Just a Tipple: Booze with Literary Flair, Part 2

To ring in the start of 2017, what is better than a book related beverage? (Lots of things probably, but I can only help with the drinks.) If you are less a bookish beer person and more of a wine fancier, this post is for you. I’m highlighting just a few wines that have in one way or another been inspired by literature.

—     —     —

Australian winery Some Young Punks uses book covers from the pulp fiction of the early 20th century as inspiration for its wines. Passion Has Red Lips, a Shiraz-Cabernet blend, borrows the cover of Lauren Beauchamp’s Sin on Wheels.

Or perhaps you prefer more classic literature. In that case, you can pick up a bottle from Quixote Winery. Inspired in part from Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, these Cabertnet Sauvignons, Petite Sirahs, Malbecs, and more all have a touch of whimsy. (And the labels are beautiful.)

For library fans, Ex Libris wines are a good option as well. Ex Libris, or “from the library” specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon. It is good for sipping while staring at dark wooden bookshelves and seeking long forgotten knowledge.

If you want your wine to have more of a direct connection to books, you can always take a look at Serego Alighieri’s wines. The grapes for its wines are grown on the Alighieri estate, which is still owned by the descendants of Dante Alighieri, Italian poet and author of The Divine Comedy.

For the Tolkien lovers among us, Arkenstone wines are another option. Just like the magnificent gem stolen from the dwarves and guarded by Smaug in The Hobbit, these wines are rare. (They only sell a small number of bottles per season, so unless you are very lucky, you may not be able to grab a bottle in time for New Year’s Eve.)

—     —     —

I’m sure that there are other literary themed wines out there, but these are just a few of the ones that I’ve stumbled across. Even if you don’t celebrate the New Year with a sip of wine, I hope that you will raise a glass for all of the great books that have come before and all of the books that you have yet to read.

Happy soon to be end of 2016!