I’ll be honest. It took me some time getting used to this understated novel by Eliza Lentzski. But just like the wine that Sour Grapes is about, the book had to mature a bit in my experience. This metaphor is a bit far-fetched, but accurate nonetheless 😂.

In Sour Grapes, June St. Clare is on her way to her newfound future as the new owner of the Lark Estates vineyard in Napa Valley. She wants to start a new life after a tragedy befalls her. But when June arrives at her new destination, it turns out that she has absolutely no idea what she’s getting herself into. For starters, she knows absolutely nothing about wine, let alone winemaking 😳. Rolando Santiago, her head winemaker, helps her learning the trade.

June is determined to know all about winemaking. Rolando wants to help June with this. Therefore, Rolando burdens his daughter Lucia, and assistant winemaker, with this. Reluctantly, Lucia teaches her how the winemaker’s trade is practiced. Lucia is very passionate about the profession and takes working on the vineyard very seriously.

In this story the trope ‘enemies to lovers’ really fits. Although June is not at all resentful of Lucia, Lucia continues to be petulant. I felt so sorry for June.

Meanwhile, June, and I as a reader too, learns everything about how a vineyard works. How does the process work from grape to wine? I used to be a red wine lover, so I really enjoyed reading this. But also, how these two extreme opposites slowly come together.

I also found it special that Eliza Lentzski gives you some history about Napa Valley and about the exploitation of cheap powers. Unfortunately, still on topic.