Friday, November 23, 2012

Guest blogger - Louise Reynolds with "Her Italian Aristocrat"

Louise Reynolds
I'm thrilled to have a guest blogger visiting me today! I'd like to introduce the lovely Louise Reynolds to you all. 

Louise's book, Her Italian Aristocrat, has just been released. I'm reading it right now, and it's making me long for an Italian holiday, Italian food and wine, and a bit of Italian tall-dark-and-handsome! 

Louise is here to talk about her book and I thought it'd be appropriate if she touched on one of the regular topics here on the blog: her favourite wine. 

Welcome, Louise! 


Living in the Southern Hemisphere I tend to drink Australian and New Zealand wines. But in Her Italian Aristocrat, set in an historic hill town in the Marche region of Italy, I couldn’t have my heroine sipping a crisp Marlborough sauvignon blanc, excellent as they are. It needed to be a wine of the Marche and I chose verdicchio. It sounded like the sort of wine I like to drink: Crisp, dry and white.

I’m not averse to research, especially when it comes to wine, but I was in a hurry when writing a dinner scene and I hoped my hero and heroine would forgive me if my choice didn’t perfectly match the excellent vitello tonnato they were eating.

But later, in the spirit of retrospective research, I found myself wondering about Italian wines, verdicchio in particular. So it was off to my local Italian wine merchant to see what I could find.

I offer you Exhibit A:  Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi


Here’s something to like about Verdicchio: It’s only made in the Marche, from the ancient grape of the same name. There are two distinct types, their growing regions separated by a mere 50kms, and with one made within spitting distance of the stunning hill town of Macerata, the inspiration for the town of Montefigore in my book.

Now, I don’t know about you but when it comes to wine my receptors are, well, receptive. They happily engage without reference to terms like bouquet, length and finish. My palate is pre-programmed to ‘like’ and rarely bothers me with complaints. Clearly I am a lush and need help from the experts. Still, the writer in me wanted to express the qualities of verdicchio in my own words first before referring to a smarty-pants like wine guru, Jancis Robinson.

My notes describe it as “golden, with a slight dry sherry flavour, quite dry.” The professional tasting notes said it was “straw yellow, herbaceous, with a bitter almond after taste”.

Despite the difference in choice of descriptors the wine experts and I agreed on the basic characteristics. What hit me most was how different the flavour was compared to the antipodean wines I’ve been drinking. Of course that has a lot to do with the unique grape variety but the concept of terroir, the idea that the product is directly affected by the environment in which it is grown, was also brought home very soundly.

Maybe it was the mellow mood the wine engendered but I found myself thinking that, in a way, a book needs terroir. It should have the flavour of the location, with authentic details, characters who belong and appropriate dialogue. And although I hadn’t articulated it at the time of writing, I tried to give Her Italian Aristocrat terroir, to reflect the character of the beautiful hill towns of the Italian Marche.

Thanks, Emmie, for having me as your guest. I have a special bottle of verdicchio to share with you soon and I’m looking forward to your opinion.

Macerata
Her Italian Aristocrat is available:
To International buyers from www.destinyromance.com
To Australian buyers from Amazon, Kobo, Apple, GooglePlus and Destiny Romance
Louise can be contacted at: www.louisereynolds.com.au or you can find her on Facebook 



21 comments:

  1. Loved this post, ladies. Would there be room for a third to share the verdicchio?

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  2. Maybe a fourth? Louise and I have been known to indulge quite a bit so maybe we'll need an extra bottle?
    Just bought the book, Lou. Doncha just love one-click buying? Can't wait to tuck in!

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  3. LOL, trust Chris and Amy to pop their heads up at the mention of wine!! Thanks for dropping in, ladies. Perhaps I need to pack some verdicchio for Fremantle 2013.

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  4. Love this post,
    Louise, congratulations again on your debut! It's a gorgeous read.
    I loved the wines and food details, you made me feel like I was in Italy, and you made me hungry! :-D

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    1. Thanks, Ebony. There seems to be so much food in all my stories. What does that say about me, lol?

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  5. I feel a trip to La Bella Italia coming on. Nothing like a glass or two of vino to get you in the travel mood. Congratulations Lou, once more.

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    1. Thanks, Lis. It's such a beautiful day in Melbourne today that if I close my eyes I can imagine I'm there. A bit early for wine but it's certainly on the radar. Thanks for dropping in!

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  6. Louise - congrats on the release of "Her Italian Aristocrat" :) I love the cover :)

    After that post I will definitely have to open a bottle of wine with dinner :) Is it wine o'clock yet? ;)

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    1. Thanks, Joanne. Opening a bottle of wine on a Friday evening is a necessity I would have thought!

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  7. Reading your post on a Friday evening, your pic of the vino makes me want to sip on a chilled glass right now. Congratulations on your debut and I'm looking forward to going on your Italian adventure very shortly.

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    1. Hi Andra,
      Thanks. I'm looking forward to a lovely Italian adventure as well!
      And yes, this weekend looks like fabulous weather for enjoying a crisp, dry white.

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  8. Hi Louise,
    Your book is bringing back memories of Italia, in particular an evening in Sorrento on a terrace looking across to Capri. Sigh. This time there's an Italian aristocrat keeping me company. Procecco is my favorite Italian wine but I have no idea about where it's from. Will have to try a glass of Verdicchio or two.

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  9. Dora, sitting on a terrace drinking wine just seems so quintessentially Italian. They certainly know how to enjoy life.Glad you're enjoying the book!

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  10. Hi there Louise, am loving your latest release. There's just something an Italian hero that captures my attention and your book does not disappoint! xo

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    1. Hi Dana,
      So glad you're enjoying Luca and Gemma's story!

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  11. Great post, Louise. Congrats again on your new book. I've only just started it, but am already wishing I could be there with a Luca of my own. If I finish all the boring housework I need to catch up on (after doing nothing during NaNo), I will be able to relax this afternoon and finish the book :)

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    1. Thanks, Lauren. I'm a little late getting to answer you but I'm so glad you're enjoying the story.

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  12. Fantastic post, Louise. That's what I call serious research!

    Interesting idea about terrior in a book. Methinks you're onto something there...

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    1. Cathryn, I will go to great lengths to fit wine into a story, lol. Thanks for dropping in :-)

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  13. Well, I'm coming in late here, but had to comment on my friend, Louise Reynolds' book sale because I've been waiting for Luca to find a home and sooooooooo glad he finally has one. It's a wonderful book (and yes, I LURV one-click!)
    The other thing I have to comment on is Verdicchio. It was one of my Papa's favourite vinos (vini, actually). That was in the days when he could only get it here in Australia because he knew an importer of wine! (He's been gone for over 20 years, so you can imagine how different it was then). I grew up (in Australia) with Verdicchio, Soave, Orvieto, Valpolicella, Barbera and the occasional Chianti on the table. I couldn't see the big deal. LOL. And as I grew up, I preferred Australian wines.

    Lovely blog. I want to go back to Italia! Maybe an MRWG retreat??

    Thanks for having Louise as your special guest, Emmie!

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    1. Hi Serena,
      Thanks for all your support :-) And if I'd known you were so well versed in Italian wine I'd have had you around here and a cork out of a bottle before you could say salute!

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