Full Belly Files | Wine & Food Books to Imbibe

A stack of wine & food books that hit my desk. | Credit: Photos by Matt Kettmann

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Aside from when I’m walking the dog, driving, sleeping, or showering, I read almost constantly, given the appropriate conditions. I read while I work, while I eat, while I watch TV, even sometimes while I’m hanging out with friends. But it’s rarely books — it’s newspapers, magazines, and, as you may guess, whatever I can find on my phone or computer.

I am, of course, a big fan of books, it’s just that I rarely find the right time and setting to turn so many pages. And when I do, I usually feel like I need to catch up on classics. Over the last year, for instance, I got into Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi and The Innocents Abroad and, the white whale I never read (and still haven’t finished), Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

Meanwhile, I’m inundated with press releases about the latest titles to hit the market, specifically books related to wine and food. I usually ignore them, unless there is a direct Central Coast connection, as I’ve got plenty to write about already.

But this year’s batch of new titles featured a few that seemed worthy of my time. And once I was saying yes to those, that opened the door to accept other books as well, all of which might be worth your own time.

So I present to you the following roundup, featuring books that could be solid solutions to your holiday needs.

See, I like books. This is the desk where I write this newsletter every week.

FOOD

Steak House, by Eric Wareheim with Gabe Ulla

This book showed up unsolicited, much like the Las Jaras Wines that Wareheim, a famous comedian/actor, produces from around California.

Occupying an undefined niche somewhere between coffee table book, cookbook, tour guide, and meat porn, Steak House is dripping with bloody awesomeness. He landed a book deal to cover 10 legendary steakhouses, but then hit more than 60 in 12 months with vérité photographer Marcus Nilsson in tow. About 30 made the cut, and we get their backstories and recipes presented like a love letter to this American invention.

If you like eating out at all, you’ll never get full of this one.

Perfect for: Meat lovers, nostalgia seekers, hipster cousins who think they’re too cool for you.

WINE GUIDES

Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, and Everyone We Know, by Jordan Salcito

This is very possibly the best wine guide I’ve ever read.

Renowned sommelier Salcito’s tone is friendly and approachable but incredibly knowledgeable and comfortingly authoritative. From describing her own path to breaking down usually technical winemaking details to exploring the various viticultural hotspots of the world, Smart Mouth manages to be entertaining and exhaustive at once.

The combination of accurate information and convivial vibe feels like just what a struggling wine world needs right now. This book teaches you how to love the broad world of wine, rather than telling you which specific wines or regions to like.

Perfect for: Wine lovers of any stripe, especially those just getting interested.

Wine Pairing for the People: The Communion of Wine, Food, and Culture from African and Beyond, by Cha McCoy with Layla Schlack

It’s widely appreciated by now that the wine industry forgot or downright ignored more than half of the world’s cultures for a long time, even as Asian, African, and Latin American peoples were embracing the beverage.

This book by somm/event producer/professor McCoy (and Schlack, my former Wine Enthusiast editor) aims to embrace all cultures. They provide wine information, recipes, and suggested pairings from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, Latin America, and the United States, particularly soul food, barbecue, lowcountry, and creole cooking.

Perfect for: Cooks wanting to try out new dishes; wine lovers in search of new flavor combos; anyone seeking a better world.

Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings, by Aldo Sohm with Christine Mulkhe

One of the most famous somms of his generation, Sohm breaks down the seemingly mysterious world of pairing wine with food while busting up long-accepted truths — white wine with fish, what grows together goes together, etc. — along the way.

The book is very guide-like, with big text, lots of infoboxes, and an almost app-like array of images and bubbles that make for eye-catching content no matter where you turn the page. A straight-through read is almost certain to improve your cooking and wine game, no matter your existing skills.

Perfect for: Detail-oriented oenophiles and cooks; anyone needing a quick leg-up in wine/food knowledge.

FICTION

Killer Vintage, by Eric D. Sanchez

This drug-crime-meets-Texas-wine novel is a fast, fun read, with lots of details on winemaking. There’s plenty of fun dives into the pop culture of the 1990s as well, with ample cop-caper tension pulling the plot along. This is Sanchez’s first novel, but I foresee more, especially as the Texas wine scene continues to explode.

Perfect for: Fans of TV crime procedurals; those seeking winemaking intel told as part of a story; Texas aficionados.

A Night in the Vine, by Patricia Mahon

This novel follows friends who escape L.A. to look for a mysterious “Grape Whisperer” in Santa Barbara County’s wine country, only to become caught on one heavenly estate during a hellish rainstorm. There are plenty of Santa Ynez Valley cameos, specifically Blackjack Ranch, Andrew Murray, Foxen. Demetria, and Zaca Mesa wineries.

Perfect for: Fans of aforementioned wineries; anyone who appreciates wine country-as-plot.

NON-FICTION & MEMOIR

Vintage Crime: A Short History of Wine Fraud, by Rebecca Gibb

This is the paperback release of this 2023 book by Gibb, a journalist and Master of Wine. With academic rigor — the bibliography is nearly 20 pages, and the index exceeds that — yet efficient, engaging prose, Vintage Crime covers the major movement and scandals in wine history, from Rome’s watering down to the Austrian antifreeze incident to the recent cons of Rudy Kurniawan.

Perfect for: The smartest wine lover you know; law enforcement or librarian friends; anyone who loved The Billionaire’s Vinegar.

The Accidental Vineyard: An Old House, New Vines, and a Changed Life in Wine Country, by Richard A. Moran

Burned out by his round-the-clock San Francisco job consulting for high-power CEOs, Moran winds up at an old house in Sonoma County while trying to get his baby to sleep. Soon he’s planting a vineyard and slowing down his life in the country. It’s a charming family tale of redemption, inspiring for those seeking a new path in life (especially if you’ve already got means!).

Perfect for: Middle-age crisis endurers; home & garden renovators; workaholics.

|How to Cook a Coyote, by Betty Fussell

We will soon be publishing a cover story that I’m working on about Fussell’s last book — don’t worry she’s still alive, but she’s done writing. So I’ll just say that this memoir about the famous food writer growing older at Casa Dorinda is a really moving, meaningful read — even for middle-aged men like myself.

Perfect for: Anyone over the age of 40; fans of Fussell; Santa Barbara residents.

From Our Table

Etto’s pasta factory in the Tin City district of Paso Robles | Credit: Courtesy

Here are some stories you may have missed:

It’s also Wine Star Award time at Wine Enthusiast. I was asked to write two of them this year: Barefoot Winery as the American Winery of the Year and WinesU as Importer of the Year.
Leslie Dinaberg harkens back to the TV dinners of her youth to paint a picture of what Dom’s Taverna and Dang Burger are doing with their TV Dinner Matinee Series, starting on December 1.
Leslie also rounds up the bars serving special cocktails this holiday season.
Alice Dehghanzadeh tells us about Danish baker Bent Olsen’s event at Cachuma Lake but also his bakery in Solvang.
I’ve loved Etto Pasta ever since winemakers Brian and Stephy Terrizzi started the noodle company eight years ago. I was excited to hear that they are now being served in Goleta schools, where the the district’s food director Hannah Carroll turned out to be just as stoked as me. Here’s the story.
I gathered the wines to pair with Chef Daniel Kim’s meal at Rincon Hill Farm for Jacques Pepin’s 90 for 90 birthday celebration last week. And then I wrote this story about it.
A couple of my stories based on my June trip to the Languedoc wine region of France came out via Wine Enthusiast recently. Here is the 2025 buying guide I created and here is a nonbylined promotional piece about AOP Languedoc.