An Irish family follows their dream of buying an old chateu and vineyard in France in the hopes of making their livlihood as vintners. They soon discover that running a vineyard is anything but romantic -- days are grueling at best, and downright dangerous at worst (I had no idea how deadly it was to run a vineyard!)

This book held a lot of promise, but instead of a natural story arc, it ended up reading like a series of (entirely too detailed) diary entries. My eyes were definitely glazing over. Perhaps this book would have been better had I been enjoying a glass of artisanal French wine while reading!

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. ( )

If you have ever considered chucking it all in and buying a vineyard then I would strongly recommend this book.

Feely, her husband and family did just that, giving up tow well paid jobs in London, and buying a small vineyard in the Bordeaux region. The property was a bit of a wreck, and they had to go from no knowledge and experience of wine making to experts very rapidly. Along the way, Sean suffers a serious injury on his arm, and a little while after loses the top part of one of his fingers. The route to success is tough, not helped by her parents, who are not that supportive.

They almost give it all up, partly because the stress of running the vineyard and raising a family is almost too much. After some strong soul searching they get back on track. They intergrate themselves in the local community, and Caro becomes a respected wine expert in her own right.

Really enjoyed it, but was not always keen on the writing style, hence four stars.

Others that i would recommend are:

[b:A Vineyard in the Dordogne: How an English Family Made Their Dream of Wine and Sunshine Come True|625264|A Vineyard in the Dordogne How an English Family Made Their Dream of Wine and Sunshine Come True|Jeremy Josephs|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353399765s/625264.jpg|611621]

[b:Virgile's Vineyard: A Year in the Languedoc Wine Country|515506|Virgile's Vineyard A Year in the Languedoc Wine Country|Patrick Moon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348308259s/515506.jpg|503460]

[b:The Ripening Sun|3173901|The Ripening Sun|Patricia Atkinson|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359619961s/3173901.jpg|1750317] ( )

A young couple with two young children decide to invest all their savings to buy a vineyard in France. Grape Expectations by Caro Feely is the story of the blood, gut and tears that they invest in their organic, biodynamic winery.

“We couldn’t afford new things, the girls had hand-me-down clothes, as did I, Sean’s gear was more hole than cloth, but we were living and feeling more deeply than ever before. . . . We were taking a risk but we were living. This was not the safe option but it was our option. It was more than a job. It was our lives. Yes, there were no weekends off but there was also fulfillment that you could not put a price on. Not only that, we were living our philosophy, contributing to what we believed in through our organic practices.”