The perfect pairing? Wine and books

In Montalcino, where I live, a bookshop has recently opened. It’s called “Jomo” (an acronym for joy of missing out) – taking a break: a concept very dear to me – and it has a thoughtful and unexpectedly wide selection, ranging from fiction to wellness, with Italian and foreign-language books carefully chosen for visiting travellers. We’re all happy because the town had been without a bookshop for twenty years. Going to Laura’s is like going to a good sommelier or wine merchant who, based on your tastes, knows how to guide you toward new things.

The affinities between books and wine are very real. Both are the fruits of a specific terroir, of skilful pruning, of knowing what to remove and when, of contamination and yeasts before finally sharing the finished product with the world.

If you think about it, collecting books isn’t so different from collecting fine wines. In both cases, they are sensory and intellectual experiences, enjoyable on multiple levels. Words, like wines, refine and improve with the passing of years.

Stephen King wrote: “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

This is certainly true of the right bottle as well. A good book lends itself to multiple readings, revealing new meanings, just as a complex and intriguing wine can offer different flavours and aromas as it opens up.

Suggestion: pairings and readings

We all know that book clubs often have an alcoholic component to help ideas flow. The internet is full of book-and-wine pairings; some even suggest matching serving temperature to the literary genre. Cold for light stories, room temperature for intense reading… and some advise pairing according to country of origin, while historical fiction clearly calls for an older wine, or at least a wine made from old vines.

The phrase “wine is bottled poetry,” so beloved by winery social media managers, is a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson from his book The Silverado Squatters, set (coincidentally) in Napa Valley.

A bottle for reading

A fourth-generation winemaker, Juan Jesús founded Viñátigo in 1990 to identify and recover the native varieties of the Canary Islands.

Listán Negro is a grape that Viñátigo grows in the mid-altitude coastal areas in the northwest of Tenerife. It is an indigenous Canary Islands variety, born from a natural cross between Listán Blanco and Negramoll, introduced five hundred years ago by the Portuguese and Andalusians. A peppery, delightful, juicy red with a marked volcanic and saline character. Perfect for sparking a conversation or accompanying vibrant reading.