by Adriana Anders
I used to hate doing
research… until I started writing romance. I’m pretty sure it’s because
research isn’t a boring trip to the library anymore. It’s crazy internet
searches on natural poisons and tattoo removal, hours-long conversations with
hot Jiu-Jitsu instructors and trips to wineries (tastings included).
The third book in my
Blank Canvas series, In His Hands, takes place on a winery in the Blue Ridge
Mountains of Virginia. The location is loosely based on Ankida Ridge, which is possibly the most
beautiful winery around, and well-worth a visit. Oh, and the wine is fabulous. For this book, I spent a day
with one of the lovely owner/winemakers at Ankida and learned a ton of useful things about wine. Here are just a few other things I've learned along the way:
- Grape juice is clear before
skins and stems add color.
- The hole used to take samples
of wine from a barrel is called a bung-hole and the instrument used to
take the sample is a thief.
- Famous mathematician Pythagoras
invented a gag wine cup meant to keep folks from over-imbibing. When
overfilled, the contents are drained entirely.
- During the Prohibition, California grape growers sold a grape concentrate,
with the instructions, er, warning, "After dissolving the brick in a
gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for
twenty days, because then it would turn into wine.
- Naked winemaking, anyone? Yes!
In some places (although not at Ankida Ridge), people still perform pigeage by
jumping into a vat of fermenting grape juice in the buff. Read more about
it at Food
and Wine.
- In a pinch, you can always open
a bottle of wine with your shoe. Here is the video showing
how it’s done.
- Did you know there's a
WineandMen Instagram account? Oh, yes there is.
There's lots more winemaking fabulousness coming from Sourcebooks Casablanca in June 2017. In the meantime, Under Her Skin, the
first book in the Blank Canvas series will be out in February! Here's a bit about the book:
Her Body is a Canvas
A darkly possessive
relationship has left Uma alone and on the run. Beneath her drab clothing, she
hides a terrible secret—proof of her abuse, tattooed onto her skin in a lurid
reminder of everything she’s survived.
Caught between a
brutal past and an uncertain future, Uma’s reluctant to bare herself to
anyone…much less a rough ex-con whose rage drives him in ways she can’t
possibly understand. But beneath his frightening exterior, Ivan is gentle.
Warm. Compassionate. And just as determined to heal Uma’s broken heart as he is
to destroy the monster who left his mark scrawled across the delicate tapestry
of her skin.
Pre-order Under Her Skin
About Adriana:
Adriana has
acted and sung, slung cocktails and corrected copy. She’s worked for start-ups,
multinationals and small non-profits, but it wasn’t until she returned to her
first love—writing romance—that she finally felt like she’d come home. Today,
she resides with her tall French husband, two small children, and fat French
cat in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she writes the dark,
emotional love stories of her heart.
Read more: www.booksmarttarts.com
Good to know I can always use my shoe to open a bottle of wine in a pinch.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably best that I didn't know about that trick in my 20s! :-)
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