The Vineyard by Louisa Hargrave

This is the 40th anniversary of wine on Long Island. So it stands to reason that it is a very good year to read The Vineyard written by Louisa Hargrave. My husband purchased this book many years ago because it is subtitled The Pleasures and Perils of Creating an American Family Winery and since that was what we would be undertaking, he thought it would be instructive. After he read the book, he told me not to read it. Anytime your spouse tells you not to do something, it is a challenge to do it. So, I read the book maybe 5 years ago and felt dismayed at the ending which overshadowed everything else in the book. Well, a lot can happen in 5 years so I read the book again a few days ago. Any reading of a book can be colored by one's experience, intervening education, and just the timing. This time, I found the book to be very relevant to what we are trying to do, although we will not be pioneers in our region of Southeastern Connecticut. When Louisa wrote about farming or making wine, I now understood what it was about.
This book is Louisa's personal chronicle of starting a vineyard of Vitis vinifera grapes in 1973 and learning how to make wine through reading and experimenting. Louisa and her (then) husband Alex showed that European grape varieties can grow on Long Island and make wines that could taste like they were from Bordeaux! This revelation was the draw for others to follow. This year marks the 40th Anniversary and it is a good year to read this book to learn how it all began. I also found this link A Conversation with Louisa Hargrave written by JOSÉ MORENO-LACALLE, MA, DWS, which is a very good update on what Louisa Hargrave is doing now and her thoughts on Long Island wines and wineries.