What wine should accompany Lychee Granita with Creamy White Chocolate Yogurt, Pink Grapefruit, Campari Jelly and Hibiscus Flowers? Bet we’ve got you there. According to François Chartier, author of Taste Buds and Molecules (Wiley, 240 pp., $37.50), the perfect pairing would be a Gewürztraminer from Alsace or an Austrian Scheurebe. (He also tells us how to assemble said dish.) Chartier has spent years researching food and wine, identifying basic aromatic compounds that make for harmonious pairings. In this book, named Best Cookbook in the World at the 2010 Paris World Cookbook Awards, he shares his research (and his recipes) promising to open up new worlds of taste to wine lovers. Got a wine geek in your life? Here’s the perfect gift. The illustrations are gorgeous, too. www.tastebudsandmolecules.com
