Century Village Resident Bakes Up a New Chapter

Walk past Mel Nass in Century Village East and you’d never guess the life he’s lived. A gentle presence with a sharp wit and a kind word, Mel is more than just your neighbor—he’s the kind of person whose story reminds you that it’s never too late to take a chance, chase a dream, and start again. From his Brooklyn roots to the high tech programming rooms of IBM, from Finger Lakes vineyards to grape-filled pies, Mel Nass’s journey has been anything but ordinary.

Mel grew up in Brooklyn, raised in a family that valued hard work, education, and family tradition. He attended City College and earned a mechanical engineering degree—a ticket into the booming world of technology. For two decades, he worked as a programmer at IBM, helping shape the foundation of the digital age. But even as he climbed the corporate ladder, Mel’s heart remained tethered to something far older and simpler.

He credits that quiet pull to the backyard garden his grandmother kept when he was a child. She had emigrated from Romania and brought with her not only resilience, but a deep love of the land. “Watching her grow vegetables in the city taught me the value of nurturing something from the ground up,” Mel says. He also credits his her for his entrepreneurial drive.  Arriving in the United States with almost nothing, she opened a sewing company, worked hard for years, and eventually saved enough to buy a small cluster of vacation bungalows in New York’s Catskill Mountains.

In the middle of his successful IBM career, Mel started dreaming of farming. Not just backyard gardening—but real, dirt-under-your-fingernails, sun-up-to-sundown farming. Most people would have written it off as a fantasy, but Mel wasn’t most people. Before buying a vineyard, Mel wanted to learn the ropes from the ground up—literally. So, on Saturdays, he and his wife Phyllis would put on jeans and flannel shirts, hop in the car, and drive out to farm country. They’d find the nearest working farm, knock on the door, and offer to work the weekend—free of charge—in exchange for advice from the farmer at the end of the day on Sunday.

Eventually, those weekends turned into a calling. In 1973, Mel and Phyllis purchased a 150-acre vineyard near Lodi in the Finger Lakes region of New York, launching what would become Venture Vineyards. The vineyard became a thriving business, eventually supplying grapes to chains like Wegmans, Walmart, Tops, and Winn-Dixie.

What most people don’t know is that Mel didn’t immediately quit IBM. He managed to get transferred to IBM’s Syracuse office, just over an hour from the vineyard. For a while, he lived a double life—coding by day, farming by night. After a full day at IBM, he’d jump into his beat-up Volvo station wagon, load it with grapes, and drive to local stores. He offered the grapes for free at first, just to see if they’d sell. “If they did well, I’d come back and try to make a deal,” Mel recalls. “It was old-school hustle, one box of grapes at a time.”

It was during those early vineyard years that Mel was introduced to Concord grape pies—through an unexpected source. His vineyard shared a boundary with a farm run by an Amish family. The two struck up a barter arrangement: the Amish could harvest Concord grapes from his fields for their jams and jellies, and in return, they’d leave baskets of fruits and vegetables for Mel’s family. But the real gem came one day when the family left behind something new: a Concord grape pie.

“I’d never tasted anything like it,” Mel says. “Sweet, tangy, bursting with flavor—and completely unforgettable.”

Venture Vinyards grew to become one of the nation’s largest producers of concord grapes, with growers in stretching from New York to Arkansas, Missouri to Michigan. But Mel never forgot those Amish grape pies.

His neighbor’s pie planted a seed that today is just starting to blossom. After years in the vineyard business and a well-earned semi-retirement, Mel and Phyllis are returning to that memory and launching The Concord Grape Pie Company. Today, their handcrafted pies—including classic Concord, peanut butter & grape, and grape crumble—are beginning to catch on. The grapes are still Concord, and the recipes are steeped in tradition and love.

Now living in Century Village East, Mel continues to share his passion for food, farming, and storytelling. He manages orders, chats with customers, and stays busy doing what he’s always done: building something from scratch with his own two hands.

Mel’s story isn’t just about grapes or pies. It’s about transformation. It’s about a Brooklyn boy inspired by his grandmother’s garden, a programmer who learned to grow grapes by working weekends on strangers’ farms, and a man who still believes the best things in life are homegrown—and shared.

These days, Mel and Phyllis can be found spending their weekends at farmers markets across South Florida, joined by their son Andrew, bringing their signature Concord grape pies to a new audience. With a small table, big smiles, and plenty of free samples, the Nass family shares not just dessert, but a story steeped in history and heart. They’re hoping the same entrepreneurial spirit and persistence that helped Mel build a vineyard business decades ago will once again take root—this time through the rich, nostalgic flavor of their handcrafted pies.

So next time you enjoy a slice of Concord grape pie, know that you're tasting more than dessert. You're tasting the journey of a man who followed his heart, trusted his hands, and never stopped reinventing what came next.