Bookworm, issue 2
The Book: West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
West with Giraffes chronicles a road trip like no other, following zookeeper Riley Jones and truck driver Woodrow Wilson Nickel as they escort two giraffes from New York City to San Diego. The journey takes place in 1938 – during the Great Depression, on the cusp of World War II, and at time when few Americans had ever seen a live giraffe.
The story is told through the eyes of 105-year-old “Woody” Nickel, who is furiously attempting to record the adventure before he dies, and who inspires our wine pairing. The wine is a youthful California red with boldness to match our narrator’s, but with a twist – on the palate it exhibits the finesse of an older wine, reflecting the wisdom that Woody gains in the years following his adventure.
At the time of the road trip, he’s a 17-year-old “Dust Bowl rowdy,” alone and without a home, until he spies two giraffes being unloaded from a ship in New York Harbor, learns they are headed to California, and ties his fate to theirs. Accompanying him on the 12-day journey are the “Old Man” zookeeper; an adventurous female photojournalist, “Augusta Red;” and the two giraffes, “Boy” and “Girl.” While the story is based on a true event, these characters are fictional.
Woody’s character is instantly appealing, and within pages readers will be cheering for him to succeed. While he’s foolhardy at times, he’s also courageous, sensitive and hopeful. He has a big heart, but it “had barely been used, lacking in any proper language or direction,” so his feelings sometimes overwhelm and confuse him. Woody experiences the kindness of strangers, the thrill of first love and deep feelings of devotion – and as a result he begins to mature and find his place in the world. At one point, Girl is injured and while her head is in Woody’s lap, he feels his “heart swelling full and warm and pure and kind in a way I’d clean forgotten it could. I was lost in it, its surging tenderheartedness taking my breath clean away.”
The novel is filled with bits of wisdom about the passage of time, making courageous choices, the power of a story, forgiveness, togetherness, and finding peace. Along the road, Augusta Red says, “Home’s not the place you’re from, Woody. Home’s the place you want to be.” And in the truck, with Old Man and the giraffes, Woody finds his home. He says, “For a stray orphaned boy, this home seemed fiercely worth holding on to, with both fists, as long as I could. No matter what might be waiting for me up the road.”
What is immediately enjoyable about the book, and what also places the story so believably in the 1930s, is the vivid language the author uses. Woody gets in a scuffle with three “yahoos” while watching over the giraffes. There’s a “pipsqueak with a pudding-bowl haircut” and a “jumbo yahoo” – all three are “sniggering.” They “whopped” the truck, the giraffes “caterwaul” in terror. And the zookeeper appears in his “skivvies” with a shotgun to scare them away. Along the way, readers encounter goobers, rowdies and rubberneckers. They’re sneaky and snookering, they chortle and jabber. Boys wear knickers and women wear house dresses – except Augusta Red – who is the first trouser-wearing female that Woody has seen, and he is instantly smitten with her.
The author incorporates plenty of factual history from this era, as well. Readers meet Belle Benchley, the first female zoo director in the country. Old Man, Woody and the giraffes travel the Lee Highway across the southern United States, outsmarting villains and overcoming obstacles. They encounter natural disaster, desperate poverty and the terrifying reality of violence experienced by Black American travelers.
This novel is filled to the brim with humanity – it’s tender, witty, wise and pure – and page by page it tugs at readers’ hearts. The bonds among the human and animal traveling companions demonstrate the transformative power of friendship and the triumph of compassion over apathy. Near the novel’s end, after living an extraordinarily-long life, Woody says, “I marveled at the power of a soul’s truest story to staunch life’s cruelest ones. I could’ve lived my entire life in the shadow of Dust Bowl miseries and Hitler horrors. Instead such times held less pain because of two animals I once knew.”
The Wine: Seghesio Family Vineyards, 2021, Sonoma Zinfandel, $27.99
The wine is deep ruby. It has medium (+) intensity on the nose with aromas of ripe black cherry, black plum, jammy strawberry and raspberry, dried prune, vanilla, anise and five-spice powder.
It’s a medium-bodied, dry wine with high alcohol, medium acidity and medium tannins that are smooth and supple. It has medium (+) flavor intensity consistent with the nose, but with more pronounced spiciness, especially flavors of anise and allspice, which contribute to it’s enjoyably long finish.
While the wine showcases bold spice and fruit, it also has beautiful balance and softness despite it’s youth and high alcohol content.
This wine is a blend of 83% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Syrah, 3% Alicante, and 4% mixed reds.
Why the pairing works:
Woody, Old Man and the giraffes travel across the United States to California, which is where Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel is produced. Woody dreams of a better life in California, and he’ll do anything to get there. He’s courageous, which calls for a bold wine with intense aromas and flavors; but he’s also foolhardy at times, which could describe anyone who drinks too much of this Zinfandel at 15% ABV. Woody’s first love is a captivating redheaded photojournalist, and so without a doubt, our perfect pair has to be a red wine.
The road trip takes place when Woody is a young man, so our wine is youthful (2021). But he’s retelling the story as an old man, and the Zinfandel grapes in our wine come from old vines. The producer first planted Zinfandel in 1895 and has tended to the vines for five generations.
Zinfandel grapes ripen unevenly within the cluster, so at harvest time you’ll find perfectly ripe grapes alongside those starting to raisin. (It’s called “hens and chicks.”) This is why Zinfandel wines have high alcohol and can display characteristics of unripe, ripe and dried fruits.
Woody’s adventure leaves a lasting impression on him, and this Zinfandel has a pleasant, spicy long finish. And while West with Giraffes is undoubtably a story about an adventure, it is filled with vignettes that speak to larger life lessons; and I think this wine provides enough complexity to give us all something additional to think about.