A dinner party, no matter how decadent and artfully thrown, is nothing unless accompanied by an equally stunning wine list.
At least that’s according to Salvador Dalí.
A follow-up to Les Diners de Gala, the lavishly eccentric 1973 cookbook from the Surrealist madcap reissued by Taschen last year, we finally have its out-of-print companion book: The Wines of Gala.
While the tome contains more than 140 illustrations done by Dalí, the book doesn’t have much in the way of words from the artist. Instead, Dalí turned to a trio of a confidant, an expert and a poet to complement his artwork.
Despite that, the book is still very much a Dalí project. The man selected the wines and organized them “according to the sensations they create in our very depths” in groupings with titles like “Wines of Joy,” “Wines of Sensuality,” “Wines of Aestheticism,” and “Wines of the Impossible.”
Odd yes, but as Dali is quoted, “A real connoisseur does not drink wine but tastes of its secrets.”
Dedicated to Dalí’s longtime wife and muse Gala, the Gala books “apply Dalí’s famously intense obsession with sexuality and desire to food and wine,” according to Punch. Available in two weeks, Amazon Prime members can get the $60 book for $47 and change.
If anything, it’s the perfect gift for the wino in your life.
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