Bookworm, Issue 10
The Book: North Woods by Daniel Mason
In the mountains of western Massachusetts there is a dwelling, once a cabin and then a more spacious yellow house. It stands amidst wilderness, but a garden, an orchard, and pastureland sometimes grow. By way of those who call this place home, author Daniel Mason masterfully knits together the sweeping changes that shape America from colonial times to the present day in North Woods.
Mason links the home’s various inhabitants – and the natural world around them – in extraordinary ways, shining a light on the mystery, miracle, tragedy and magnificence of human existence. But while the people come and go, nature remains a constant (albeit evolving) presence throughout the novel.
Our wine pairing comes from a small, cold region just west of New England where nature plays a vital role in grape vine cultivation. The European species Vitis vinifera, used to make nearly all fine wine, is not tolerant of cold winters; here, however, a special microclimate moderates temperature extremes. Climate, geography and history coalesce, and our wine showcases this exceptional sense of place.
Among the memorable characters in North Woods are an orchardist, spinster sisters, an artist, a spirit medium, a mother devoted to her schizophrenic son, and an amateur historian; and their emotional lives are rich with longing, delight, absurdity and deceit. Over time these characters cross paths unexpectedly, and readers will delight in these surprises.
The author uses an eclectic array of narrative forms to tell the story. Letters, songs, a story scribbled in the margins of a Bible, medical case notes, and a speech to a historical society give readers first-person perspectives. While artwork, almanac entries, a “True Crime!” magazine story, a real estate advertisement, and home movies offer additional details about the home’s inhabitants. These records allow Mason’s characters to live on after they are gone, while also revealing how easily the past can be misinterpreted.
The book’s chapters follow the months and seasons, and Mason writes with great attentiveness to nature’s rhythms. For example, a painter who occupies the home in the 1800s, writes, “I woke to fields so white, so smooth, that it is impossible to look upon them and not recall, in certain swells and swales, the alabaster curves of those most immodest Venuses. Only a matter of time before our reformers start preaching the dangers of the untouched snowfield. Walking through her felt an act of violation. All day I wished that I might erase my tracks.”
The painter “WHT” is writing to a friend, and at first readers know very little about either man. But with each passing correspondence, Mason reveals more and draws readers in – completely. It is a testament to his skill that within only a few pages we are fully immersed in these two lives, and the men’s joys and sorrows are especially heart-wrenching.
Near the end of the book a botanical researcher reflects “that the only way to understand the world as something other than a tale of loss is to see it as a tale of change.” Indeed, this novel – as well as both human and natural history – is filled with loss. But rather than dwelling there, Mason brilliantly focuses on the change. North Woods is at once a majestic exploration of the centuries and a detailed study of a specific place. Both undergo tremendous change over time, filling us with curiosity about the past, wonder at the present, and inevitably, hope for the future.
The Wine: Ravines, Dry Riesling, Finger Lakes AVA, 2020 $21.99
This wine is pale lemon with medium (+) intensity on the nose. Floral aromas of honeysuckle and orange blossom mingle with lemon zest, lime, fresh apricot, under-ripe pineapple, yellow apple, wet stone and sea salt.
It’s a dry wine with medium (+) acidity, medium body and medium alcohol at 12.5% ABV. On the palate, it has medium (+) intensity with flavors of lime, lemon, orange pith, green apple, apricot, and honeysuckle. The palate is citrus-forward, and the finish is medium (+) with a very slight, but not unpleasant, bitter flavor.
This wine is refreshing and perfectly balanced. It’s delicate, but also wonderfully interesting.
The Finger Lakes AVA in central New York State is known for it’s deep glacial lakes, gorges, waterfalls and woods. In this cold climate, producers Morten and Lisa Hallgren seek to make wines that “embrace mother nature’s variability,” and this one certainly succeeds.
The wine is 100% Riesling, with grapes from two sustainably-farmed vineyards, one on each side of Seneca Lake. It is fermented in stainless steel and aged on light lees until bottled.
Why the pairing works:
The natural world features as largely as any of the characters in North Woods, and much of the novel’s charm lies in Mason’s beautiful descriptions of the New England landscape where “(s)lugs leave hieroglyphs on the beech bark,” and a brook “splits the hillside like a tear in the fabric of the earth.” As readers we observe the interconnectedness of all living things, season after season and throughout time.
Therefore, our wine pairing evokes this rural, forested environment where the climate is cold and continental. (Continentality refers to the temperature difference between the coldest and the warmest months. Regions with high continentality have a large difference and tend to have short growing seasons.) It comes from the Finger Lakes AVA in central New York State, home to some of America’s finest Riesling.
Aromatic Riesling is cold-tolerant and buds late, which helps it to avoid spring frost. It can be made in a range of styles from dry to very sweet and is known for its ability to age and evolve in the bottle, retaining acidity while developing aromas and flavors of honey and toast.
The Finger Lakes are special because while winter is generally too cold for Vitis vinifera, the exceptionally deep lakes create a microclimate that allows for viticulture. (Several of these glacial lakes are deeper than the sea floor!) Large bodies of water cool down and heat up more slowly than the surrounding land, which circulates air and moderates temperatures in the nearby vineyards. The best vineyards in the region are located on the steep-sloped shores of lakes Seneca, Keuka and Cayuga.
The region has an interesting grape-growing history involving indigenous, hybrid and European vines. German, Swiss and French immigrants created a flourishing wine industry using hybrid grapes in the mid-1800s. But just to the east, in Saratoga Springs, NY, the temperance movement was gaining momentum, and by 1920 prohibition became law. While indigenous grapes continued to be grown for juice and jellies, fine wine would not be produced in the Finger Lakes until the 1950s. That’s when two immigrants, Dr. Konstantin Frank, a Ukrainian-born viticulture professor, and Charles Fournier, a former winemaker from Champagne, collaborated to grow and vinify varieties like Riesling and Chardonnay. Today producers in the region make high-quality still and sparkling wines from those white varieties, as well as black grapes like Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir.
In North Woods, the landscape around the yellow house changes as chestnut blight, the emerald ash borer and Dutch elm disease devastate the old-growth forest. Sadly today, there is another threat in the Finger Lakes region. The invasive spotted lanternfly feeds on more than 70 plant species, including grape vines, which stresses the plants and makes them vulnerable to disease. If not contained, the insect might significantly damage the region’s forests and agricultural industries. (For more information, see this article from New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation.)