THE LOST VINTAGE by Ann Mah

Note: I am not a paid reviewer, and I have purchased this title to read for my personal enjoyment.

Kate returns from San Francisco to her family’s vineyard roots in Burgundy to join the wine harvest and brush up for an upcoming, very demanding Master of Wines examination. While there, she helps clear a long-neglected cellar and unearths family secrets from WW2: a hidden cache of the family’s most valuable wines and a Great Aunt who shamed the family as a Nazi collaborator. Kate’s search deepens, for missing rare bottles in the wine collection, and for the truth about her family’s WW2 activities, but competing treasure hunters and family shame complicate her efforts. There is much to like here with a writing style that deftly conveys the breezy way in which Kate passes through life, and passionate descriptions of great wines and wine tasting, and of the wine harvest, but I couldn’t help feeling that one too many romantic twists and hidden treasures were layered in.