Eight Hundred Grapes

The importance and yet personal cost of pursuing one’s passion in Eight Hundred Grapes is underlined by several character development arcs, namely Dan and Jen’s. For Dan, following his passion—that is, becoming a winemaker—is something on which he could never compromise. When he explains to Georgia the real way that their vineyard, The Last Straw, earned its name, he relates how he was given an ultimatum by his then-fiancée. His choice was either to keep his tenure-track position at the university and marry her or keep pursuing wine and lose her: “She told me she wasn’t going to sit and watch me live my dreams in some small town when she could be in London, Paris. She said if I insisted on making wine in a small California town, that was the last straw” (83). His decision to choose the latter lays the foundation for this theme.

While Dan’s career gamble proved fruitful, there is another significant personal cost to his dedication: his devotion to his wife, Jen. As Bobby points out when Dan is in the hospital after his second heart attack, “Dad has never taken it easy. Ever” (240). He is fully committed to the vineyard and optimizing the grapes’ growth, from waking in the middle of the night, at 2 o’clock in the morning, during the harvest season to keeping a meticulous spreadsheet on every vine, its origin, its habits, and so on.