national wine and cheese day

Wine, Cheese & Books, Please

Since July 25 is National Wine and Cheese Day, I thought I’d make some reading and pairing suggestions. Who likes perusing their favorite genre or author with a nice red? Try reading on the patio with a chilled white? Here’s a list of some great pairings to get you started. If you have suggestions, we’d love to hear about some of your favorites, too. To go with the wine theme, may I suggest a fun, fictional story set in California wine country with a hint of romance. Try Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave with brie and sauvignon blanc. Since brie is so creamy, I suggest a crusty baguette from Publix. If you like history, drama, intensity and culture, read The House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler with a nice Rosso di Montalcino and some asiago cheese. The Mondavis have Italian roots and you can’t go wrong with Sangiovese grapes. Whether you’re laying on the beach or traveling vicariously from your armchair to some exotic places in your travel guide, try Mary Alice Monroe’s Low Country Summer Series or Fodor’s guide to Thailand with rosé and Gruyère. Pair a spy novel with a dark red wine. If you like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels, try The Sentinel paired with pinot noir and some pepper jack cheese. A classic novel, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller with smooth merlot and some gouda cheese. Spice up your romance mystery with Janet Evanovich and the Stephanie Plum Series. A sizzling mystery deserves a Spanish tempranillo and manchego cheese. A good adventure story deserves a zinfandel with aged cheddar. Try pairing it with William Johnstone’s By the Neck. A chilled glass of chardonnay would be delightful with bleu cheese and a cozy mystery like Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen mystery series. We recently had an Author Talk with Kristin Harmel. She wrote The Winemaker’s Wife. If you like historical fiction, pair it with a Bordeaux and Camembert.
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Book Lists

Wine, Cheese & Books Pairings

The Winemakers Wife by Kristin Harmel
Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave
The House Of Mondavi bu Julia Flynn Siler
The Summer
The Sentinel by Lee Child
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Twisted Twenty-Six: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich
By the Neck by William Johnsone
Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Books About Wine & Cheese

The Bordeaux Kitchen
Cheese Boards to Share
Let Me Tell You About Wine by Oz Clarke
Boards, Platters, Plates
The Ultimate Wine Companion
Wine Time
Wine Isn
Cheese, Wine, and Bread
Welcome to Wine
Judgment of Paris : California vs. France and the historic 1976 Paris tasting that revolutionized wine
A Toast to Bargin Wines
A Very Good Year
Shadows in the Vineyard
Making Your Own Wine at Home
The World Atlas of Wine
Windows on the World: Complete Wine Course
That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life
Cooked & Forked: Four Seasons of Eats & Drinks
The Billionaire
Feed Your Curiosity

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