Drinking in the words

This week, you’ll have to forgive me for being a little indulgent with my hobbies, but I recently saw that a US-based canned wine brand and a trade publishing group have paired up to create an exclusive bookclub. This is music to my ears.

The US canned wine brand in question in Une Femme Wines, partnering with Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House. 

The co-branded social series sees one Une Femme wine (Bubbly Brut, Bubble Rosé, Unoaked Chardonnay or Red Blend) paired with a featured title authored or co-authored by a woman. At the end of May, Une Femme’s canned wines were paired with Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, one of the year’s most talked-about novels and a New York Times bestseller (also one very high up on my next to-buy list). Yesteryear explores concept of a ‘trad-wife’ social media influencer being suddenly transported to the 19th century, forced to live without the luxuries of modern life and society.

Future featured titles in the bookclub include Land by Maggie O’Farrell (the author who gave us the incredible Hamnet), Someone Else’s Husband by Kimberly McCreight and Beginning, Middle, End by Valeria Luiselli.

Virtual bookclubs became all the rage during Covid-19 when nobody could socialise in person. I joined two: one that took me out of my comfort zone with random genre picks and one firmly within my comfort zone of historical fiction. It’s sad to remember it now, but one of the highlights of my week was getting to see which canned drinks I could secure in our local supermarket, as new flavours were still thankfully being circulated. The summer of 2020 and 2021 saw me get through a lot more books than usual, and a great deal of fizz.

Even though I’m glad the lockdown eras are over, the joy of picking my potion and my next read hasn’t left me. In fact, I’m still part of those two virtual bookclubs, with friendships from them that have thankfully ‘made it out of the group chat!’

While I’m slightly sad I’m not US-based to reap the benefits of Une Femme Wines’ bookclub, I can still technically join in. We’ve recently been sent some Moth canned cocktails, so when the sun’s out in the evenings, you’ll find me carefully nursing a powerful mango tequila. For something non-alcoholic, I have Twinings’ Refresh sparkling tea – a freebie from Bell’s recent Women in Tea & Coffee event in London – which features delicious raspberry, lemon and hibiscus flavours.

My two book picks for the above beverages, respectively, are: The Artist by Lucy Steeds and The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow. The Artist is a heady summer read, set in 1920s Provence and centring around a journalist’s attempt at uncovering the secrets behind a reclusive artist’s masterpieces. The Other Bennet Sister is a hug in book form, giving Jane Austen’s Mary Bennet her rightful time in the spotlight (there’s also a brilliant series of this, which is available to watch in the UK and US, I believe).

Enough about me, though, time for a call to action… Book and can lovers, we want to hear from you! Email over your book and canned beverage pairings, and we can create our own CanTech Bookclub recommendations. Bonus exposure will be given to anyone who sends in photos. We’ll look to feature these in a future magazine edition. Happy reading!

Alex Rivers (she/her), CanTech International editor
Keep in touch via email: [email protected], LinkedIn: CanTech International magazine or X: @CanTechIntl