The Wrath of Grapes: How Not to Start a Winery - Softcover

K. F. Jones

9780970159267: The Wrath of Grapes: How Not to Start a Winery

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0970159269 ISBN 13: 9780970159267

Publisher: Corvo Publications, 2008

This is a book about dreams and one particular dream and some that have been dashed, or gracefully released, and just a lot of dumb things that can happen in the pursuit of dreams...

This is a book about starting a winery, and included herein is an account of lessons learned along the way about life...and death.

If starting a winery is a dream of yours and you are considering such a venture, or if you are determined absolutely not to ever do such an idiotic thing--wouldn't ever dream of it--there is support for your conviction within these pages either way. There are other dreams addressed here, both the day and night kind. But building a winery, albeit a very small one (the tiny Volo Del Corvo Winery) is the central theme and serves at least as a paradigm--encouragement--for following dreams.

If you are interested in making home wine, you will find assistance, support, and encouragement. If you just love wine, you will find fellowship and you might be interested in what goes on before you pull the cork out of the bottle. And your appreciation for what your favorite winemaker has accomplished could be multiplied tenfold. There are so many out there making some great wines. If you have just been introduced to the beverage, you are most welcome aboard.

The philosophy in one sentence: Wine is learning what you like, not being taught what to like.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Ken Jones has been writing for over forty years. His magazine travel and adventure articles, and his photography, have taken him to all continents but Antarctica and Australia, Coming close to both on a recent trip to New Zealand, he is currently on the lamb for speeding. Having been notified of the allegation a month after his return, and with no means to prove or disprove it, he has invited the New Zealand Police to come and get him, advising that they will never take him alive.

In Pamplona, as a youth, he was invited into the James A. Michener/ex-Hemmingway crowd and served as the prototype for Joe in The Drifters. In the Amazon, he dined with headhunters. And in Africa he was chased on foot by a bull elephant. Subsequently he has run 19 marathons.

Now divorced, he describes his marriage as having been a good one for fifteen years, but that it lasted twenty.

He states that he was a prisoner of war during Viet Nam: he was drafted. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal.

In 1995, he planted his first wine grapes and has been making wine since 1998. Currently his winery is seeking a tasting room manager, preferably of Scandinavian descent with prior experience as a lingerie model.

Review:

In addition to dedicated oenophiles, the book appeals to dog lovers, especially for Jones affectionate recounting of his Labrador retrievers production of a huge litter of active puppies, who have their own issues with native fauna, from benign bunnies to lethal rattlesnakes.

BOOKLIST September 15, 2008 --BOOKLIST September 15, 2008

Winemaking is indeed a dream adventure, and Ken Jones has made an educational, entertaining tale of it. We loved the book!

--Margrit (Mrs. Robert) Mondavi --personal communications with publisher

With the WRATH OF GRAPES you are definitely onto something. After 22 years in the wine business I quite often become over challenged. But strangely I get a huge kick out of the possibilities for the next vintage.

--Fess Parker, Davy Crockett to the world, Owner of Fess Parker Winery

Its a good thing he can write, he couldn't hit a curve ball if he knew it was coming.

--Tom Seaver, Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher, Owner of GTS Vineyards --personal communications with publisher

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.