, "c." pennsylvania is america's fifth biggest wine-producing state, behind california, new york, washington, and oregon. ♪ >> it's 2009, and 13-year-old pascal brooks remains the world's youngest winery owner, following the untimely death of his father, jimi brooks. his aunt, janie heuck, volunteered to oversee brooks wines until its young heir comes of age. but she's struggling to keep her brother's legacy afloat. that is, until she gets a phone call from a wine steward in chicago. >> he called me and told me he was catering a dinner and wanted to serve our riesling, and, lo and behold, the next day i got a phone call and an e-mail from the white house. >> brooks' 2006 ara riesling is selected for president barack obama's first state dinner, honoring the prime minister of india. >> when the white house calls and places an order for wine for a state dinner, does that wine sell out? >> well, in this case, because there was so much hype around it being his first dinner, it made it even more sought-after. >> even though brooks wines is now riding high, things aren't going as well for pascal. >> i think there's the age when their dad should be at their games, and they know that they will never get that. i think that was the most difficult time for pascal. >> add to that, pascal and his mom have relocated across the country from portland to pittsburgh so that she could take a new job. >> when i left oregon, i was heartbroken. i think, for me, i was still in shock. >> pascal spends summers in oregon, but the trips remind him of what's missing in his life -- his father. what is it like to not be able to turn to your dad and say, "hey, dad?" >> the older you get, you realize there's a shadow of something that should be there, and so you're constantly clinging for something like that. >> during his summer visits, pascal gets hands-on experience in the winery he owns. does it bring you any comfort then to have this be a part of your life? >> it's more for the fact of making those people's lives easier and trying to prove that i'm not the owner's kid who just gets handed these things. >> it's finally time for me to get some hands-on experience of my own. well, not hands-on, but feet-on. it's the time-honored practice of stomping grapes. >> jamie, come on in. join me. >> all right, where's my stunt double when i need her? how deep is it? >> oh, about up to your knees. >> you know, i failed gymnastics. ahhh. ooh! >> it feels good. >> grapes feel good. i hear they're anti-aging. so what are we doing exactly? >> we want a little bit of separation before we make it into rosé. we're separating the berry itself from its juice. >> wow, what an awesome feeling. they still make wine this way? >> some places they do. drink it. it's grape juice. [ slurps ] >> whoa. >> it's good, isn't it? >> that is really good. now, brooks has become too big to make its wine this way. you might say it's on more solid footing. [ rim shot ] they're making pinot noirs and rieslings in jimi's style -- at least 12,000 cases a year -- and now selling in 14 states, japan, and the u.k. >> we have a great distribution network right now, so plenty of demand for our product throughout the country, and i feel like we're really solid and really stable. >> solid enough for janie to realize it's time for a big step. a plot of land that was very special to her brother comes up for sale -- a 20-acre vineyard he had always wanted to buy. >> we thought, okay, it's time for us to acquire the vineyard. >> but what about the 18-year-old owner of brooks winery? what does any of this mean for him and his strange inheritance? what if you go to college and you decide, "i want to be an architect"? that's next. ♪all around the world, we are one, we are one♪ ♪all around the world, we are one♪ ♪so where did we all go wrong?♪ ♪woo ♪where did we all, where did we all go wrong?♪ ♪love, love, love, love ♪love, love, love "strange inheritance." [ bird caws ] >> 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of jimi brooks' death, a winemaker whose passion and innovative techniques live on through the dedication of his sister, janie, his best friend, chris, and his only child, pascal, now 18 years old, and the heir to this strange inheritance. since jimi died in 2004, janie has been running the business and growing it by leaps and bounds. >> we grew from jimi making 2,500 cases, and now we make between 12,000 and 14,000, which is really the sweet spot in terms of keeping our wines affordable. >> janie knew that when her brother started the winery, he wanted it to have a permanent vineyard on a special plot of land -- the one he was leasing when he grew his last crop of grapes in 2004. when it comes up for sale, brooks wines is not able to swing the deal by itself, but aunt janie decides now is the time. did you have to put any of your own money in? >> yeah. my husband and i personally own the vineyard, and pascal leases it from us. >> in april 2014, the brooks winery you see here today broke ground. the business is still 100% owned by pascal. it's no longer the fledgling label his father left behind, but a big enterprise with long-term commitments. so how does all of that sit with a young man headed off to college? will he follow in his dad's footsteps? what if you go to college and you decide, "i want to be an architect"? >> then that's what i'm gonna do. i'll still own it, but i'll be an architect. >> before pascal heads off... [ cork pops ] ...janie throws a party to celebrate the new winery and their loving memory of jimi brooks. >> so that was your dad's europe backpack, and this is a draft book -- a collection of stories and pictures from your dad's friends. i didn't have time to finish it, but... [ applause ] >> one of my favorite things he left me was his library. i've gone through and found his notes scrawled in the margins or found something that he says there. it's like having a conversation with him. >> i think he's right now at this very good point in his life when he is looking forward to honor his dad's memory, but he is so set on making his own path, and that is exactly like his dad. >> he's my rainbow. the day we broke ground here, there was a double rainbow over the vineyard. i'm not a super spiritual person that way, but i do feel when things might need to be a little bit brighter, something good will happen, and i attribute that to him. >> the brooks wines label comes from a tattoo that jimi had on his left arm. it's the mythical serpent known as ouroboros, swallowing its own tail. in cultures around the world, it represents the never-ending cycle of life, death, and renewal. when he chose it, jimi could not have known just how appropriate a symbol it would become for the winery that he founded, that his sister rescued and built into a success, and that his son, pascal, has inherited. and now pascal tells me he's going to get that same tattoo. so here's to all that. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com >> a texas family inherits a houseful of history worth millions. >> bam! >> bob davis was a world-class collector. >> [ imitates sword whooshing ] >> he had a love affair with these items. >> that's smart. >> and speaking of love affairs... >> what's this gun? >> this is a sawed-off shotgun that was carried by the barrow gang. >> the barrows? like bonnie and clyde barrow? >> like bonnie and clyde. >> their violent exploits spawned a legend... >> those images of these young outlaws shooting up the highways of america... [ gunshots ] ...somehow touches people. >> ...that may yield a fortune. >> the place is packed. people on the telephones are bidding. there's intense interest in the bonnie and clyde story. >> it was a mind-blower to watch. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ]
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