It’s been quite a week. I’m delighted to present – finally, after a forever of writing – my new book, The Wine Dine Dictionary, which was released on Thursday. I say delighted, and that’s partly because it’s such a relief to have it between hard covers so that I can no longer email the Managing Director at Granta at 3 o’clock in the morning saying, “I know you said I have to stop adding things now, but…”
The book is all about choosing food and wine that taste delicious together. It’s arranged in A to Z format, like a foreign language dictionary, if the two languages were wine and food, so you can look up your dinner and find suggestions for a wine, or look up your wine and find ideas for what to cook. I’ve included recipes, and tips from the makers of some of my favourite wines about what they love to eat when their own wine is in their glass.
If you’d like a preview, hop over to the Waterstones blog where they’ve got one of the recipes from the book – Dick Diver’s Tomato Tart (and that’s an F. Scott Fitzgerald not a Mayfair reference). I first cooked it on a summer holiday in Provence, and have been making it ever since.
In other news, I’ve been working on a redesign for this website, and once that’s up and running you’ll be hearing from me more often. But one thing at a time: this week is about the book, and The Wine Dine Dictionary is currently ahead of the Pokémon Encyclopedia in the Amazon rankings which I’m (not-so quietly) very excited about.
The bottle: De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2016 South Africa (Waitrose, on offer at £8.88 down from £11.99 until Tuesday 16th May) is a wine I’d recommend to pretty much all sauvignon blanc drinkers but especially those who like Sancerre or who can’t get enough of The Ned from Marlborough, New Zealand. It’s a big step up from The Ned and it’s delicious – all green figs, nectarines and grass, with a bit of edge. Good with that tomato tart, but also with a warm roast chicken, loaf of good bread, and big bowl of sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with chopped chives.