Coffee Table Book of: Vineyards (Hardcover)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: Vineyards is a large format book of vineyards, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: rows of vines on gentle hills, steep terraces and high plateaus, grapes ripening on the vine, the harvest and the crush, cool barrel cellars and chalk caves, and wine in the glass.

The year turns through the vineyard: bare pruned vines in snow, fog and hoar frost, sheep grazing between the rows, sap weeping from cut canes and the first woolly buds breaking, mustard flowers and red poppies among the young vines, tiny green vine flowers, long green summer days, and hillsides of red and gold leaf after the harvest.

The grapes are seen close on the vine: pinot noir in small tight bunches, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc, riesling on a steep slope of slate, grenache on an old free standing bush vine, a bunch half green and half purple as it ripens, and grapes frozen hard for ice wine.

The places stand empty at dawn, noon and dusk, in mist, rain and storm: terraces above a wide river, vines among old olive trees, on black volcanic ash and at the edge of the sea, a lake shore at dawn, a stone hut in morning mist and under a rising moon, and the end of a row where a rose bush blooms.

The harvest and the cellar follow: crates and baskets of grapes, a picking knife, an old stone treading trough and a wooden basket press, a vat with its cap of skins, grapes drying on reed mats, great clay jars set in the earth, an oak barrel toasting over a small fire, barrels resting in long vaulted cellars, sparkling wine turning in its rack, and glasses of red, white, rose and sparkling wine.

Short notes run through the book, on how vines are grown and pruned through the year, how grapes become wine, and the cellars, barrels and glasses that keep and serve it: a glass is filled only about a third of the way, leaving room to swirl the wine and catch its scent, some vines bear fruit for well over a hundred years, their trunks growing gnarled and thick, roses were planted at the ends of rows as a warning, since they show mildew before the vines do, and bottles are stored lying down so the cork stays moist and tight and keeps the air out.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a hardcover with the art printed on the case.