Bricoleur's Summer Book Club
Summer is the season for slowing down, and nothing makes that easier than a great book and a glass of wine that was made for the moment. This summer, we're pairing some great reads with a few of our favorite wines to enjoy. Whether you're by the pool, on a porch, or curled up somewhere shady, there's a combination here with your name on it.
"God of the Woods" + Bricoleur Rockpile Zinfandel
Liz Moore's God of the Woods is a literary mystery set around a wealthy family's summer camp in the Adirondacks, where an old tragedy casts a long shadow over a new disappearance. The novel became a New York Times bestseller upon its release and was also the number-one best-seller among independent bookstores. It'll keep you reading past midnight, holding your breath through every twist.
For a novel this intense, you need a wine with equal presence and depth. Bricoleur's Rockpile Zinfandel comes from the acclaimed Rockpile appellation, known for its high elevation, shallow red-rocky soils, and harsh growing conditions that result in some of the most concentrated Zinfandel in Sonoma County. It delivers with power and grace: aromas of blueberry compote, lightly roasted coffee, and chocolate give way to blackberry and boysenberry fruits on the palate, rounded out by a decadent texture and lasting finish. Rich, complex, and a little wild, just like the story.
"Braiding Sweetgrass" + Bricoleur Unoaked Chardonnay
Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass weaves together Western science, Indigenous practice, and storytelling, using the threads of a sweetgrass braid as a metaphor for combining these traditions. Kimmerer draws on Indigenous myths and philosophies to illuminate the importance of reciprocity and gratitude, values she finds largely missing from contemporary Western culture. It is a book that changes how you look at the natural world around you, and it deserves to be read slowly, outside, with something in hand that reflects the same kind of clarity and intention.
Bricoleur's Unoaked Chardonnay is crisp and refreshing, with notes of pear, lemon zest, and white blossoms, showcasing pure varietal expression without oak influence. Its creamy yet clean texture avoids the heaviness of oak, making it a refined alternative to more buttery California Chardonnays. It's a wine that gets out of the way and lets the fruit speak for itself, which feels exactly right for a book about listening more carefully to the natural world.
"The Drunken Botanist" + Bricoleur GSM
In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol over the centuries. The book covers the botanical history behind over 150 plants that produce alcoholic beverages, from sake's origins in rice, to scotch from barley, and gin from juniper. It's informative, witty, and fun, the kind of non-fiction that makes you feel smarter and thirstier at the same time.
What better pairing than a wine that celebrates the art of blending? Bricoleur's GSM comes from the Kick Ranch Vineyards in the Fountaingrove AVA, a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre carefully selected to be a wine that can be sipped any day or saved for special occasions, with subtle fruit notes rounded out by earthy oak. It's an approachable, versatile red that rewards curiosity, which is exactly the spirit Amy Stewart brings to every page.
"One Golden Summer" + Bricoleur Rosé of Grenache
Carley Fortune's One Golden Summer is a contemporary romance recounting the friends-to-lovers relationship of Alice and Charlie against the backdrop of a lakeside summer in Ontario, exploring the freeing power of love, the transformative power of place, and the importance of finding one's voice. Publishers Weekly called it "a treat," praising not just the steamy love story but Alice's personal growth as she finds both love and her purpose. It's the definition of a summer book: warm, transportive, and impossible to put down.
Bricoleur's Rosé of Grenache bursts from the glass with fresh citrus and red cherry aromas, and the palate is marvelously balanced with flavors of strawberry, lime, and cherry blossom in a voluptuous but lively framework. Jasmine florals and a finish of juicy watermelon and nectarine make it a wine perfectly balanced with bright acidity. This is exactly the kind of wine you want in your hand during a summer afternoon, right alongside this book.
"My Year of Rest and Relaxation" + Bricoleur North Coast Brut
Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation follows a young woman in early 2000s Manhattan who has everything society says should make her happy: beauty, wealth, a prestigious education. And yet, she is profoundly disconnected from her own life. Her solution is radical: bringing herself into a year-long hibernation, retreating from the world in hopes of emerging transformed on the other side. It's a darkly funny, unsettling novel about the human desire to press pause, and reading it feels a little like holding your breath.
For a book this intentionally strange, you need a wine that's bright enough to cut through the gloom. Bricoleur's "Flying by the Seat of Our Pants" North Coast Brut is made in the Champagne style, a bone-dry expression of California terroir featuring classic notes of toasted brioche, lemon curd, and hints of dried tropical fruit. Baked apple, pear, marzipan, and caramelized citrus round out a supple, vibrant, effervescent medium-to-full body with a seamless and interesting finish. How fitting to pair a novel about radical stillness with a wine that fizzes and pops?
"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" + Bricoleur Kick Ranch Syrah
Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a coming-of-age story spanning decades, following two game designers, Sam and Sadie, who are "often in love, but never lovers." Their unlikely collaboration fuels a lifetime of success, struggle, friendship, loss, and betrayal as they navigate creativity and the future of their relationship. Rich with emotional depth and intellectual nuance, it's a meditation on creativity, friendship, ambition, and the passage of time.
A book with this much depth and structure calls for a wine of equal complexity and staying power. Bricoleur's Kick Ranch Syrah comes from a Hermitage clone, with vines over twenty-five years old grown on rocky volcanic soils on the western slopes of the Mayacamas Range. The palate delivers layers of Santa Rosa plums, blackberries, roasted meat, green peppercorns, hints of sweet tobacco, and well-positioned oak spice, with a velvety texture and a persistent finish. This wine is built for the long haul, just like the relationships at the heart of this book.
"The Fellowship of the Ring" + Bricoleur Kick Ranch Viognier
Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring is an epic of world-building, wonder, and the reluctant call to adventure. From the green comfort of the Shire to the ancient majesty of Rivendell, it is a book that rewards slow, attentive reading, inviting you to linger in every forest, valley, and fire-lit hall. We're reclaiming this book (and trilogy) as a cottage-core novel meant to ignite your imagination.
Bricoleur's Kick Ranch Viognier matches that same spirit beautifully: aromatic and layered, never quite what you expect, always a pleasure. This stainless steel-fermented Viognier delivers lively aromas of peach, white flowers, and cream on the nose, with a plush palate, rounded stone fruit character, and whispers of pineapple, honeysuckle, and candied ginger on the finish. It's a refined take on the variety, floral and mineral-driven, restrained at first before opening up into something balanced and energetic. Chill it well, settle into your armchair, and let Middle-earth do the rest.
"Little Women" + Bricoleur Founder's Block Pinot Noir
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women remains one of the most beloved novels ever written: the story of the March sisters, Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth, growing up in Civil War-era New England with warmth, ambition, humor, and heartbreak. It is a book about the particular intimacy of sisters, the cost of becoming who you are, and the way a family home can hold an entire world inside it. Reading it is like pulling on a favorite sweater.
Bricoleur's Founder's Block Pinot Noir opens with a sweet red cherry aroma before delivering sleek black cherries, cinnamon, and a hint of vanilla, with a mouth-filling, polished texture that enhances the wine's tempting spices and dried-fruit notes. The palate bursts with flavors of bing cherries complemented by layers of woven tannins and nuanced oak. This wine has both elegance and heart, classic structure with a generous spirit. That's about as fitting a companion as any for an evening in the March household.
