Starling on the Ebro: A Children’s Book Set Among Rioja Vineyards Wins 2009 Gourmand Prize
A bilingual (Spanish/English) children’s book published by the Fundación Dinastía Vivanco, about a wounded starling who spends a year convalescing in a Rioja vineyard, has won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Illustrated Wine Book.
El Estornino Saturnino en La Tierra de Vino (The Gloomy Starling in Wine Country), by Judith Sáenz de Tejada, “charts a year in a vineyard through the eyes of a wounded starling rescued and adopted by a winemaker in Rioja,” reports Oliver Styles in an item that appeared today on Decanter.com.*
A kids’ book about viticulture might strike a few American readers as a bit incongruous at first, but upon closer inspection, the book is clearly a labor of love, with universal lessons to teach and a lovely, higher purpose in mind.
“In my opinion,” the author says, “that cocktail of wine and culture is all part of the same view of life: love for our past, for the earth and for people.”
Bravo to Ms. Sáenz de Tejada and to the Fundación Dinastía Vivanco.
*I was first alerted to the prize—and indeed, to the book itself—by way of WineTravel.com founder Wink Lorch’s Twitter account.
Click here to see a short video clip about the book by Thirst for Rioja blogger Robert McIntosh.
AUTHOR”S NOTE: As far as I know, this book is not available for sale in the U.S. As soon as I find out how to get a copy, I will let my readers know.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Thanks for the write up. I’ll get details to you of how to get hold of it. I’m working on some solutions now. Anyone desperate for information can follow me on the blog you mentioned or on twitter @thirstforrioja