PageFiftyNine

Welcome to the 52nd pairing of PageFiftyNine- which, in all honesty, is really the first pairing. A full calendar year ago, I saw a wine stain in one of my books and had a silly but meaningful thought: what if instead of pairing wine and cheese, I paired my two favorite things- wine and books? How many times had this combination been the highlight of my evening, or my afternoon, or my weekend? That little thought grew into a passion, which I hope will continue to grow in 2019. But, instead of looking forward in this post, I want to spend some time looking back. This journey has been incredible, so much so that picking out the highlights proved difficult. A few, though: - Pairing Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time and then learning of his passing a day and a half later. - My friend Garret risking life and limb to position my mountain-themed pairing on the edge of a cliff. - Creating a business plan only to realize starting a business costs more money than I can afford

On Christmas Day of next year, I may be in a German Christmas market sipping on genuine Gleuhwein, but this Christmas I had the next best thing: a steaming mug of the homemade kind, and a book that takes place in a snowy castle. The Pairing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling and Homemade Gleuhwein I assume that Harry Potter needs no introduction, so I'll leave it at this: my favorite book to read for the first time was #4, my favorite book to reread is #6, and I'm pretty sure I'm a Ravenclaw. Ok- now on to the wine! Gleuhwein is a mulled wine that's served very warm and drunk out of a mug (as opposed to a wine glass). My parents lived in Germany for a few years and picked up the recipe along the way. Making Gleuhwein involves buying a VERY large quantity of Burgundy wine and adding to it a reduced mixture of sugar, water, and spices. You let it all hang out over night and voila- delicious mulled wine ready to be warmed and served. To

Welcome, welcome, welcome! We have reached the final three pairings of 2018. Today I've featured not only a great book, but a great program that I joined this year: Book of the Month Club. The Pairing The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle and  Jean-Claude Debeaune  Special Selection Pinot Noir Book of the Month Club features five books per month, from which you can select one or more to be shipped to your doorstep. They highlight new authors, bestsellers, fiction and non-fiction, fan favorites, you name it. Some of my favorite reads from this year have been my BotM books, including The Dinner List. This book made me cry and think and sigh. But mostly cry. I haven't shed as many book tears since I read The Light Between Oceans .  The basic premise is that the main character shows up to dinner only to discover the attendees are the same people she once listed as her dream dinner guests. Throughout the evening, they all dig in to meals and to the past to see why they have be

I'm telling you, the book is better than the movie- and that's saying something in this case, because the movie was awesome . I haven't tried pairing the movie with this wine, but I'm open to the idea. The Pairing The Martian by Andy Weir and Red Rock Reserve Merlot Comedy meets science meets action/adventure. And then there's the book! (Kidding... sort of.) Andy Weir is a computer engineer and space nerd turned author who gave us this incredible story of survival and perseverance through the completely lovable astronaut Mark Watney. He leaves nothing out- Weir doesn't say "but then I figured out how to fix the HAB unit." He actually details the calculations and process by which a space habitation on Mars could be fixed. It's an incredible feat of a book, which is why it is one of the last pairings of the year. Red Rock wines "embody the universal quest for discovery to reach the summit, no matter where that may be," whic

As we gear up toward the end of the year, I haven't been able to spend as much time writing as I'd like. There are only a few more pairings left this year, but instead of finding it easier to document each pairing, I'm finding it harder. You'd think my Psychology degree would help explain it... but a large part of me thinks it's just the combination of exhaustion and the ever-increasing to-do list. But, in a rare burst of energy, I decided to do a double feature! Pairing: 1984 by George Orwell and Homage to Heritage Macon Villages Chardonnay and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley It's the decades old debate: which fate are we heading towards as a society, the bleak, fear-inducing wartime in Orwell's 1984 or the drugged and clueless whitewash of Huxley's Brave New World ? Either way, it seems clear that humans are not meant to be numbers on a page or unquestioning cows in a line. Eventually, some will fight back with a simple idea: where someone

As we roll (or, in my case, tumble) towards the end of the year, I find myself picking up new discoveries for some of the last pairings. There are heaps of books that I want to pair, but to pick one for this project feels a little more personal. The Pairing One Man's Meat by E.B. White and Clean Slate Riesling My brother passed along this book after he read it- it's actually a compilation of magazine articles that E.B. White wrote from 1938-1943 detailing his new life on a farm in New England. Clean Slate is a nod to this drastic move that E.B. White makes. He sells half his belongings, quits his job, and picks his whole family out of New York City just to plop them onto some land that none of them know how to work. They all start anew and, in the changes that E.B. White notes in their sleepy town, the reader realizes that starting anew looks the same no matter the time or place. The Riesling may be going a step too far, but when you're reading a book about

The classics, or at least these new age classics, are the hardest to pair. The pressure to find the perfect wine is somewhat crippling, but I have learned now to just go with my gut (literally) and forget the rest. I'm so excited to share this beloved series! The Pairing The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Torre de Rejas Tempranillo I hope everyone's Hunger Games introduction was as brow-raising as mine. It was recommended to me by a friend, who described it as "a future world where the people in charge make the other people's children fight to the death." I was not very interested in reading it until my friend added, "It sounds really morbid, but it's so good." I gave it a shot, and lost sleep as I hungrily (yep, I did) turned each page. If you've only seen the movies, then I don't even know you- read the books. These books are dark dark dark with glimpses of softness, earthiness, and love. Hundreds of pages of tortured hope.

With fewer than ten pairings remaining for 2018, I have started to bring out a few of my favorites to share. This week, it's the timeless The Little Prince. The Pairing The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Phebus Rosé Some pairings come easily (Dark Horse wine and Black Beauty or Miles from Nowhere Chardonnay and The Light Between Oceans ), but some I agonize over. This one was of the latter variety. I extrapolated all of my favorite elements and then sought a wine that shared those elements. When the right wine finally makes itself known, it's always such a sweet moment. For today's post, I figured the simplest thing to do would be to share those elements and the reasons why it's this Rosé that works. The Rose: Ok, obvious one first. The prince's love, and the source of his need to explore. The torture he feels when he believes his rose is not unique, and the heartwarming moment when the fox lets him know exactly why she is special. Ha

I am getting behind! The weird thing is, I was able to stay on top of my Saturday posts even when I was out of town or had crazy weeks at work or had friends in town visiting... but I have absolutely none of those excuses for the past two weeks. October just swooped in and drained all my motivation to do... anything. (Well, except read and drink wine, of course.) But I'm determined to get back on the rails, so I went with a very motivating pair! The Pairing Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and FitVine Sauvignon Blanc Disclaimer: I am not a runner, even after this book. When I first read it, I closed the book and eagerly strapped on my flattest shoes. I grabbed my music and some water and jogged out the front door, so pumped to find out what my body- the body that is "born to run"- could do. Per my phone, I made it one quarter of a mile before I remembered that I very much dislike running and I turned around and went home. However, I have no qualms with drin

Have you recovered from the full series pairing ? Me, neither. But on to the next! The Pairing Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and Red Theory Merlot I have the biggest author crush on Malcolm Gladwell (see also Tipping Point and Blink and his podcast Revisionist History ). He's a storyteller teacher, which is my very favorite. Gladwell takes a concept and, in order to teach you about it, he tells stories that you can imagine or relate to. The reason I love this is not because it helps you learn the concept (although it does). Instead, I appreciate the pause when you are asked to see something very familiar from a completely new perspective. This shift in view seems to be Malcolm Gladwell's purpose in life. Red Theory Merlot is perfect for this pairing not because it matches the sense of Outliers , but because it takes it to the next step. The tagline on this wine is "What's great in theory, tastes better in reality." What this pairing brings you is that se

Six books, six wines. These books may be YA, but your weekend won't be. The Pairing(s) The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare and Apothic Wine Blends When I first saw Apothic wines a few years back, I remembered thinking it was a cool label and the name sounded Gothic. (A Gothic apothecary? A Gothic apocalypse? Didn't matter at the time.) However, having recently jumped on the Cassandra Clare bandwagon, I then saw these wines in a whole new light- the swirls on their labels suddenly looked like runes, and Apothic seemed to describe the world within our world that Shadowhunters, etc, inhabit. As luck would have it, there are plenty of these blends- and I've picked out one for each book of the series. Settle in, because we're touching on all of them. Pairing One City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and Apothic Brew This first book will introduce you to a new take on some old familiars: demons, angels, werewolves, etc... but also a race of Shadowhunter

Romance, comedy, and Pinot Noir. The type of pairing that got me going on this crazy journey to begin with. The Pairing The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion and The Pinot Project Pinot Noir Don is 39 and handsome and fit and has a good job, and he is searching for a life partner. He cleverly begins the Wife Project wherein he develops a survey to help him sift through the female population and find a suitable spouse. You know where this is going without me having to go any further. I knew where it was going. And yet. I loved this sweet story. I laughed out loud and winced out loud and then laughed out loud some more. While the arch of the story may, on paper, seem predictable, the actual story was full of surprises. When I got to the end I very seriously considered starting at the beginning again. There is wine consumed in this novel, which I have begun to realize is wonderfully common. I was tempted, as always, to try and match what the characters were drinking, bu

Did you know Zinfandel is also known as Primitivo ? Guess what else is primitivo ... Dinosaurs. The Pairing Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and Predator Old Vine Zinfandel Some pairings are meant to be light and easy, but not this week's- instead, it packs a punch. Or a bite. If you have not read the book that started the Jurassic Park universe, then stop reading this blog and get to it. Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors of all time because of his ability to combine science and imagination and great writing, and Jurassic Park is Exhibit A. (It still blows my mind that this story of DNA manipulation, chaos theory, and computer hacking was written in 1990.) I can vividly remember reading this book for the first time- I was in 6th grade and, even though I didn't understand everything I was reading, I could not put it down. Actually, I got in trouble in class a few times for literally refusing to stop reading. But who has time for social studies when th

PageFiftyNine has been deep in the trenches lately, with suspense and death and dialogues on society and saving the world. This week, we take a breather with some good old Science. Luckily for all involved, it's the science of music, which is basically the coolest topic you didn't know you wanted to know more about. Also, we continue to drink wine. The Pairing This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin and Notable California Chardonnay This week I want to talk about the wine first. Notable wines only has two out so far that I can find: California Chardonnay, which is oaky and buttery, and Australia Chardonnay, which is cool and crisp. Their division by style and taste, denoted clearly on the front of the bottle by a little slider scale, make them seem much more scientific in their approach than artful. Don't be totally fooled, though: these wines are delicious and clearly made with love. For the pairing with This is Your Brain on Music , I went with the C

This post is brought to you live from the dregs of Hurricane Florence. Here in Durham we- very, very luckily- have escaped the worst, our impact from the hurricane coming mostly in flickering lights, broken branches, and endless drizzly rain. I had a different pairing planned for this week, but in honor of just how miserably wet it's been, I instead reached for this hurricane-inspired duo. The Pairing The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and Rainstorm Pinot Gris There is something to be said for being dry and warm under some blankets with rain pouring outside, your book and wine close by. There is something more to be said when your book and wine are also reminiscent of pouring rain. It brings your personal coziness to a new level. That was, at least, my experience. Ruth Ware's novel will have your heart pumping and the pages turning, all the way to the end. There were a few slower parts in the middle, but all you have to do is pour a fresh glass of wine and hunker