Terroir

by Sheila Scobba Banning

Suzanne Mathews, resolute maker of a cult pinot noir in a foggy pocket of the Santa Cruz Mountains, is about to harvest the defining vintage of her career when her perfect season is struck by crisis. Still reeling from the demands of her pending divorce, she is called to the bedside of her terminally ill sister in Iowa. Fighting to save her namesake winery while trying to support the snarky sister who doesn’t want her death to be a spectator sport, Suzanne must balance necessity with passion and make the hardest choices of her life as the precious weeks of October slip away. By Dia de los Muertos, Suzanne learns a personal history she never knew, reconnects with the man she left behind, and discovers that people may have just as much sense of place as the wine she loves.

Genres: Fiction

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2013

About the author

Sheila Scobba Banning lives in California with her husband, sons and menagerie of pets. Her award-winning short fiction and personal essays have appeared in New West, The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, NYCMidnight, Rosebud, The Tab, Ephemera, and her own collection Intersections. Her first novel, Terroir, is now available. Sheila creates fascinators and outlandish hats, throws fabulous parties, wears vintage dresses, and laughs until she cries every day. Her superpower is catalysis. Learn more at www.scobba.com.

Reviews

[Carol MacInnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suzanne Mathews and her husband Will, have created the 'Suzanne Mathews Winery' located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Will manages the business side of the vineyard and leave Suzanne to overlook the actual production etc. of the wine itself. But as the years passed, Suzanne is now dealing with her pending divorce from Will and things are beginning to turn nasty. Just as she is preparing to harvest hopefully the best pinot noir yet, she receives a call from Donnie, her sister Janice's son to inform Suzanne that her sister is terminally ill and she's go to Iowa before it's too late. So she drops everything to be with Janice but stays in close contact to the winery by phone re the most critical time for the creation of her best wine ever. While in Iowa, Suzanne reconnects with her old flame that she reluctantly left decades earlier and at the same time learns more abut her seemingly unattached mother and a father she barely remembers since he passed away when she was just a child. But news from the winery and some of Will's decisions have made her anxious and she must return and leave her sister with little time left.

Excellent story!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of "Terroir" by Sheila Scobba Banning through the Goddreads Giveaway Contest. I loved this book.

"Her wine was her life."

Suzanne Mathews had moved to California, Santa Cruz Mountains, to become a winemaker, build her own vineyard and winery. And she made her dream come true. Now, with her business booming, a broken marriage and divorce proceedings in the process to Will, also partner in the business and the launch of her new wine, "Mermaid Tears", her life was definitely in chaos. Now the winery was subject to marital division of assets.

And to complicate matters worse, her sister, Janice, is terminally ill living back home in Iowa. Janice's cancer had returned, and her son, Donnie, was having a hard time dealing with everything...he needed his aunt to come back home. As it was harvest time in the winery, Suzanne had to ensure that this process wouldn't be disrupted. And then she flew home.

Janice was a chain-smoker, lover of the Star Trek series, wears pirate scarfs, love of Halloween, and insisted on a Viking funeral. She was going to die on her own terms.

Mark Jorgenson, living in Iowa, has his own business, a grown daughter and had a relationship with Suzanne before she left for California to pursue her dream of becoming a winemaker. Mark had taken care of his dying mother and now her sister, as he went with them to grief therapy.

Everyone deals with grief differently. This emotional novel had a excellent plot and very strong characters to set the stage. Memories are all we have left.

The following quotes summarizes Suzanne's turmoil.

" I decided today that figuring out how my life became such a mess is not as important as figuring out how to clean it up. And cleaning up the mess may not be as important as getting through it."

Definitely check out this wonderful novel, and you might even learn something about the wine process in the interim.

[Maarja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from the First Reads giveaway.
I tore into it as soon as I received it and I wasnt disappointed. The plot was different and it explored a range of emotions. From anger to fear, sadness to happiness and so many others that come out in the most unexpected places.
The starts of the paragraphs made me excited to dig into the paragragh. They also left me longing for a good glass of wine...
I was left longing for more background information on the characters, I wanted to know more about them, the history and what made them click.
All in all, I was genuinely suprised with this book and would recommend it to my friends, no matter what genre they usually read.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won this book from Goodreads...thank you! By the end of CH. 1, I was in my wine cellar looking for a bottle of pinot! The rich descriptions and believable angst make this a good read. Suzanne Mathews will do just about anything to keep the winery she 'grew' with her own hands from being transformed into something it should not be by her business partner and soon-to-be ex-husband. With a critical harvest beginning, Suzanne learns her sister in Iowa is near death from cancer and Suzanne must decide to which "home" she needs to attend.

[Lore Albright kabrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading Terroir. Outstanding! Read it, and you'll know what I mean when I say I have no idea what to read next. Some books just stay with you for awhile after you finish reading them. Like the finish on the excellent wines described in the book, Terroir's finish is long and silky. I read maybe a hundred books a year, and this one just made my top ten, maybe even top 5, list for this year. It's wonderful!

[Mona Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, enhanced by the creative insertion of wine terminology in each chapter. Because of my French heritage, I was attracted to the book because of its title, "Terroir".

[Robert Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book about wine in the Santa Cruz Mountains almost two years ago at Martin Ranch Winery (our favorite). The authoress was doing a book signing/reading and I thought it fun to buy a signed copy. I put the book aside, then forgot about it. It was a vanity publishing, so I didn't have high expectations. Boy, was I wrong...I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, enjoyed the setting (which is in my backyard) and appreciated the insights into wine science(as a wine enthusiast I liked this science far better than what we encountered in rescuing "The Martian"). I can hardly wait to talk to our Martin Ranch vintners to find out what they know about this author and her book. Open a nice bottle of wine and enjoy the drama.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms Banning artfully draws us into her fine story, seductively as a good wine might have us soon pouring another glass. Once the bottle is empty, you scramble to the cellar for more, only to find it was the last of its kind. The sad annoyance you feel at this point is similar to realizing the last page of her novel is, well, the last page. Complex characters and a rich plot filled with everything a good book needs is right there in Sheila's Terroir. I suggest cuddling up in a comfy chair with a glass of your favorite vino and this novel. Have the bottle nearby because you won't want to move from that spot until both are finished.

[Marie Bernardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read by first time author, and friend, Sheila Scobba Banning. I found the story compelling, honest, and funny. The characters were believable and well-developed. A definite RECOMMEND!