Vineyard Confessions: Tales of Menopause, Love and Natural Wine

by Caro Feely

This is a retitled and revised edition of the book previously published as 'Glass Half Full'.

How do you balance a growing business and family life? Is it possible to have it all?

‘Hand harvesting was different to machine harvesting. We started at dawn and proceeded slowly across the vineyards. It was better for us and the grapes, the pace was peaceful and joyful. It gave us time to share confidences and confessions.’

But this rose-tinted glimpse of French vineyard life is only part of the story. The rollercoaster ride of managing a growing business and navigating menopause is as challenging as making natural wine in harmony with the environment.

Join Caro on her search for balance in life and wine. Does yoga hold the secret? Will she make it through this growth phase with family, organic farm, and sanity intact?

Reviews

‘A love story poured beautifully.’ Robyn O’Brien, bestselling author

'Caro Feely is a force of nature! Caro draws the reader into her world with its all of its challenges, triumphs and heartaches. Required reading for winelovers everywhere.' Mike Veseth, The Wine Economist

‘Honest and touching. Caro Feely gives us the real thing, not only living the dream of making great wine in France but the work required while raising a family and holding a marriage together… and why we need to heal our soil and change the way we farm.’ Martin Walker, bestselling author of Bruno, Chief of Police Series

‘A brave and compelling tale’ Alice Feiring, author and journalist

Key themes in this Juggling marriage, motherhood, menopause, and entrepreneurshipThe challenges of managing a growing businessThe joys of living your dreamWhy organic matters and what is organic wine, biodynamic wine and natural wine

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2023

About the author

Caro Feely is a published author, organic farmer, and yoga teacher. She is an engaging speaker and experienced virtual event facilitator.

Her first four books Grape Expectations, Saving our Skins, Vineyard Confessions (originally titled Glass Half Full), and Wine: the Essential Guide, were published by Summersdale. Find out the latest news on Caro’s books due out this year at Caro Feely Author Website .

Caro and her husband Sean run an organic farm and vineyard in South West France where you can stay in beautiful ecological accommodation and attend wine and yoga classes Chateau Feely . Caro also runs walking tours, wine tours and a certified wine school FrenchWine Adventures .

Caro is passionate about the environment, family dynamics, organic farming, wine, and in more recent years, yoga. These threads, and climate change, feature strongly in her current work.

There are two books next up on Caro’s publication roster, ‘Cultivating Change’, a standalone that can also be considered the 4th in the Vineyard series and ‘Saving Sophia’, a standalone book that can also be considered a prequel to ‘Grape Expectations’.

Caro is a registered Yoga Alliance yoga teacher, a WSET* wine educator and a professional with many years of workshop, presentation, training, and management experience with multinational companies including IBM and Accenture. She has a Master’s degree in economics (cum laude); and a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in commerce and economics.

Visit Caro Feely Author Website for more on how to invite her to your book club meeting or another event.

Reviews

[Julie Haigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful series of memoirs.

This is the third book in Caro Feely's series of memoirs about moving to a new life in France. I have loved all of them.

After a rare lovely time away for their anniversary, Caro and Séan are back home, and back to reality. And back to friction. She doesn't sugarcoat. This wasn't just a move to France and Happy Ever After scenario. It was hard. And hard on their relationship. She's very honest about their risks, problems, and the toll all the hard work took on them.

It reads very well, and very quickly-I finished it in just a couple of days. There are lots of happenings to keep your interest. It's unpredictable, and there's so much variety in this book: Moving abroad, winemaking, tours etc, accommodating guests, renovation to make said accommodation. Ups and downs, family matters, medical issues etc.

A wonderful series of memoirs.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really lovely book. I learned a lot, including the latin word for ortie which is the bane of my existence in our garden. What the Feelys do is admirable, I do not think I would have an ounce of their energy! Santé!