Wine with Books

Hello, weekend! Time to relax – grab your favorite drink (wine!) and take it easy. Or at least try to relax. For a little bit. If you have time. Maybe.

A few days ago, a blog link appeared in my Twitter feed: “Pairing Your Books with Beer” (all credit to Guy Medley’s Dysfunctional Fiction blog, which you can find here: http://guymedleyfiction.blogspot.com/). And, for half a second, I thought, “that’s an interesting idea”. People pair beer with things all the time – my neighborhood is even hosting a “German Beer & Food Pairing” event in a few weeks – but I’d never seen anyone pair beer with books. And then I remembered: I am not a beer drinker – not even close. I don’t appreciate a stout or porter, couldn’t explain the difference between a blond or an IPA, and am not sure if Guinness is a really just a beer or a distant relative of molasses.

But I do enjoy wine! So, here we go: a few (because if I tried to cover books for every variety of wine, well, we’d be here for a super long time) suggestions of what kind of vino might pair well with books you may be reading. I’m using books I’ve actually read, so if you don’t like wine then at least you can enjoy the book recommendations!

Pinot Grigio

By default, Pinot Grigio (or Pinot Gris, depending on where you’re from or how you like to say it) is a light white wine that is very popular, particularly in America. It tends to be on the dry end of the spectrum, but gets some flavoring from other fruits (apples, limes, honeysuckle, etc.). Some wine experts tend not to like this kind because it isn’t “complicated”. But who cares? If you like Pinot Grigio, good for you!

For Pinot Grigio, I think a quick, easy read would be nice, and so I will suggest Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Yes, technically it’s three books in a series, but they are all Young Adult and make for a delightful, quick read. It does skew a little towards fantasy – I mean, there’s a girl floating on the cover, so that should be obvious – so if magic and strange lands and monsters aren’t your thing, find something else. I don’t often enjoy Young Adult, but I did enjoy this.

Image result for miss peregrine book cover

Chardonnay

This, by all accounts, is the most popular white wine in the world. One reason it is so popular is that the grape can grow almost anywhere, and, depending on where it grows, it takes on the local flavors. Grow it in warm places, get tropical flavors; grow it in cooler places, get earthy flavors; this basically means you can find a variety to drink year-round. But – brace yourselves – I’m not a big fan of this Chardonnay hububaloo.

But the most popular wine probably correlates to the most popular genre of book: Romance. [Can you see me shudder to just type that word?] I am not a big fan of typical Romance, either (shocker!), but I have a book recommendation: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton. The first of a series (Cocktail Series – how appropriately relative to the topic of wine!); it’s about a woman with a very loud neighbor, a fondness for baking, and friends who are hilariously inappropriate. Yes, it is a HEA, but it’s also funny, which is what redeemed it for me.

Image result for wallbanger book

Bubbly (Champagne, Prosecco)

Champagne can only come from France. Seriously. The French are, well, a little testy about it. So any wine that is sparkling and bubbly and does not come from France must call itself by another name – like Prosecco for the Italians, or Cava for the Spaniards. There are different kinds of sparkling wine, all dependent on how sweet they are, but this isn’t a wine class. Most sparkling wines are for special occasions or holidays (or mimosas – maybe toss a strawberry in your next mimosa and thank me later), but some people are fancy enough to drink it on a regular basis.

I’m not sure I’m a “fancy” book person, but I have read a number of old classic fiction written by people who just so happen to be French, so let’s go with this one: Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. And yes, it’s a book, not just a sandwich or movie or whatever else you associate with it. I read it the first time in elementary school and thought it was awesome – there are jail breaks, treasure hunts, adventure and more adventure and more adventure . . . oh, and a tiny bit of love story, because that seemed to be required of books written in this century.

The Count of Monte Cristo: Complete

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir can be a hard grape to grow, which makes finding a good bottle of vino pretty tricky. And, contrary to the movie Sideways, you don’t have to be super snooty to drink it. It’s usually pretty light, goes well with everything (or nothing, if you’re looking for a glass to enjoy while sitting and enjoying a book). The French version tends to take on flavors of mushrooms and berries, while the North American varieties tend to have a richer flavor with more fruity flavors. Because it’s a light wine, Pinot Noir is perfect for the book that you can’t put down long enough to eat but need a little liquid courage to read.

I present: 14 by Peter Clines. In 14, a guy moves into an apartment with enough oddities that he knows something is not right, and when he starts to dig he discovers something truly bigger than he can comprehend. It’s a little Lovecraft, a little mystery, a little survival . . . what’s not to love?

Image result for 14 book cover

Malbec

Mablec has become a very popular wine very recently. Personally, I’m a fan. It’s easy to drink, has a lot of big fruit flavors, is easy to drink, and can go well with just about anything. The malbec grapes do not grow very well in France, but it turns out they grow exceptionally well in the climate of Argentina. When the economy forced prices of American and European wines to go up, people were like, “whoa, there’s this affordable wine from Argentina that just so happens to be delicious”, and thus Malbec became a staple pretty much everywhere. Some people refer to it as a poor-man’s Merlot, but the Malbec has more spice – so it’s really more like a rebel’s Merlot.

In that vein, try American Gods by Neil Gaiman. There’s a rebel who’s running from his personal life, and there’s plenty of spice in the different gods and their flavorful personalities. As a bonus, it’s currently in production for a Showtime series, so it’s about to become a staple everywhere. And it’s really well written.

Image result for american gods book cover

Cabernet

The full name is Cabernet Sauvignon, but if you order a “Cab” at dinner then the waiter probably knows what you’re talking about. This is probably the most popular wine in America, thanks largely to the success of California wines in the 1970s (when the California wine beat a French wine in a blind taste test). It’s got full body, can have lots of flavors – anything from chocolate to green peppers to tobacco – and goes great with food. And, since the grapes grow easily in regions of America as well as Europe, you can find a good bottle irregardless of what you want to spend it on. So what kind of books are popular pretty much anywhere and have good, strong stories? Fairy tales. Be honest: you read them as a kid, you’ll read them to your kids, and they’ve been around for centuries. Why? Because they are easily applied to everyone/everywhere and they are enjoyable and fun and teach wonderful life lessons. Do you think the Vikings enjoyed good, strong drink and sat around the fire pit to talk about their economy? No. They told awesome fairy tale stories.

So go and enjoy Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It centers around a village girl who believes herself to be incredibly ordinary, but she will embark (albeit, unwillingly) on a journey to save her home. This book has won all kinds of awards recently, and for good reason: it’s very well written and very enjoyable to read. It’s like a fairy tale for grownups; who doesn’t like that?

Image result for uprooted book cover
So, there you have it! Go forth, drink wine, be merry, and read books! And let me know what wine you enjoy with your books!

Discussion

  1. Jim
  2. Del
  3. Rod
  4. Ian
  5. 1rm
  6. sex
  7. Sex
  8. Guy

Leave a Reply