Sotto Voce

Starred review from August 4, 2014
Finnegan’s debut surprises and delights, pairing wine culture with an intoxicating contemporary romance. Thomas Baldwin is one of the wine industry’s foremost critics, traveling the world for New York–based Taste magazine. He’s caught by surprise, however, when his boss gives him a year-long assignment profiling the venerable giants and smaller boutique wineries in California’s famed Napa nd Sonoma counties while planning a tasting event. California vintner Greg Kennedy matches Thomas’s passion for everything related to the vine, as well as for music. Over the course of Thomas’s year on the West Coast, their relationship grows, closely mirroring the vineyard’s seasons. Brimming with technical terms but never inaccessible, this tender romance is wide-ranging and utterly satisfying. It’s a book to be savored and enjoyed from the sweet, light beginning to the subtle middle notes, which culminate in a refreshing, delicious finish.