Aug. 31, 2023
By guest author Lettie Teague from the Wall Street Journal.
ANYONE CAN PAIR wine with food, but it takes a special sort of talent to pair wine with a book.
It’s not a talent I possess, but after chatting with several owners of combined wine bar/bookstores recently, I know who to ask. A wave of these blended businesses have opened in the past several years, attracting bookish oenophiles, while other, more-established operations are still going strong.
When I stopped by the Bookstore & Get Lit Wine Bar The Bookstore & Get Lit Wine Bar | Lenox, Mass.
last month it was not an hour when I would want to drink wine—though technically I could have ordered a glass, since the bar observes the same operating hours as the bookstore (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, until 4 p.m. on Sundays and “sometimes evenings as well”). While 10 a.m. was too early for me to want Prosecco, at USD Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar | Asheville, N.C.
My first bookstore-wine-bar foray took place seven years ago when I visited the Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar. The grand two-story space in the historic Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville is luxuriously outfitted with comfortable leather sofas and towering shelves of books. The wine list includes some well-chosen Champagnes.
Both the wine and book stocks have been upgraded since my visit according to Donna Wright, a Champagne lover who oversees the wine selection. Wright co-owns the space with her husband, Thomas Wright, who is in charge of the books. They’ve added a kitchen, a chef and a menu, too. One further addition: a sign that reads “No laptops. It’s a bar. Talk to each other.” Nobody has complained, Wright said: “It’s gone over really well.”
Matt Tannenbaum has owned the Book Store since 1976 and added the adjoining wine bar in 2010. He buys all the books, a wide-ranging, thoughtful selection of contemporary and classic works. With some help from his friends he chooses the wines, served in a cozy space nestled next to bookshelves.
Book Club Bar | New York City
Laptops are banned after 6 p.m. at Book Club Bar, a stylish library-like wine bar/bookstore in Manhattan’s East Village. When I showed up one afternoon, every seat at the wooden bar was taken. (If patrons wish to read books from the store at the bar, they must buy them first.)
The book selection at Book Club Bar is extensive. The list of wines offered nine by the glass the day I stopped by, all quite reasonably priced. I can’t remember the last time I paid USD u8 for a decent glass of Vinho Verde at a bar in New York.
Co-owner Erin Neary is in charge of buying the books; her husband, Nat Esten, oversees the wine selection—and now liquor as well, as they got a full liquor license in May. “We wanted to combine two of our favourite things and create a cozy space where people could read,” Neary explained. Business has been so good that the couple, who opened their store in November 2019, has been scouting for a second location in Manhattan or Brooklyn.
Wine 3 Buzzed Word Photo: Alex Ashman
The Buzzed Word | Ocean City, Md.
The Buzzed Word was an Instagram account focused on pairing natural wine with books before its creator, Mickie Meinhardt, turned it into a bricks-and-mortar shop in July 2021. Meinhardt had moved home to Ocean City from Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2020 to take care of her mother when she had the idea to open her store, partly as a service to the community. “There hadn’t been a bookstore here since I was in high school,” she recalled.
The books are an eclectic mix of titles chosen by Meinhardt, and the wines are natural wines from around the world priced at USD 11 a glass. Meinhardt also sells wines by the bottle retail and will add a USD 10 fee to open and serve them in the store. “People come in for the books and find they can have a glass of wine,” she said. “The two businesses complement one another.”
Drink Books | Seattle, Wash.
Bibliotheque | New York City
Father and son team Dr. Andrew Jacono and A.J. Jacono have grand ambitions for Bibliotheque, their bookshop/wine bar slated to open in SoHo this fall. “We want to be a cultural hub,” said Dr. Jacono.
There is nothing in SoHo quite like what they have planned, he added. The Bibliotheque wine list will include some 2,000 bottles, with an extensive selection of pricey wines—about half sourced from the doctor’s personal cellar—as well as more affordable options chosen by Bibliotheque wine and beverage director Scott Woltz.
The wine list will be divided into sections akin to those in a bookstore: Short Stories, Classics, Romance and so on. A.J. Jacono, a fiction writer and founder of the Spotlong Review, a literary and arts journal, will oversee the selection of books. There will be original art on display as well as poetry readings and movie screenings, said Dr. Jacono. “We really want it to be a more elevated experience.”
Bibliotheque | New York City
Father and son team Dr. Andrew Jacono and A.J. Jacono have grand ambitions for Bibliotheque, their bookshop/wine bar slated to open in SoHo this fall. “We want to be a cultural hub,” said Dr. Jacono.
There is nothing in SoHo quite like what they have planned, he added. The Bibliotheque wine list will include some 2,000 bottles, with an extensive selection of pricey wines—about half sourced from the doctor’s personal cellar—as well as more affordable options chosen by Bibliotheque wine and beverage director Scott Woltz.
The wine list will be divided into sections akin to those in a bookstore: Short Stories, Classics, Romance and so on. A.J. Jacono, a fiction writer and founder of the Spotlong Review, a literary and arts journal, will oversee the selection of books. There will be original art on display as well as poetry readings and movie screenings, said Dr. Jacono. “We really want it to be a more elevated experience.”
Book Cru
In 2019, Kim Kent started online as a book-and-wine club for which subscribers paid a monthly fee in return for a novel and a bottle of wine along with tasting notes. Two years later, she made her business a store in the Phinney Ridge neighbourhood of Seattle. There Kent sold natural wines and books together until August 2023, when the building was slated for demolition.
Before launching the club and store, Kent worked in many Seattle restaurants and as managing editor of a small university press. Now, she plans to continue Drink Books as a retail pop-up and a book-and-wine club online (drink-books.com), offering local pickup in Seattle. She will also continue to ship books, but not wine, to customers nationally.
Kent reads every book she sells and tastes every wine, too. One of her pairings matched “Malina,” a novel by Austrian poet and writer Ingeborg Bachmann, with the 2020 Anne-Sophie Dubois Fleurie l’Alchimiste, a terrific Beaujolais cru. “This month’s wine is one that’s existed in my consciousness for some time,” she wrote. “Not forgotten, per se, but waiting…And while distortion is the word I would use to describe Bachmann’s narrative magic, transformation is more appropriate for Dubois’ brand of alchemy.”
Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar Photo: Amanda Hoffman
Vintage proprietor Jean Buckner was working for Facebookwhen she had the idea of opening a wine bar/bookstore in her hometown of Austin. She had dreamed of owning a bookstore since she was a child, but Buckner the adult knew the profit margin on books was quite slim. She needed a complementary business, and wine seemed like an obvious choice.
After four years of planning, Buckner opened Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar in October 2022. The space is sophisticated—tall dark-wood bookcases and upholstered sofas—but welcoming, too. “We want to be Austin’s living room,” said Buckner. Book titles, new and used, currently number around 2,000, and the wine list, chosen by Buckner, features 29 by-the-glass offerings such as the Wade Cellars Three by Wade Chenin Blanc (USD 14) and Zardetto Prosecco (USD 10). Wines by the bottle are usually priced at four times the glass price. Once a month Buckner highlights an in-state winery. “We want to raise awareness of Texas wine,” she said.
Drink Books | Seattle, Wash.
Wine 3 VVVV
In 2019, Kim Kent started Book Cru online as a book-and-wine club for which subscribers paid a monthly fee in return for a novel and a bottle of wine along with tasting notes. Two years later, she made her business a store in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle. There Kent sold natural wines and books together until August 2023, when the building was slated for demolition.
Before launching the club and store, Kent worked in many Seattle restaurants and as managing editor of a small university press. Now, she plans to continue Drink Books as a retail pop-up and a book-and-wine club online (drink-books.com), offering local pickup in Seattle. She will also continue to ship books, but not wine, to customers nationally.
Kent reads every book she sells and tastes every wine, too. One of her pairings matched “Malina,” a novel by Austrian poet and writer Ingeborg Bachmann, with the 2020 Anne-Sophie Dubois Fleurie l’Alchimiste, a terrific Beaujolais cru. “This month’s wine is one that’s existed in my consciousness for some time,” she wrote. “Not forgotten, per se, but waiting…And while distortion is the word I would use to describe Bachmann’s narrative magic, transformation is more appropriate for Dubois’ brand of alchemy.”
Wine 4 Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar | Austin, Texas
Vintage proprietor Jean Buckner was working for Facebook when she had the idea of opening a wine bar/bookstore in her hometown of Austin. She had dreamed of owning a bookstore since she was a child, but Buckner the adult knew the profit margin on books was quite slim. She needed a complementary business, and wine seemed like an obvious choice.
After four years of planning, Buckner opened Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar in October 2022. The space is sophisticated—tall dark-wood bookcases and upholstered sofas—but welcoming, too. “We want to be Austin’s living room,” said Buckner. Book titles, new and used, currently number around 2000, and the wine list, chosen by Buckner, features 29 by-the-glass offerings such as the Wade Cellars Three by Wade Chenin Blanc (USD14) and Zardetto Prosecco (USD10). Wines by the bottle are usually priced at four times the glass price. Once a month Buckner highlights an in-state winery. “We want to raise awareness of Texas wine,” she said.
Wine 5 Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar | Austin, Texas
Wine 6 VVVV