Wine ages well; so do its makers

Seven siblings of an Arkansas family known for its wine have set a pretty unique record.

In July, the surviving children of Agnes Marie Sax Post and James Matthew “Jake” Post of Altus had a total age of 682 years and 36 days, which earned them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for “highest combined age of seven living siblings,” according to a representative for the record book.

The brothers and sisters include centenarians Katherine Graham of Washington, Mo., 102; Louise Ritter of New Orleans, 101; and 100-yearold Theresa Shaw of Stockdale, Texas. Following them are young ’uns Dr. James Post of Fort Smith, 99; Mathew Post of Altus, who died Oct. 20 at 97; 93-year-old Antonia Plugge, who splits time between Dallas and Altus; and Estella Conatser of Ozark, who turned 91 this month.

Jake and Agnes had two other sons, the late Eugene Post and Thomas Post.

The Post family has been making wine in Arkansas since the 1880s and operates the Post Familie Vineyards and Winery in Altus. Living long isn’t that unusual for this bunch. Agnes was 104 when she died.

“We all realized that longevity seems to run in the family,” said Tina Post, the daughter of Mathew, last week. “It has to be in the genes. I don’t know what the wine has to do with it, but we all imbibe.”

Michael Graham of Jonesboro, the son of Katherine, joked that the secret could be the water from his uncle Eugene’s well in Altus.

“Although, we also think it’s the wine,” he added.

In June, Graham and some of his many cousins — there are more than 60 — got the idea that the elder siblings had likely achieved some sort of longevity landmark.

“We decided that this must be a record,” he said. “We’d never heard of any other siblings that had reached their 90s [and 100s] like that.”

One of the cousins got in touch with the Guinness Book of World Records and the family set about gathering birth certificates and other documents. The record was approved on July 26, which is also Katherine’s birthday.

“Mom was all excited,” Graham said. “She’s 102, so she’s not going to do a cartwheel or anything, but she smiled and said she sort of knew all along [they had set the record].”

The Post siblings are all close and so are the cousins, said Graham, who has a wry sense of humor.

“We’re in our 60s and 70s now and we look at it like, oh, we’ve got this ticket to live a long time,” he says with a chuckle. “We’re guaranteeing ourselves another 30 years.”

The younger members of the family have not been shy about spreading news of the record on social media, said Tina, who lives in Fayetteville.

“The grandkids have shared it on their Facebook pages. The next generation is really having fun with it.”