Sam Champion is a military man through and through. A pilot in the United States Coast Guard, his dedication and skills serve to save lives. However, his wife is not thrilled about the perils of his chosen career. With another child on the way, she convinces him to hang up his uniform in exchange for a safer occupation. They move to the northwest coast – to her namesake family vineyard situated in the hills of California’s Humboldt County. Although growing grapes in Sherry’s Vineyard is an alien concept to Sam, her father becomes his mainstay in learning everything about the wine industry. However, his mentoring comes to an abrupt halt when tragedy strikes. Lack of evidence that supports their suspicion linking a local marijuana kingpin to the shooting of her father weighs heavily on them. As they struggle to accept her father’s loss, the vineyard itself becomes a pawn in a game that may well end badly.

Professor William Lonsdale and climatologist Neil Garret are hot on the trail of a mystery surrounding a monk’s predictions from the year 1010. Old documents, recently discovered at Fleury Abbey in France, point to a potential disaster beginning in 2020. In the meantime, world-wide seismology sensors are picking up unusual tremors in the Arctic’s Pechengsky District. The Russians are telling everyone the quakes are the result of mining operations. However, a young woman in pursuit of her doctorate degree in earth sciences isn’t satisfied with their answer. She meets and seeks help from Neil Garrett and his partner. It isn’t long before they discover that events in the Russian Arctic and the prognostications of the monk are closely linked. Ultimately, five unlikely acquaintances team up and bring their unique understanding of science, history, and religion to combat the forces of nature. Will their efforts prove too late to stop the foretold beginning of the end?

Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo were pioneers in the Texas wine industry. They founded Messina Hof which reflected their union of love as well as the origins of their heritages from Messina, Sicily and Hof, Germany. This book shares their amazing Texas wine journey, reveals their marketing strategies and the elements that have made Messina Hof so successful. It provides insights into their business development and how they were successful in keeping their love story so vibrant. This is the perfect book for those in a family business. There are many lessons learned and shared. This book is inspirational and it traces a history of Texas from its inception as a Pet Rock Industry to its modern day world class status.

Making the dream a reality… For many people, owning and running a winery is a dream job. According to Wine Business Monthly, the number of wineries in the U.S. has jumped 26% in less than three years. To carry out this dream, one must understand that wine making involves both science and art. Starting a winery is just like starting any other business and requires planning and a deep understanding of the industry. In The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Starting and Running a Winery, readers will learn: •How to put together a business plan •Different varieties of grapes and wines •How to lay out a floor plan and what equipment is needed •How to promote wines

Acclaimed importer and wine guru Terry Theise, long known for his top-notch portfolio and his illustrious writing, now offers this opinionated, idiosyncratic, and beautifully written testament to wine. What constitutes beauty in wine, and how do we appreciate it? What role does wine play in a soulful, sensual life? Can wines of place survive in a world of globalized styles and 100-point scoring systems? In his highly approachable style, Theise describes how wine can be a portal to aesthetic, emotional, even mystical experience—and he frankly asserts that these experiences are most likely to be inspired by wines from artisan producers.

Free text poem -Man may attempt to travel and conquer the galaxy, but we only have one Earth. Our home is roughly four and half billion years old. Will it be sustained for another four and a half billion years?

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.

Ten years after the publication of the highly acclaimed, award-winning Côte D'Or: A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy, the "Bible of Burgundy," Clive Coates now offers this thoroughly revised and updated sequel. This long-awaited work details all the major vintages from 2006 back to 1959 and includes thousands of recent tasting notes of the top wines. All-new chapters on Chablis and Côte Chalonnaise replace the previous volume's domaine profiles. Coates, a Master of Wine who has spent much of the last thirty years in Burgundy, considers it to be the most exciting, complex, and intractable wine region in the world, and the one most likely to yield fine wines of elegance and finesse. This book is an indispensable guide for amateur and professional alike by one of the world's leading wine experts, writing with his habitual expertise, lucidity, and unequaled firsthand knowledge.