Season’s Greetings from the vine. Looking ahead to the New Year, here’s the real juice of the Jan. 7 “Wines and Vines” event at the Upland Public Library.

The Book-Enders Book Club at the UPL will host a Skype talk with author Frances Dinkelspiel, who will discuss her book, Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California.

I learned about this New York Times bestseller from Lorene Broersma, Adult Services Librarian.

“Tangled Vines explores intrigue, murder and mystery surrounding the California’s wine industry,” Broersma said. Something right up my alley.

In 2005, an arson fire consumed a wine warehouse in Vallejo that held valuable collections of rare wines worth more than $250 million. Among the vintage wines destroyed were 175 bottles of Port and Angelica made in 1875 by Frances Dinkelspiel’s greatgreat grandfather, Isaias Hellman, at vineyards formerly owned by Dona Merced and John Rains of Rancho Cucamonga.

The author looks at the history of the California wine industry, examining stories of a past that includes treachery and murder. Guest are invited to the Book-Enders’ meeting on Jan. 7 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to hear Ms. Dinkelspiel and to discuss the book. A limited number of copies of the title are available for checkout upon request at the front desk of the UPL.

For more information, please call Lorene Broersma, at 909 931-4202. UPL is located at 450 N. Euclid Avenue in Upland.

Learn more at francesdinkelspiel.com/books/tangled-vines/synopsis. Gino L. Filippi is a fourth-generation vintner and wine writer for Foothills Reader. He can be contacted at ginoffvine@aol.com