A Cultivated Life: A Year in a California Vineyard

by Joy Sterling

A seasonal journal of one year in California's Iron Horse Vineyards describes the growing of grapes and the making and selling of wine, evoking the hardships and satisfactions of the vintner's life

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Geo · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much deception in winery as much deception in jewelry. For an average buyer it is impossible to tell the difference between a zirconium and a diamond. By the same ... and worse ... token, is impossible to tell if the concoction you buy in a good looking bottle with a fancy label is real wine or Chinese imported powder odored, colorized to match a wine of your fancy.

Do not fool yourself, good wine does not come cheap neither readily available to ordinary bargain markets. If you want real wine, you have to order it direct. Having lived in California for 50 years and having traveled the wine country, I m telling you, wine making is a hard job. Never mind the recent fires in Napa, Santa Rosa and Santa Clara counties that brought the industry to it's knees.

Back to the book. I liked it, it is researched well, it had a lot of information unknown to me and I enjoyed it. It is not a novel, or a book for the casual reader. It is a book for the specialist, the connoisseur, the wine opinionist . The book flows well, and it is amusing as well.

Kudos to Mrs Sterling.

[Ash Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

It made me want a glass of wine, and to travel back to San Fran and go vineyard hopping. I enjoyed the history, the process. I really learned a lot about wine, producing and growing. A really pleasant read.

I was irritated over and over again by how much schmoozy it was. I got tired very quickly of reading about the fancy dinners, huge parties, caviar, black tie events, chateaus and mansions and glamor. Oh heavens, my husband just had to buy another tuxedo! It all sounded so much like bragging that I couldn't relate or appreciate it.

I looked up the vineyard, to try some of their wine. $30 a bottle was the LOW end, and I would have to pay an additional $24 to ship it because no one sells it. Good thing I found this book at a yard sale- the full wine experience is out of my price range.

[Amy Hennessy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this one. Loved the idea of it, and I am interested in what happens during a year in a vineyard. But this was just a fact filled account of their activities. No emotions or flourishes. It became too tedious. There are so many wonderful books out there to read, I had to put this one down.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little gem for my food & beverage lit collection! i enjoyed learning about wine making and hearing about this rich lady's charmed life

[Josephine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I'd say what lies behind the glossy facade of a small(ish) family vineyard is....more gloss and glitter. The author's parents bought the Iron Horse vineyard with an eye to keeping themselves occupied after her father retired from law, only to find that the economics of wine making required the father/husband to keep working for a number of years longer than he had planned! The vineyard, while a productive one ultimately, had been left untended for long enough that it took the business several years to even begin producing any significant amount of wine, given the length of time that vines take to begin producing again AND the length of time that it takes to get from grapes to vintage wine.

Not that that detracts from the more than slightly envious pleasure I get from reading the book. Running a vineyard--tending the vines, pressing the grapes, blending the wines, flogging the product--all together makes for a grueling career; the uncertainty of the harvest combined with the effects of a fluctuating economy on the saleability of wines combined with competition from all the other premium wineries (not to mention the good cheap wines coming out of the southern hemisphere six months before any northern hemisphere winery can release theirs!) combine for a nail biting nauseating roller coaster ride year after year after year. Only those who truly love the work will stick with it long enough to actually produce a Name for themselves.

[Angie Harrison]

Still reading the book