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  • Title: The Wine Grape's Journey: The Farmer's Year
  • Language: English
  • Media: Publication
  • ISBN: 0-9763816-0-5
  • Release Date: 2005
  • Length: 144 pp.
  • Price: $ 40.00 / Each
  • Hard Cover
  • Leather Bound
More than 250 pictures beautifully illustrate the vineyard.
“Don Wallace’s photographs are breathtaking – he has captured the essence of the vineyards. His straightforward yet lyrical text educates and entertains, and is a worthy accompaniment to the stunning visuals. The Wine Grape’s Journey is a rare find, one that gives both knowledge and pleasure.”

– Miljenko “Mike” Grgich
Proprietor & Winemaker, Grgich Hills Cellar
“Wine is made in the vineyard” is a saying common to the wine country – without the highest-quality grapes, even the best winemaker can not make a great wine. It is the job of the grape farmer to develop those grapes. But what exactly does happen in the vineyards to produce those prized grapes?

The Wine Grape’s Journey provides us with the answer from the perspective of both man and the vine. All the events of the vineyard are revealed with a colorful, comprehensive look as they happen. Author and photographer Don Wallace spent two years in the vineyards and with farmers and vineyard workers, observing and recording their every action and the natural life-cycle of the vine.
Table of contents......

October..... 8
A Relic of Past Crops..... 13
Gleaning..... 14
Final Harvest, Port..... 16
January & February..... 18
Pruning..... 22
Bud Wood Harvest..... 27
Trellis System..... 28
Mesoclimate..... 29
The Neighborhood Grange..... 30
Bud Break..... 32
Cover Crops..... 36
April..... 40
Wind Machines and Heaters..... 42
Setting Up the Field..... 46
Bugs..... 48
Family and Friends..... 50
Bud Grafting..... 56
Hybridizing..... 58
Shoot Thinning..... 64
Walking the Field..... 66
Planting Disasters..... 69
May..... 71
Flowering..... 73
Ancient Beginnings of Wine Grape Farming..... 80
Grape Set..... 84
Education & Communication..... 86
Animals..... 88
Grape Leaves — June..... 92
Rocket Day..... 98
Balloons & Festivals — July..... 100
Veraison..... 102
Berry Development..... 108
Crop Thinning..... 110
Diseased Vines..... 115
Timing the Pests..... 117
Wild Grapes..... 118
Brix..... 122
Biodynamics at Grgich Hills..... 124
Harvest..... 127
Women of Harvest..... 128
Robert Young..... 142