What wine are you? A Twitter conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea

Just when I thought that Twitter was the biggest waste of time, I had a lovely exchange of tweets with Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Hummingbird’s Daughter. In our “conversation”, I was able to revisit some thoughts about his writing style and the characters in his book. Somehow, we got on the subject of wine—shocking, I know. Here’s an excerpt of our conversation where I am trying to figure out what kind of wine would best complement Urrea’s writing style:

Urrealism: You have to teach me about wine so I don't bring Thunderbird or Boone's Farm Pear Nectar.

WineUnleashed: I have to think about what type of wine you would be, based on your writing style.

Urrealism: It should be bold, yet indecisive. With a piquant bouquet redolent of narcissus and gummy bears. Vino bueno.

WineUnleashed: yes, bold structure but lots of texture, more earthy than fruity, but has to have soft curves to it. I am thinking a Barbaresco.

Urrealism: You're so good.

WineUnleashed: Merely inspired by Teresita & of course, Huila. 

Urrealism: You say the sweetest thangs! We should create a Teresita wine. Cabora Cabernet?

WineUnleashed: umm Cabora might be a tad to warm to create the true nature of Teresita. Or perhaps we could get a Shaman to help too.

WineUnleashed: oh wait...Shaman created beverages... that has been done! It's called Mezcal!

Urrealism: Whoo-whee, Mezcal. Bad mojo. Of course, Absinthe is a shaman's drink too. Goth shamans.

That was great fun. To read the exchange here takes about 2 seconds but in real time, the anticipation of waiting to read what this wonderful writer would say next was, well, intoxicating. I kept thinking about what type of wine he would be, so I came up with this list. The wine, based on Urrea’s writing style, would be:

• Structured, with great attention to detail
• Has an Old World soul
• Earthy
• Textured
• STRONG female character with great sensuality
• Complexity that come with age
• Self-confident and assertive, a strong sense of self and place (terroir on the wine and Urrea being influenced by the strong women in his life)

Out of my recent tastings, I think he would be best matched: Barbaresco: a powerhouse wine, its rich structure has a feminine grace, and it only comes from one place in the world (Piedmonte, Italy). I ventured into New World wines (like a Grenache from Central Coast) but I NEED that Old World soul.

So there you have it, a fun exercise to match a person’s personality, writing style, or cooking style with wine. To finish this train of thought: if Twitter was a wine, it would be wine from a box—accessible to all, friendly, clever engineering.

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