Vintage

Vintage, written by David Baker, is a entertaining novel especially appealing to wine lovers and foodies.  If you are a person of discerning taste, who eats for the pleasure of the textures and flavors of the food and not just for the nourishment to your body than this is your kind of novel.  If you consider yourself a connoisseur of fine wine and do not drink whatever wine is the least expense to accompany your meal, than you are in for a treat.

Vintage uses the plot device of uncovering a mystery to hold together a story of the gastronomic adventures of the main character, Bruno Tannenbaum.  Tannenbaum is a washed up, food journalist, wine connoisseur and bestselling author.  His marriage is on the rocks and he is sleeping on his mother's couch.  The only people who really still believe in him are his daughters, Carmen and Claire.  When we meet Bruno he is drinking and eating his way through the last of his money as he slowly slides into a depression that will end his career.  He is trying to write another bestseller but his love of drink is a stumbling block that leads to being fired by his newspaper and his agent.

One last chance to redeem himself, both to the public and his family, presents itself when he accidentally finds a cork from a wine bottle that comes from a "lost" wine vintage.  This special wine was part of a collection that was stolen or smuggled out of France during World War II.  Not only would the wine be worth a fortune but this would be the story Bruno has been looking for to write about and resurrect his career and regain respect.

Through the book, Vintage, we follow Bruno as he renews old acquaintances, making new friends and searching for clues to solve the mystery of the "lost" wine bottles.  He drinks and eats his way through France, from the vineyards of Burgundy through Moldova all the way to a Russian prison.

The descriptions of the wines and the information about the process of making wine and growing the grapes is interesting.  Mouthwatering are the descriptions of the meals Tannenbaum cooks as he tries to win the love of his estranged wife and his daughters, and when he desperately needs information to solve the mystery.  Each chapter heading is about different types of food, wine or ways to win a lover through food and wine.  Each chapter has a paragraph description that is a quote from Bruno Tannebaum's first and only successful book, Twenty Recipes for Love.  Quoted are descriptions of esoteric ingredients or recipes that are fascinating to learn about.  One chapter is titled, "Mamaliga,  a Moldovan corn porridge that is boiled and served plain along side a traditional fresh curdled ewe cheese..."  another, Lepeshka, a Russian bread from Uzbekistan, "round and indented in the center, sprinkled with sesame and butter crust, dense, chewy, passed around the table, torn off in chunks..." These paragraphs add a layer of delicious taste for the foodie reading this book.

Nothing could be more true than the paragraph at the beginning of chapter eight, words to live and cook by,  "Don't allow anyone to tell you that you can't cook.  I know, dear reader, that you may be intimidated.  You might be afraid of failure.  And fail you shall.  Often.  There are those who claim a superior palate.  Maybe they've summered in Florence and own stainless-steel appliances.  They have kitchen gardens and wine cellars, which are fine, though hardly required.  All you truly need to learn to cook; a pan, a flame, good ingredients, an open heart, a dash of tenacity and a pinch of courage. The rest will take care of itself. " - Bruno Tannenbaum, from the forward to Twenty Recipes for Love