Douglas Thornblom

The English Winemaker Douglas Thornblom

The English Winemaker is an entertaining historical novella for anyone who loves a good story along with a glass of good wine. It is a well-told tale of the resurgence in winemaking that occurred in England in the beginning of the 19th century, when life was harder, but also slower and more serene. In the late 18th century, a young man from a small village in southern England came across some wild grapes in his wanderings. James Walker began tending a small patch of the overgrown vineyard that, unbeknownst to him, dated back to Roman times. He began to experiment with making wine from the grapes he picked. After initial failures, he succeeded in producing a drinkable wine, and winemaking soon became his passion. The land on which the formerly wild vineyard sat was bought by a retired English businessman, Edward Hartsdale, who built a modest home on the property. After Hartsdale moved onto the estate, Walker approached Hartsdale with a proposition: if he were allowed to continue cultivating the vineyard on Hartsdale's property, he would share the wines he made with the owner. Thus began a lifelong friendship for Walker and two generations of Hartsdales, as the vineyard grew over the years and Walker's wines became even better, and gained a growing reputation in the region and in London. Step back in time a few centuries to Sussex, England, and enjoy a very entertaining story.