Vinařský deník – Jahn Daniel (2020)

The Winemaker's Diary is Daniel Jahn's second literary work following his debut novel Naivní sezóna (Dauphin 2017). The new prose, in the form of diary entries, maps the winemaking activities over the course of a year, including grape growing and wine production. The text is presented in a light style reminiscent of 'Betty MacDonald', illustrating both how things should be done and how they should not, detailing everything that can go wrong in this work, which indeed happens. However, those interested in winemaking issues or hobby winemakers will find a wealth of relevant information here. This basic framework of the book is supplemented by other, 'more serious' themes, snippets from a sort of family chronicle, primarily the eternal struggle with his daughter and her puberty, spicy dialogues often revolving around survival, revealing that beneath the lid of a peaceful winemaking life, not one drama unfolds. Another theme for Jahn is his own midlife crisis and the search for further meaning in life 'at a time when the magic stops happening'. The author overcomes all these inner doubts with a perspective, humor, irony, and self-irony characteristic of him.