The perfect pairing – a wine to accompany each of my contemporary women’s fiction books.
In honour of my new book, Head for the Hills, being set in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia I’m taking you on a journey to some of my favourite Hills’ wineries. I’m matching a wine to my new release and to my previous six books. My family and I enjoy a variety of wines and styles from this region so it was fun to research and come up with some perfect pairings. Read on to find which wine I’ve chosen for each book.
Table for Eight introduces Ketty Clift, couture dressmaker who loves the cruising life and has a gift for bringing people together. On this high seas adventure though, Ketty’s dining companions come with lots of issues and she is confronted by a problem from her own past. There are troubled relationships aplenty, second chances and love old and new in this uplifting story of unlikely dining companions thrown together on a glamorous cruise.
It definitely had to be bubbly for this book and my choice was Lois NV Sparkling Blanc de Blancs from The Lane Vineyard. Made entirely from chardonnay it’s a deliciously refreshing sparkling for every occasion and perfect for cruising.
The Model Wife features Natalie King, a good woman, teacher, farming wife, mother, daughter and daughter-in-law who is the glue that holds her family together. But even a good woman can be pushed too far. Natalie draws a line in the sand, escapes her commitments and travels to the red earth, emerald waters and brilliant azure skies of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
I chose one of my favourite blends for this story, a Sauvignon Blanc Semillon lovingly referred to as SBS and my pick once again comes from The Lane Vineyard. It has lightly oaked layers of texture with a bright finish – just the right drop for an ‘escape’ wine.
The Family Inheritance exposes a toxic will that plays havoc in the lives of three generations of women when they discover they have been living a lie. Partly set in Adelaide and partly in remote and beautiful Marion Bay at the bottom of South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula I thought a classic Australian wine, Shaw + Smith’s Sauvignon Blanc with its fresh aromatic style was the exact match. It’s a clean, crisp, dry wine which pairs perfectly with seafood but also aligns well with the heart of this story – the truth can set you free.
Birds of a Feather involves three very different women, Eve, Julia and Lucy who are thrown together by unusual circumstances. Each is dealing with secrets and hurts from the past which threaten to shatter their precarious hold on their new lives. This story celebrates the life-changing power of female friendships. It’s a feel-good, warm read about strong, loving women and needed a complex wine to match.
My choice is a Grenache produced by MMAD Vineyards from old vines at Blewitt Springs. It’s a medium bodied wine, complex with firm tannin and it’s both elegant and spicy making it the perfect match for my three engaging yet knotty characters.
Keeping Up Appearances is set in a small country town where everyone knows everyone else’s business and family skeletons are hard to keep buried. Newcomer to the town, single mum Paige and local retired teacher Marion along with her sister-in-law Briony are all busy trying to keep secrets but discovering that honesty is usually the best policy…maybe.
This is a story full of practical wisdom and dry humour so I’ve matched it with a dry white wine, Arinto by The Other Wine Co. It’s a refreshing wine with many layers of its own to discover and accompanies the layered secrets of this story so well.
Back on Track sees the return of Ketty Clift and this time she’s taking her staff on a holiday on the iconic Ghan travelling through outback Australia where the surprising behaviour of some of the other passengers and each new stop along the way affects the group and reveals something more about each of them.
There is of course wonderful fine dining aboard the Ghan and so I’ve chosen the elegant M3 Chardonnay from Shaw + Smith to give that elevated dining experience. With its stunning intensity and complexity it’s perfect for this warm, funny, uplifting story set on an astonishing and revealing train trip across Australia.
Head for the Hills set in the Adelaide Hillsasks whether age necessarily brings wisdom when the sale of a deceased estate divides a community and wreaks havoc in a small country town. The two main characters, Roslyn and Margot, are sisters who find themselves at loggerheads over a new development proposed for their close-knit community. This story has a lot of gentle humour, practical wisdom and warmth so I’ve selected a light bodied delightfully savoury red wine, a Gamay from The Lane Vineyard.
It’s a great food wine and there’s a lot of food in this story as Margot cooks for every occasion and every dietary need. Margot and Roslyn also enjoy sharing a bottle of wine on Friday nights while they reflect on the week and the Gamay is perfect for that. But sisterly love is pushed aside when battle lines are drawn and the two sisters find themselves literally and figuratively on opposite sides of the fence. Can sharing a glass of their favourite wine bring them back together? Prost!