Sparkling Harvest: The Seasons of the Vine [Hardcover]

Jack Davies (Author), James Alinder (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

While on his honeymoon in 1880, Robert Louis Stevenson traveled to the Napa Valley and chanced upon the Schramsberg Vineyards, where he tasted California wines. Here in glorious images and evocative text--including Stevenson's essay, "Napa Wines"--is Schramsberg's remarkable story and its role in the ongoing evolution of California wine. 110 illustrations, 40 in full color.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams; First Edition edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810912473
• ISBN-13: 978-0810912472
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,506,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gorgeously illustrated story of Schramsberg Vineyards., November 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Alexandria, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sparkling Harvest: The Seasons of the Vine (Hardcover)

This coffee-table book actually makes great reading! It has splendid color and duotone pictures of the winery, the caves, the vineyards and the surrounding Napa Valley landscape in all four seasons of the year. In addition to telling how they transformed a mountain-side wilderness back into the Napa Valley's leading producer of fine champagnes (President Nixon took several cases of Schramsberg champagne to China to toast Chou en Lai), the Davies have included excerpts from Robert Louis Stevenson's "Silverado Squatters" describing his visit in its heyday 100 years earlier, and the story of how Jacob Schram, an imigrant German barber, was able to save enough to buy, clear and plant his mountain vineyard and dig the caves that have now been expanded to house more than 2,000,000 bottles fermenting today to become tomorrow's finest champagnes. The chapter with Jamie's collection of special recipes and menus for fine dining make this more than just a book for lovers of fine wine and great photographs!

5.0 out of 5 stars Sparkling Harvest - A sparkling book, January 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sparkling Harvest: The Seasons of the Vine (Hardcover)

This autobiographical and historical look at Schramsberg and its important role as the leader in American Sparkling Wine. It is written by the owners, Jack and Jamie Davies, in a down to earth, easy to undertstand style. Learn about their vision and pioneering determination to do something that had yet to be done in America, to produce Sparkling wine made the traditional way as done in Champagne, France. The book is filled with wonderful stories, delicious recipes and gorgeous photgraphy. Jim Alinder, demonstrates his Ansel Adams prowess with the camera. This tasteful picture book covers all seasons and aspects of the making of great Sparkling wine in both color and black and white photography.

This book is a must have for any coffee table or wine enthusiast.