Bookworm, Issue 37

The Book: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

If a written sentence can cause a woman’s death, sending her ghost to haunt a bookstore, can “the most beautiful sentence” persuade the ghost to leave? Flora, the woman-turned-ghost, was bookseller Tookie’s “most annoying favorite customer,” who now won’t go away. The two women have a tangled, painful past, and Tookie must come to terms with it in order to set herself free.

In The Sentence, author Louise Erdrich cleverly weaves together a dose of magical realism with a contemporary narrative set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic and after city police murder George Floyd. Tookie, a smart and independent Ojibwe woman recently-released from prison, and her circle of family and friends, grapple with these collective wounds, as well as historical injustices and personal traumas.

Erdrich’s novel is both layered and nuanced, and our paired wine compliments this complexity. With notes of fresh and dried fruit and savory herbs, this Italian red wine opens up in the glass, sip by sip revealing new aromas and flavors.

From the start, The Sentence compels us to reflect on some difficult American history and recent events, but also suggests that words and stories and community can help us heal. Books and independent bookstores were a lifeline for many people during the pandemic, and this novel celebrates their importance. Tookie works at Birchbark Books, author Louise Erdrich’s in-real-life bookstore.

Tookie’s perspective, behind-the-scenes at Birchbark, is entertaining. She observes a co-worker’s romance and explains “cowbirds,” the self-published books people leave behind on the bookshelves. Tookie is widely read, and I found myself noting her recommendations to customers. The novel even concludes with a seven-page “totally biased list of Tookie’s favorite books.”

After spending 10 years in prison, Tookie now has a stable job, a home, and a loving husband – but Flora’s ghost upends this “life of heaven.” Flora was a white woman who wanted to be Indigenous, claiming an old photograph of an “Indianesque” woman was her great-grandmother. When Flora died, she was reading; and as Tookie starts to read Flora’s book, a 19th-century Indigenous woman’s account of being held captive by white people, she is truly shaken.

Erdrich surrounds Tookie with a rich and relatable cast of mostly-Native characters who experience a range of hauntings, too. What holds these people together – and the novel for that matter – is the strength of their relationships. One of my favorites is Tookie’s relationship with her husband Pollux. Their love story is imperfect (Pollux is a retired tribal police officer and the person who arrested Tookie), but filled with so much care and tenderness.

For example, as Tookie watches Pollux make an eagle feather fan, patiently stroking the feathers over a hot lightbulb to straighten them, she says, “He seemed the picture of human love. I knew the fan was for me. I knew the feathers actually were me – Tookie – straightened by warmth applied a thousand times.”

Connections like the one between Tookie and Pollux, and other relationships in the book, demonstrate the importance of human connection. Together, Erdrich’s characters confront ghosts from the past, the present, and from within. At its core, the novel is for those of us who believe in the power of words and stories, but more importantly, it’s for those who believe in one another and the ties that bind us together.

The Wine: Castello di Monsanto, Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva, Tuscany, Italy 2021 $37.99

Equal parts approachable and profound. Each sip, a chance to observe and discover more personality in the glass. Medium ruby, trending garnet. On the nose, fresh and dried red cherries, ripe strawberries, and orange peel. But also, leather, anise, violet, smoke, caramel, and loads of resinous herbal aromas like eucalyptus, oregano, and sage. On the palate, medium (+) intensity and acidity. Refreshingly tart – sour cherry and cranberry – before softening into a dried-fruit and spice-laden, long finish. Velvety tannic structure, nearly full-bodied. 14% ABV.

90% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo and Colorino. Fermented in stainless steel 18-20 days. Aged in oak for 18 months before 6 additional months in bottle.

Castello di Monsanto has produced this wine since 1962. Laura Bianchi leads the family-run, quality-focused estate in Chianti Classico’s San Donato in Poggio sub-zone. Sustainability is a “guiding principle” and includes vineyard and forest stewardship, soil health, renewable energy, an inclusive workplace, and philanthropy. The Monsanto vineyards sit at 919-1050 feet above sea level in the sunny hills between Florence and Siena.

View beautiful photos of the estate and read more about their sustainability practices on the Castello di Monsanto website.

Why the pairing works:

Wines made from Sangiovese, like our Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva, with notes of herbs, spice, and earth, alongside bright acidity and velvety tannins, feel simultaneously connected to the past and rooted in the present. In this way, the wine compliments The Sentence’s themes of memory and lingering spirits.

Tookie, the narrator, is haunted by Flora’s ghost. But other hauntings are a constant presence as the characters contend with colonial history, racial reckoning, and a world-wide pandemic. Tension between the past and the present figures prominently in the novel. And we experience this tension in the wine, as well, where elevated acidity provides a sense of freshness in contrast to the wine’s weight and savoriness.

Both the book and the wine feel alive and match one another in intensity and complexity. The wine’s tannic structure and wide array of aromas and flavors beautifully develop and reveal themselves over time. The novel is equally layered as Erdrich plays with language to build meaning. For example, in Tookie’s life the word “sentence” provides both a sense of confinement and liberation.

And finally, a note on balance – a necessary component in both novels and in wine. Those of us who love to read are familiar with the sense of community that develops around independent, neighborhood bookstores. The Sentence takes place in Erdrich’s own bookstore, Birchbark Books, and recognizes the enduring power of stories to connect us. Bonds such as these hold this novel together.

A wine comes into balance when all the components – aromas, fruit, sugar, acidity, tannin, and alcohol – are integrated and working in harmony. In the case of our Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva thoughtful farming and winemaking choices produce a refined and nuanced red wine that reveals itself slowly. Fruity, but more savory, structured and full, but not without finesse, this wine is a pleasure to drink.

Chianti DOC is a very large wine producing area in central Tuscany where wine production dates back to the 13th century. Here, Sangiovese is the most planted grape vine. Our wine from Monsanto comes from the smaller, hilly, original historic center between Florence and Siena, Chianti Classico DOCG, where stricter rules govern grape yields and wine aging. In Chianti Classico DOCG, the elevation is higher so grapes ripen slowly in the warm Mediterranean sunshine, but cools nights preserve acidity and herbal aromas.