Your Wine Reading List: Books We Love about Wine

Your Wine Reading List: Books We Love about Wine 900 531 Erinne Magee

Whether you frequent the nearest library, wander the stacks of a local bookstore or get your books delivered directly to your mailbox, one thing is for sure: cracking open a new-to-you cover and inhaling the scent of the freshly inked or antiqued pages is a heavenly experience.

If you’re a wine lover, perhaps this activity is paired with a glass of your favorite red. You know the famous quote about having your cake and eating it, too? This article is intended for those who want to drink their wine and read about it, too.

The books reviewed below are for those who simply want to be entertained while reading on the subject wine. Stay tuned for a later article where we will reveal books that will help you delve deeper into the topic from a learning perspective.

For the memoir lover

The Wine Lover’s Daughter, by Anne Fadiman

The writing is sophisticated in tone, reading almost like a novel, and the story itself is a down-to-earth joy to read. The author’s Dad, the book’s protagonist, is no stranger to the world of literature and creativity himself. He was a well-known literary critic and radio host who ended each day by uncorking a bottle of wine. The author does not share her father’s love of wine, but indeed marvels at his appreciation and desire for it. Wine plays a beautiful part of a portrait of a life.

For the environmentally conscious 

Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The slow loss of foods we love, by Simran Sethi

Full of factual information relayed in an easy-to-follow, conversational tone, this book will both open your eyes to what’s at stake for the foods (and beverages) we love and delight your senses with stunning descriptions. Simran Sethi travels the globe in pursuit of answers to big questions, like why our intake of food only comes from 30 different species, and what does this mean for the future of wine, chocolate, bread, and coffee? If you want to dig into the topics of sustainability and social change, the author does this in a way that will keep you hooked from the beginning.

For the coffee table 

Living With Wine, by Samantha Nestor

At one point or another, we’ve all dreamed of having a wine cellar or some sort of space to display a collection of bottles and carefully crafted labels. This book is a design lover’s dream, touching upon architecture and filled with creativity. The spaces showcased certainly lean toward luxury, and the thick pages of the actual book itself only reinforce the all-around elegance. Thirty different wine cellars are included, highlighting cities across the U.S. and even taking a peek at the space where Ryan Seacrest stores his collection. The book doesn’t just consist of photographs, but also covers the questions of why the owners collect what they do and how they dreamed up ther designs.

For the wine historian

Trinchero: Family, Wine and the American Dream

Chances are, when you first started drinking wine, it was probably Sutter Home and most likely White Zinfandel. The family behind this 70-year legacy is the Trincheros, who came to the U.S. as immigrants all of those decades ago. Finding their way to Napa, the family scraped together just enough money to buy the abandoned Sutter Home winery. This biography beautifully articulates the history of the close-knit Trincheros and their winemaking endeavors over the years. The addition of lovely photos makes this a coffee table staple as well.

For the animal lover

Wine Cats, by Craig McGill & Susan Elliott

Not that wine and cats necessarily go hand-in-hand, but the felines between these pages will warm your heart. You will meet the furry mascots of 90 different wineries around the globe. Not only does the book contain photographs you’ll want to flip through as you have a few quiet moments each day, but short stories from various wine writers to really tie together our two weaknesses for cute cats and delicious wine. Note: for the canine fans, there is a sister title called Wine Dogs.

For the fiction fan

The Lost Vintage, by Ann Mah

Kate travels to Burgundy in hopes of becoming inspired by her family’s old vineyard. In fact, she needs to seriously brush up on her wine knowledge if she’s going to pass her “Master of Wine” test, a feat not many accomplish. But like any great story, there are distractions along the way: a hidden room in the deepest parts of the cellar, a diary from WWII and six missing bottles in an otherwise impressive collection. The book delights the wine lover with mystery, romance, history and family drama.

Erinne is a Maine-based writer whose work also appears in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Wine Enthusiast, Budget Travel, Playboy, New York Magazine and Teen Vogue. For more: www.erinnemagee.com 

 

 

 

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