Bookworm, Issue 30

The Book: Reel Bay: A Cinematic Essay by Jana Larson

In November, 2001, a young Japanese woman died near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, while looking for hidden money from the movie Fargo. If Takako Konishi understood that Fargo was a work of fiction, and whether she truly was searching for the money, is unclear. But when author Jana Larson reads a short news article about Takako’s death, her own story, Reel Bay, begins.

Larson, a struggling film student, decides to follow Takako's likely footsteps from Minneapolis to North Dakota and back to Minnesota, in hopes of making a film. But her trip introduces more questions than answers and does not produce the material she needs for her film. Instead, it sets in motion a years-long commingling of two women’s lives, resulting in this strange and stirring book.

The author’s obsession with Takako’s life is at the core of Reel Bay, but the novel’s wide-ranging plot is difficult to sum up. With few facts to guide her, Larson searches for the “real” Takako. Her path is circuitous, and so I’ve paired this book with a wine that can be troublesome to identify in blind tastings, even for trained professionals. Our wine, a semi-aromatic white from France, is among those Master Sommelier Tim Gaiser calls the “evil dwarves.”

In Reel Bay, an unconventional mix of memoir and screenplay segments, as well as shifting points of view, differentiate the storytelling from more mainstream literature. For example, Larson begins the first chapter with a screenplay, only afterwards revealing that “you are the woman in the scene,” as she switches to writing in second-person. Throughout, the writing immerses us in the author’s plight as we simultaneously sense Larson losing herself in Takako’s story.

Those of us who have been deeply involved in a creative project can identify with the author’s fixation. Larson is determined to tell a story that feels truthful and meaningful to her, but must confront “the point at which there are no more facts.” Her struggle is compounded by the realities of filmmaking. In one agonizing scene involving rental equipment, student volunteers, an actor, and fake snow, Larson attempts a complicated test shoot inside her apartment. An eight hour effort yields three minutes of film before the lighting overloads the building’s power and the crew subsequently abandons her.

Uncertainty permeates these pages, a refreshing alternative when society appears to value absolutist thinking time and again. Repeatedly, the author flounders and her mental state suffers, but she doesn’t give up. In fact, she digs deeper, probing the parallels between Takako’s life, her own life, and the lives of all women. The feelings she confronts – emptiness, driftlessness, doubt, and wanting – are uncomfortable. But she continues to seek “a way back into her own life.”

Reel Bay rewards curious readers, not with a tidy resolution, but with emotional complexity and opportunity for introspection. The truth the author seeks lies beyond the facts; and so, even when her and Takako’s interwoven stories are difficult to fully comprehend, they can be fully felt. In the end, sadly, Takako is still dead. But Larson manages to turn her own confusion into something beautiful, an empathetic remembrance and an invitation to be true to yourself.

The Wine: Domaine Huet, Clos du Bourg, Vouvray Sec, 2018, France $43.99

Medium gold, floral, richly textured, and delightfully alive. A sip evokes an orchard stroll on a lazy, early-autumn afternoon in the countryside. The golden light and crisp breeze are infused with apple aromas – tart, ripe, and dried – as well as honeysuckle, white blossom, fresh nectarine, river rocks, honey, ginger, and dried hay.

On the palate, find honey-glazed baked pear, lemon tart, and a hint of yellow grapefruit peel. The wine is dry, with medium alcohol at 13.5% ABV and mouthwatering acidity alongside a chalky sensation. Texturally and aromatically complete. An exquisite wine with a long finish that lingers like the dream of this fine day.

100% Chenin Blanc from the 6-hectare walled and ancient Clos du Bourg vineyard, which “many consider…Vouvray’s finest single site.” According to importer The Rare Wine Co., “It has the estate’s shallowest, stoniest soils and produces wines of great depth and richness.” Grapes are hand harvested, pressed from whole bunches, and fermented with indigenous yeast in a 50/50 mix of stainless steel tanks and large, old oak casks. After racking, the wine spends winter in neutral barrels before bottling in spring.

Domaine Huet was founded in 1928 when Parisian bistro owner Victor Huët fled the city for the Loire Valley after WWI. His son Gaston took over in 1937, and despite spending five years in a German POW camp during WWII, he established Huet as one of the appellation’s finest estates. Huet is known for high-quality, cellar-worthy wines from three great vineyards, Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont, and Clos du Bourg.

Later, Gaston was joined by his son-in-law Noël Pinguet and vineyard manager Jean-Bernard Berthomé. But in 2003, the estate needed a financial partner and was purchased by New Yorker Anthony Hwang. Today Hwang’s children and Vouvray native Benjamin Joliveau manage the vineyards and winemaking and carry on the Huet legacy.

Why the pairing works:

Throughout Reel Bay, author Jana Larson struggles to understand and make a film about Takako Konishi. Her questions – “Who was (Takako)? Why did she become so obsessed with (Fargo)? Why did she make this last fateful trip?…How did she get so lost?” – only lead to more confusion. And so, our paired wine is one that can create anxiety for students of wine in blind tasting practice and exams.

Loire Valley Chenin Blanc from Vouvray is among the white wines that Master Sommelier Tim Gaiser calls the “evil dwarves” because they are easily confused for one another. The other semi-aromatic grapes/wines in the set include Spanish Albariño, Austrian Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Gris from Alsace, Northern Italian Pinot Grigio, and Riesling from Alsace.

These wines share color and fruit characteristics, so to tell them apart, students must assess structural differences (sweetness, acidity, body, alcohol, tannin in red wines) and a subset of aroma and flavor “impact compounds.” Impact compounds come from grape chemistry, the vineyard, and winemaking technique. To identify Loire Valley Chenin Blanc, Gaiser recommends looking for floral notes from terpenes and possible honey characteristics from botrytis.

You can read all about the “evil dwarves” on Tim Gaiser’s blog. And, if you want even more detailed instruction about how to become a skilled taster, I highly recommend Gaiser’s book Message in the Bottle: A guide to Tasting Wine.

And finally, a few additional notes about why I enjoy this pairing. While the story and writing in Reel Bay is unconventional, our Domaine Huet Clos du Bourg is a classic example of Vouvray. With no new oak influence, the wine’s fruit flavors sing alongside racing acidity and textural richness. The wine’s complexity compliments the book’s strangeness, but its freshness stands in contrast to the feelings of emptiness and unknown wanting that Takako might have felt and that Larson herself experiences.