Bookworm, Issue 16
The Book: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
When readers meet Joe, on the first page of The Berry Pickers, he discloses that he is dying. Next, he reveals that his younger sister disappeared when she was just four years old. It’s a tragedy that shapes the lives of this brother and sister, and Amanda Peters’ debut novel is their grief-filled remembrance.
Joe is six, traveling with his Mi’kwaq family from Nova Scotia to work in Maine’s blueberry fields each summer, when his sister Ruthie disappears in 1962. He’s the last person to see her, and the guilt and anger that he feels following her disappearance will consume him. His sister, now named Norma, grows up in Maine, the daughter of white, middle-class parents. While she is desperately loved, she never fully feels at home.
Our wine pairing is inspired by the bonds between siblings. I couldn’t help but wonder how Joe’s and Norma’s lives might have turned out differently had they never been separated. And so, this wine is a blend of two well-known grape varieties that are half-siblings, sharing Cabernet Franc as one parent.
The story is less a mystery about Ruthie’s disappearance and more a meditation on the human ability to endure the most difficult circumstances and to carry on, nonetheless. The Berry Pickers is about life – the pivotal junctures, but as significantly, the countless small moments that fill the time between birth and death. Joe’s and Norma’s lives unfold quietly and sadly, and readers will find themselves longing for the story to end better than it began.
Author Amanda Peters approaches sensitive topics like cancer, a missing child, lost pregnancy, discrimination, and addiction, with compassion. Peters does not shy away from heartbreak, but rather, she leans into it using tender moments to reveal how a character endures. When Joe describes how his mother “gently placed the sock doll with button eyes inside one of the boots” belonging to Ruthie, readers feel the gravity of her grief in her “quiet like the sky just before the snow starts.” The writing is perceptive and sensory, rather than explanatory, and small actions evoke deep emotion.
Narration alternates between Joe and Norma as they describe their childhoods, teenage years, their relationships and families, and the choices they make into adulthood. Both protagonists address readers with refreshing directness. For example, Norma says, “Somewhere in the echo of time, the universe had decided that happiness of a certain kind was not to be mine. I would have to find joy elsewhere.” Generally, the writing is not effusive, but there’s beauty in the prose because Joe and Norma are vulnerable and truthful.
Wine drinkers will appreciate how the author incorporates smell into her storytelling. More so than sight and sound, smell can trigger powerful memories and emotions, and both Joe and Norma experience this. Norma says, “My early childhood was defined by scent.” But she cannot reconcile the “campfire and boiling potatoes” of her dreams with the “Ivory soap and whiskey” of daily life. And for Joe, “There is something about the smell of gasoline that still takes me back to that garage…Back when the family was whole, and the anger lay dormant.”
The siblings attempt to carry their burdens alone, seeking solitude to soothe their heartache. Norma finds strength in independence, while Joe chooses anonymity and isolation. The tension between aloneness and loneliness – between quiet time for healing and the quietness between people where secrets reside – is constant. But without one another, Joe and Norma remain incomplete.
Despite crushing sadness, The Berry Pickers is about love. It’s about the lasting bond between a brother and a sister, as well as all the complicated ways that humans experience love. Love that heals and uplifts. Love that stifles. Love that harms and disappoints, yet forgives. And, above all else, love that endures.
The Wine: DeLille Cellars, ‘D2,’ Columbia Valley, Washington, 2019 $44.99
This wine is deep purple with medium (+) intensity on the nose. Aromas are developing and include ripe black cherry, red and black plums, blackcurrant jam, dried cranberry, licorice, cherry vanilla cola, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, graphite, and dark chocolate.
It’s a dry wine with medium (+) acidity, medium (+) body, and fine-grained, medium (+) tannin. It has high alcohol at 14.3% ABV. The wine has medium (+) intensity on the palate, where flavors mostly mirror the nose, with additions of dried fruit and herbaceous characters like prune, jalapeño, and green peppercorn. The long finish is fruit-foward, at first, before taking on more spicy and savory notes.
This Bordeaux-style blend is comprised of 60% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. The grapes, grown in a dozen prized vineyards around the Columbia Valley, are blended in pursuit of “Washington State terroir.” The wine is aged for 18 months in French oak, 55% of which is new.
DeLille’s ‘D2’ is lush, complex and absolutely delicious. As you sip and savor it, notice how the aromas and flavors change as the wine opens up in your glass. For me, this wine is a special treat, and I highly recommend it.
Why the pairing works:
I like this pairing for two reasons, one is intuitive and the other is more academic. The Berry Pickers is a sad and sobering novel that instinctively calls for a “serious” wine. DeLille’s ‘D2,’ with its deep color, complex aroma and flavor profile, structured mouthfeel and cellar-worthiness, satisfies this requirement. It’s rich and robust, and it can withstand a story filled with heartache.
As is fitting for a book about a brother and sister, the dominant grape varieties in this blend are siblings (well, half-siblings). Genetic research shows that Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are both offspring of Cabernet Franc. A natural cross with Magdeleine Noire des Charentes produced Merlot, whereas with Sauvignon Blanc it produced Cabernet Sauvignon. This interesting infographic from Vine Pair shows their relationship, among many others.
It is believed that Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon originated in Bordeaux, France, where they’re blended to produce some of the most valuable red wines in the world. Both grapes are capable of making complex, structured, age-worthy wines; expect medium- to full-body, rich fruit with savory characters, and evidence of oak aging. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon can be easily confused in blind tastings. Aroma and flavor tasting notes can include blackberry, cherry, plum, black currant, licorice, cedar, dark chocolate, dried sage, leather, tobacco, and cigar.
In general (but not always), Merlot tends to be less tannic, feeling “softer,” and thus tempers Cabernet Sauvignon’s intensity in blends. Cabernet Sauvignon is high in pyrazines, like its parent Sauvignon Blanc, which imparts a green bell pepper flavor, especially if the grapes are unripe.
If I was to match each of these grapes with one of our protagonists from The Berry Pickers, I would assign Cabernet Sauvignon to Joe and Merlot to Norma/Ruthie. While both grapes can produce outstanding single-varietal wines, a Bordeaux-style blend like ‘D2’ allows the best in each to shine through.