Libation, A Bitter Alchemy

by Deirdre Heekin

For many years, Deirdre Heekin has been creating an unusual, revitalist wine archive of rare and traditional Italian varietals at Osteria Pane e Salute, the nationally celebrated restaurant and wine bar she shares with her chef husband, Caleb Barber. Self-taught in the world of Italian wines, she is known for her fine-tuned work with scent and taste and her ability to pair wines and food in unexpected yet terroir-driven ways. In Libation, a Bitter Alchemy, a series of linked personal essays, Heekin explores the curious development of her nose and palate, her intuitive education and relationship with wine and spirits, and her arduous attempts to make liqueurs and wine from the fruits of her own land in northern New England. The essays follow her as she unearths ruby-toned wines given up by the ghosts of long-gone wine makers from the red soil of Italy, her adoptive land; as she embarks on a complicated pilgrimage to the home of one of the world's oldest cocktails, Sazerac, in Katrina-soaked New Orleans; as she attempts a midsummer crafting of a brandy made from inherited roses, the results of an old Sicilian recipe she found in a dusty bookstore in Naples. Musing on spirits from Campari to alkermes, Heekin's writing is as intoxicating, rich, and carefully crafted as the wines, liquors, and locales she loves.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction

237 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2009

About the author

Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber are the proprietors and, respectively, wine director and head chef of Osteria Pane e Salute, a boutique restaurant and wine bar in Woodstock, Vermont, recently acclaimed in Bon Apptit, The Boston Globe, Travel and Leisure, and Attach. Heekin and Barber grow most of their own produce in addition to working with local farm partners. In preparation for his role as head chef of Osteria Pane e Salute, Barber apprenticed with an artisanal baker and in a small trattoria in Tuscany. Heekin and Barber live in Barnard, Vermont, where Heekin produces artisanal after-dinner brandies and micro-vintage garage wine for the osteria. "

Reviews

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle says much of what this small, well made book has to tell. The author's love of bitter sends her around the world seeking the flavor and collecting it from small producers everywhere for her Vermont restaurant. Really a pleasure to read and think about, thought that taste is not one I favor.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just married and visiting Italy, Deirdre Heekin and her husband, Caleb Barber are swept away by the culture and food. Moving back to the U.S. a year later, they wanted to create a place where the lifestyle of Italy could be explored and displayed.

A bakery in Vermont, Pane E Salute, was born. The bakery began to "change its shape, and before we understood that the bakery really wanted to become a restaurant, we began ordering wine from local purveyors so that we had something to wash down the simple lunches we had begun to offer."

Thus was born Osteria Pane E Salute.

Libation is about this journey, about Heekin's exploration of wine and spirits and its evolution into a quest for revitilization.

And so, in a seemingly futile place for making spirits and wine, Vermont, Deirdre Heekin tells in her book of that journey. The telling of this fascinating journey is verbose and well, boring. Her writing about the soil, totally not interesting to me and yet a writer ought to be able to make even dirt appealing. The details about the wines and spirits could have been pretty fascinating but end up more like a boring professor, great content but a poor delivery.

It is really too bad because the idea for this book is a good one.

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libation through a series of essays tries to be part travelogue, part cultural history of the alcoholic drinks we imbibe, and part anecdotal compilation about making one's own wine. Unfortunately the writing never captivated me, but the by the end I somehow managed to warm up to the book. Perhaps she won me over (somewhat) with her stories of visiting wine making nuns in Italy or her reminisces about vodka while visiting -- of all places -- Minsk, with her spot-on references to Belarusian culture that I experienced myself.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I realized I had already read the word 'redolent' twice, my was over it. I thought it was a bit dull, & read like it was a product from a creative non-fiction workshop. I gave it two stars instead of one because it's just not my cup of tea.

[Bookcell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deidre Heekin describes both the feelings and the processes of the alchemy of various libations. Part memoir-part tribute to the art of making libations-this is one of the most intriguing books I have read in a while.