Summersdale

Synopsis

‘Delicious.’ I licked my lips. The wine filled me with joy. A picture of a vineyard drenched in sunlight formed in my mind. Sean drew me rudely back to the lounge of our semi-d.

'How can they be in liquidation if they make wine this good?’

When Caro and Sean find the perfect ten-hectare vineyard in Saussignac, it seems their dreams of becoming wine-makers in the south of France are about to come true. But they arrive in France with their young family (a toddler and a newborn) to be faced with a dilapidated eighteenth-century farmhouse and an enterprise that may never, ever make them a living.

Undeterred by mouse infestations, a leaking roof, treacherous hordes of insects, visits from the local farm ‘police’ and a nasty accident with an agricultural trimmer, Caro and Sean set about transforming their ‘beyond eccentric’ winery into a successful business as they embark on the biggest adventure of their lives – learning to make wine from the roots up.

'In this beautifully written tale of passion, caution, guts, Caro Feely takes us on her heartfelt journey as she and her husband breathe life into an old Bergerac winery, while she and her husband Sean resuscitate their own.'

Alice Feiring, Author of Naked Wine: Letting Grapes Do What Comes Naturally and The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization

'A must read for anyone who's dreamed of owning their own vineyard, at times gritty, at times joyful, Grape Expectations is an inspiring story of how one couple changed their lives.'

Jamie Ivey, Author of Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog