Wine Reads: A Literary Anthology of Wine Writing

“For wine enthusiasts and newcomers alike, a sharp gathering of writing about wine’s multidimensional, occasionally subversive pleasures.” —Kirkus Reviews

In this anthology, Jay McInerney—bestselling novelist, winner of a James Beard MFK Fisher Award for Distinguished Writing, and acclaimed wine columnist for Town & Country, Wall Street Journal, and House and Garden—selects over twenty pieces of memorable fiction and nonfiction about the making, selling, and of course, drinking of fine wine.

Including short stories, novel excerpts, memoir, and narrative nonfiction, Wine Reads features big names in the trade and literary heavyweights alike. We follow Kermit Lynch to the Northern Rhône in a chapter from his classic Adventures on the Wine Route. In an excerpt from Between Meals, long-time New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling raises feeding and imbibing on a budget in Paris into something of an art form—and discovers a very good rosé along the way. Michael Dibdin’s fictional Venetian detective Aurelio Zen gets a lesson in Barolo, Barbaresco, and Brunello vintages from an eccentric celebrity. In real life, and over half a century ago, Jewish-Czech writer and gourmet Joseph Wechsberg visits the medieval Château d’Yquem to sample different years of the “roi des vins” alongside a French connoisseur who had his first taste of wine at age four.

Also showcasing an iconic scene from Rex Pickett’s Sideways and work by Jancis Robinson, Benjamin Wallace, and McInerney himself, this is an essential volume for any disciple of Bacchus.

“There are plenty of bright notes of flavor in this anthology to make it worthy reading, preferably with a glass in hand.” —Publishers Weekly