Let’s face it, wine and winemaking are entwined with romance. Books about winemakers and the life in Napa and Sonoma are popular. When my husband and I lived in California, we were entranced by the number of wineries around our home in Santa Cruz County. We were so engaged that we wrote a book about that historic region.
We learned a lot about the winemaking process and how hard it is to own and operate a vineyard and winery. By the end of harvest in the fall, everyone is ready for a break, including the vines.
Winter is a good time to curl up with a book and a glass of wine in between winery tasks. Vines are pruned, but not much else is done in the vineyard.
Around the end of March an air of expectancy occurs, like the anticipation of a baby’s birth. If you follow a winery on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll start seeing the announcements fly around.
Bud break!
It’s time to begin the hard work of the vineyard again–watching for late frost, netting for birds, insuring the vines get the right amount of water and not too much, keeping an eye out for glassy winged sharpshooters and other pests.
Every state has a winery or two, even my home state of Montana. Give a gift to yourself and explore the wineries in your state.
Don’t forget to take along a copy of California Wine, the story of Marcos, an Italian winemaker, and Elizabeth a California entrepreneur. (Read an excerpt here.)
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