The Heartbreak Grape by Marq de Villiers

This is not the first time that we have purchased a paperback version of a hardcopy book that I did not know we already had. We went to Calera to do a tasting and the book was on sale so I had to have it. I read in in 2010 on the way to the UC Davis Small Vineyard Management course. I picked it up again and read it in Virginia. It had more resonance with me this time. It's not only a book about Josh Jensen and his struggle to find land in California for the heartbreak grape, Pinot Noir, I found the book to be an excellent roadmap on what to do if you are a grape grower and winemaker wannabee.
The naming of the Jensen, Selleck, Reed, Mills and Ryan vineyards is explained. I really like Jensen's philosophy: The really nice thing about the best wineries is that they are like the best chefs. They really don't have secrets.... The real talents are happy to share all they know, because they know that next year they'll be creating something new and even better. They're teachers.
This is was Jensen said about Andre Noblet, the maitre de chai of Romanee Conti during the 1970's when Jensen was there as a harvest hand.
In our quest to enter the business, we have been fortunate to meet so many people who have shared a lot of their knowledge with us. I found this book to be a really good read.