306: Wine and Folklore Share Terroir and Storytelling with Jo Penn Author of Blood Vintage

Unreserved Wine Talk

How far would you go for that first evocative taste of an elusive wine? Why should you try wines and books outside your comfort zone? How is folklore as rooted in a sense of place as much as wine is?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jo Penn.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Highlights

What’s the significance of terroir and what are the parallels with a writer’s voice?

How did Jo make sure to capture the sensory details when writing Blood Vintage?

Why does Jo recommend watching the TV show Drops of God?

How did Jo weave folklore and pagan rituals into Blood Vintage?

What is the genre of "folk horror,” and how does it differ from traditional horror?

What was the most difficult part off writing Blood Vintage?

Why did Jo decide to launch Blood Vintage through Kickstarter?

If Jo could share a bottle of wine with anyone, who would it be, and what wine would they open?

Why should you try wines outside your comfort zone?

Key Takeaways

As Jo asks, what will we do for that one more taste, especially of your first great wine that turned you on to wine? Some people spend their lives and fortunes chasing after certain tastes, which is why they get suckered into buying fake bottles for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s a thin, blurry line between obsession and addiction. Sometimes, it’s not simply the taste that compels us; it’s also the experience of recapturing another time, perhaps with a friend or loved one.

Jo is an advocate of encouraging people to try different kinds of wine, without being intimidated by the descriptions that some of us wine writers can use when we get carried away with esoteric or florid prose. Rein it in, Nat! Visiting smaller vineyards is an excellent way to try new wines and to support local winemakers. My advice is parallel to Jo’s when it comes to books. Try something outside your reading genre once in a while. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed her folk horror novel. It expanded my literary taste buds.

Jo explains that folklore includes the traditional beliefs, rituals and superstitions connected to a certain area. It's rooted in the community and very much terroir-based, like wine. For example, in her area of England they have the Green Man which is the face of a fertility god covered in vine leaves. It appears in a lot of their cathedrals with the odd juxtaposition of Christianity and ancient fertility god. What connects them is the place.

About Jo Penn

Jo Penn is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of horror, thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, travel memoirs, and short stories. She’s also an award-winning podcaster. She has a Master's in Theology from the University of Oxford. Her latest novel is Blood Vintage, a folk horror story set in an English vineyard.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/306.