Last week, the Service95 Book Club launched our first-ever Book Tasting, built around two of our favourite pastimes: discovering new wines and sharing our favourite reads. The concept? It’s all in the name. Guests were invited to sample four different books, the way you might a glass of wine: judging the appearance, the body, the notes... All while sipping on a thoughtfully paired wine chosen to complement each book’s theme, tone or setting. A gorgeous pairing of flavour and fiction.
For our sold-out event, we took over BookBar, the neighbourhood bookshop-meets-wine-bar in north London, to bring together our Service95 community for an evening of conversation and discovery.
Drinks were poured by the team at New Theory, the natural wine label known for making bottles that don’t take themselves too seriously – and for turning traditional wine tastings into raves. This time, though, things were a little more intimate. With New Theory’s very own Tlangi Mahange guiding the room through each pour, guests moved through the pairings with tasting cards in hand, comparing notes and novel excerpts.
The idea was simple: what happens when you match a story to a taste? Can a wine create similar feelings to a book? Turns out, yes. The energy in the room said it all: strangers swapping stories, books passed around as talking points starters, and wine and conversation flowing all night long.
Here are the wines and reads we paired together on the night...
Pot Luck (a lively South African pét-nat) was matched with All Fours by Miranda July – a surreal, sexy novel that fizzes with unpredictability.
White Lies (a skin-contact Pinot Gris) sat alongside The Guest by Emma Cline – crisp and quietly dangerous, like the book’s enigmatic lead.
Love Bite (a chilled red with softness and lift) met its match in Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – full of warmth, nuance and emotional depth.
And Growing Pains (a richer red, aged and brooding) paired perfectly with Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero – a bold and radiant coming-of-age tale set in 1980s Madrid.
As the evening drew to a close, each guest left with a copy of their favourite of the four books and, hopefully, a deeper sense of connection – whether that was to the stories, the flavours, or simply the new people they met. What’s for sure is that this will be the first of many more Book Tastings. Keep your eyes peeled for the next one...
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