Hopland

HOPLAND: An Epic Tale of Vineyards, Wine, and Love, is a story that takes place close to Hopland, California in Mendocino’s Wine Country near Napa and Sonoma Counties in the mid-sixties. The story is about a fourth generation family that planted the vines, cared for them, fought the frost, rain and droughts to produce the best wine grapes. Molly Anderson who owns the Vineyard falls in love with a New York City real estate developer, who conceals his intention to force her Vineyard into foreclosure, so that residential estate properties can be built among the grape vines in Mendocino.

The book is rich in Northern California wine history and culture and the growing of the grape. The story also takes the reader to San Francisco and New York, and looks at the world of real estate development and well known restaurants that provide an interesting contrast to living on a Vineyard. But the story explores the Vineyard experience. As Molly says, “I’ve spent my whole life here. My dad once told me to let the wind comb my hair, let the sun color my cheeks, and let the rain cleanse my soul, and I will always be beautiful by the light of the moon.”

Gus, Molly’s father, loved the Vineyard and constantly talked to Molly about the richness of the life surrounding the grape. “Corn is corn,” he would say, “But the grape; now you’ve got something, something that glows when you hold it up to the light; something that tastes like the field it comes from, something proud. Our life’s work is growing better-and-better grapes and learning all the tricks of pruning and harvest and working with the weather, so the wineries will pay top dollar.”