View From The Vineyard

Author and entomologist Clifford P. Ohmart brings reason and clarity to the politically loaded and amorphously defined popular world of sustainable viticulture with this unique and comprehensive examination of the subject. View from the Vineyard does much more than explain what "sustainable" means, its practical importance to the wine industry, and the costs of agribusiness as usual. It provides the farmer with a realistic and achievable path to a sustainable vineyard by describing the challenges of practicing sustainable winegrowing, where integrated pest management fits in, how organic and sustainable farming related, a holistic vision for the farm, how to identify and define your farm's resources, methods for developing sustainable goals, creating a plan to achieve your holistic vision, ecosystem management, and understanding the vineyard as habitat. The book concludes with a self-assessment guide in which growers can easily track their progress through these transitional periods.

A memoir by the highly successful founder of Sokol Blosser Winery, one of the first wineries in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and the first in the area to be run by a woman. Renowned for her progressive and pioneering approach to farming, running a business, and raising a family, the author tells a touching story through the lens of food and wine and offers iconic recipes that evoke special memories from each phase of her life among the vines.

Steve Heimoff takes readers on an intimate and enlightening tour of one of California’s most diverse and accomplished wine areas as he travels along the Russian River and talks with growers and vintners from the Cabernet country of the Alexander Valley to the Pinot Noir producers of the Sonoma coast. This first comprehensive look at the natural history and winemaking practices of the region by one of America’s most respected wine critics brings the Russian into the exalted company of the great wine rivers of the world—the Loire, the Rhône, the Rhine, the Mosel, and the Douro. Part wine guidebook, part history and geology, and part travelogue of the author's adventures in wine country, A Wine Journey along the Russian River is essential reading for wine lovers—both those fortunate enough to be familiar with the region and those who have never been there. Heimoff guides readers along the length of the scenic river, from its warm, northern border with Mendocino out to foggy Jenner. He discusses the history and progress of Alexander Valley Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon, Russian River Valley and Sonoma coast Pinot Noir, Sonoma County's Rhône-oriented wines, old-style field blends, and other interesting wines. In the process, he introduces readers to many of the growers and vintners who have made Sonoma County famous: Dick Arrowood, the Rochiolis, the Seghesios, Tom Jordon, Bob Cabral of Williams Selyem, Jess Jackson of Kendall-Jackson, Merry Edwards, and many others. Describing how the river's formation and evolution, both products of the planet's fiery tectonic past, as well as the region's complex climate, have created the potential for unparalleled viticultural enclaves, and recounting how a variety of people realized that potential, Heimoff provides a fascinating explanation of why the Russian River's reputation as a premium winegrowing region continues to grow.

"In the winter of 1982, long before she became the watercolor artist and author we know today, Susan Branch, 34-years-old and heartbroken from the sudden and unexpected end of her marriage in California, "ran away from home" to the Island of Martha's Vineyard hoping to gain perspective. It was meant to be temporary, a three-month time-out from the daily grind of being broken up and miserable, but within days of her arrival, alone and not quite in her right mind, Susan "accidentally" bought a tiny one-bedroom cottage in the woods - which is how she discovered she was moving 3,000 miles away from everyone and everything she had known and loved. Funny, observant, touching, and addictive (you are not going to want this book to end), based on the diaries she has kept all her life, Susan Branch relates her inspirational tale of lost love and self discovery, her search for roots, purpose, and destiny with laugh-out-loud honesty. A road map for overcoming loss, following your heart, and making dreams come true, charmingly hand-lettered and watercolored in Susan's inimitable style, there are diary excerpts, recipes, and hundreds of photographs."--Provided by Amazon.com.

In April of 1948, Boston University history professor Evan Sinclair receives a telegram notifying him that his father, Professor Clive Robert Sinclair, has been reported missing from his post at the Palestine Archaeological Museum. Fearing for his fathers well-being, Evan and Clives longtime friend, Mervin Smythe, travel to Palestine on the eve of the first Arab-Israeli War. Evan finds his father and far morea lost love, a son he never knew he had, and covert elements of the Third Reich positioned in Palestine before the end of World War II. Having infiltrated both Arab and Jewish populations, the Nazis seek to use counter-intelligence and terror to stoke the fires of hatred and fear between Arabs and Jews. The goal is to drive the British from Palestine and to seize Jerusalem as the capital of a reborn Third Reich with the legendary Knights Templar treasure as plunder and the Temple Mount as their fortress. To defeat them, Evan finds that he must risk everything. Filled with real people from the pages of history as well as fictional characters, Foxes in the Vineyard follows Evan as he battles not only for his ideals, but his life.

At the age of 47, when he a successful publishing executive and living with his wife and four children in an affluent Chicago suburb, John Shafer made the surprise announcement that he had purchased a vineyard in the Napa Valley. In 1973, he moved his family to California and, with no knowledge of winemaking, began the journey that would lead him, thirty years later, to own and operate what distinguished wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. called “one of the world’s greatest wineries.” This book, narrated by Shafer’s son Doug, is a personal account of how his father turned his midlife dream into a remarkable success story. Set against the backdrop of Napa Valley’s transformation from a rural backwater in the 1970s through its emergence today as one of the top wine regions in the world, the book begins with the winery’s shaky start and takes the reader through the father and son’s ongoing battles against killer bugs, cellar disasters, local politics, changing consumer tastes, and the volatility of nature itself. Doug Shafer tells the story of his own education, as well as Shafer Vineyards’ innovative efforts to be environmentally sustainable, its role in spearheading the designation of a Stags Leap American Viticultural Area, and how the wine industry has changed in the contemporary era of custom-crushing and hobbyist winery investors.

The first edition of Understanding Vineyard Soils has been praised for its comprehensive coverage of soil topics relevant to viticulture. However, the industry is dynamic--new developments are occurring, especially with respect to measuring soil variability, managing soil water, possible effects of climate change, rootstock breeding and selection, monitoring sustainability, and improving grape quality and the "typicity" of wines. All this is embodied in an increased focus on the terroir or "sense of place" of vineyard sites, with greater emphasis being placed on wine quality relative to quantity in an increasingly competitive world market. The promotion of organic and biodynamic practices has raised a general awareness of "soil health", which is often associated with a soil's biology, but which to be properly assessed must be focused on a soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. This edition of White's influential book presents the latest updates on these and other developments in soil management in vineyards. With a minimum of scientific jargon, Understanding Vineyard Soils explains the interaction between soils on a variety of parent materials around the world and grapevine growth and wine typicity. The essential chemical and physical processes involving nutrients, water, oxygen and carbon dioxide, moderated by the activities of soil organisms, are discussed. Methods are proposed for alleviating adverse conditions such as soil acidity, sodicity, compaction, poor drainage, and salinity. The pros and cons of organic viticulture are debated, as are the possible effects of climate change. The author explains how sustainable wine production requires winegrowers to take care of the soil and minimize their impact on the environment. This book is a practical guide for winegrowers and the lay reader who is seeking general information about soils, but who may also wish to pursue in more depth the influence of different soil types on vine performance and wine character.

The Alexander Technique (AT) is a remarkably simple but powerful method for learning to skillfully control how your brain and body interact, allowing you to better coordinate your movements while increasing the accuracy of your mind's thoughts and perceptions. Now, in How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live, leading Alexander Technique master teacher Missy Vineyard sheds a completely fresh light on this revolutionary method and, in the process, offers path-breaking insight into the mind-body connection. Vineyard thoroughly explains and teaches the central skills of the AT through simple self-experiments, and she offers engaging stories of students in their lessons to show its effective application across a range of disciplines, including the performing arts, athletics, health, psychology, and education. How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live introduces us to a world within ourselves that we know surprisingly little about--and thereby helps us to understand why we often cannot do what we should be able to do, why we harm ourselves with chronic tension and anxiety, and why our thoughts often seem beyond our control. Vineyard is also the first AT teacher to draw on cutting-edge research in neuroscience and to synthesize those findings with AT theories and techniques. She fully illuminates the benefits to be reaped by mastery of the Alexander Technique, which include: Release from acute or chronic physical pain Enhanced mental attention and focus Reduced anxiety Improved balance and coordination Relief from tension and stress Increased ease and efficiency performing precise movement skills

As the ferry leaves Woods Hole and Martha's Vineyard slowly rises on the horizon, something inside you changes. The air is cleaner, the sky seems more blue and the water clearer. Then you realize it is not the water or the air or the sky that change, but that something inside you changes as you leave the mainland and draw closer to the Island. Martha's Vineyard may be just a few miles off the coast of Cape Cod, but to those who love the Island, she is world away. The Wampanoag name for the Vineyard, Noepe means Island in the Streams and comes close to capturing the essence of Martha's Vineyard. To describe Martha's Vineyard historically and geographically is easy. It was formed nearly 12,000 years ago, was first settled by the Wampanoag Indians and was discovered in 1602 by English mariner Bartholomew Gosnold. It is 100 square miles and consists of six distinct towns. But to capture the spirit of the Island is a much greater challenge. Acclaimed artists Billy Morrow Jackson, a Vineyard resident and visitor for over fifty years, and his wife, Siti Maria Jackson, provide an artist's view of this unique Island in the Streams. On this Island includes original paintings, including classic works depicting the Gay Head Cliffs and Menemsha to the down Island towns of Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. The artists focus not only on the land that is Martha's Vineyard, but they also capture the life and spirit of the people of the Island. On this Island: An Artist's View of Martha's Vineyard offers a rare view of the Island captured by two artists who know and appreciate all that the Island is.