KEY POINTS:
If you had to choose between wine or books to take to a desert island,
which would it be?
For me, the books would win out every time. There really is only so much wine one can drink when left alone on an island for who knows how long. This party question always gets me thinking about the right wine to drink with my favourite books, though, and I'll always remember
how quickly a bottle of nice, but not great, burgundy seemed to slide down when I first read The New France by Andrew Jefford.
It's the best book about wine I've ever read because the writing seemed to take me on an armchair journey to France while I was reading it. A glass of wine with the book was a must.
There are also books for which I've felt I needed fortification to get through. A Soldier's Tale by M.K. Joseph is one. Small, well-written but horrific, it definitely needed to be partnered up with a staunch red.
Like the movie, Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal was awful, but fantastically real, for fiction. It also needed a big, bad, red wine
to make it more palatable, whereas Pablo Neruda's Love Poems are incredibly evocative in a much lighter way and I'm sure a low-alcohol German riesling would be the perfect match for them.
If you're not yet sure what your perfect book match is, here are some
suggestions to get you started. And what better way to spend the summer
than doing a little further research from your deckchair.
Wines of the Week - and the books to read with them.
2006 Villa Maria Estate Reserve Pinot Noir, $55
Better known for the white wine it pumps out rather than reds, Marlborough is forging ahead with pinot noir, sometimes at a high
level - as with this outstanding wine.
www.villamaria.co.nz
Read: The Reader by Bernhard Shlink - a dark and disturbing tale told in spare language.
2007 Envoy Gewurztraminer $30
If gewurztraminer isn't the most recognisable white wine around, I don't know what is. Honey, Turkish delight, old-fashioned roses
... you name an intense sweet aroma and it seems to jump out of this soft, smooth white wine.
Read: Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown by Lorna Martin - hugely funny, highly serious true tale of a journalist's year in therapy.
2008 Yealands Estate Riesling $20
Often regarded as the noblest white wine in the world, riesling is under-rated by most wine drinkers because of its sweet aromatic flavours. This fresh riesling is from Marlborough's newest winery, Yealands Estate. And it tastes of fresh green apple and jasmine.
Read: The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger - original, complex and completely enchanting, just like the wine.
- Detours, HoS
