“My goal,” Marisa Finetti says, “is simple — to make wine fun and approachable for everyone.”
Finetti is a sommelier and wine writer locally and for industry publications such as Wine Enthusiast and Decanter. Inspired by her son Christopher’s drawings, she recently took up the colored pencils and started illustrating her knowledge. The result is Marisa’s Wine Doodles, an 80-page book available at marisafinetti.com for $20 (which includes shipping) and Amazon for $22.
This is no random collection of doodles but, rather, a curated grouping that’s both entertaining and educational, organized by wine type and varietal. The reader will learn that Champagne bottles have three times a car tire’s pressure. You think you know Grenache? Bet you didn’t know its vines are shaped like goblets. Or that Tempranillo grapes date to Phoenician times of 1500-300 BC.
The book illustrates the aromas and flavors of varietals by equating them to human characters. Chablis, for example, is “late 30s, good energy, transparent personality, happiest with no makeup … ” There are also pairing suggestions, a discourse on research into sommelier brain development that’s been used by Cleveland Clinic scientists, and excerpts from Finetti’s magazine articles.
In her preface, she acknowledges that the playful book provides the basics, not the whole story. “But that’s good,” she writes, “because if I’ve inspired you to look further, ask questions and move out of your comfort zone to try a new wine, it would bring me so much joy.”
Marisa's Wine Doodles
by Marisa Finetti
80 pages, $20.00
Marisa Finetti LLC through Ingram Spark