An international event that happens every four years, the Olympics is the culmination of athletic achievement that captivates spectators from all over the world. We’ve come a long way since the first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896, with more contemporary sports, like skateboarding and breakdancing, added to the roster. This year the Summer Olympics is set to take place in Paris, France at the end of this month. Whether you’re an athlete, a sports enthusiast, or someone who loves a good book and even better wine, these books and bottles are the perfect way to get in the Olympic spirit!

The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey by Rowan Ricardo Phillips
Di Francesco-Gasperi Petite Arvine Valle d’Aosta Bianco 2018

In The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey, Rowan Ricardo Phillips chronicles 2017 as seen through the unique prism of its pivotal, revelatory, and historic tennis season. The annual tennis schedule is a rarity in professional sports in that it encapsulates the calendar year, and is divided into four seasons, each marked by a final tournament: the Grand Slams. Phillips charts the year from winter’s Australian Open to fall’s U.S. Open, painting a new, vibrant portrait of tennis, one that captures not only the emotions, nerves, and ruthless tactics of the game but also the quicksilver movement of victory and defeat, placing that sense of upheaval within a broader cultural and social context. Tennis has long been thought of as an escapist spectacle. The Circuit will convince you that you don’t leave the world behind as you watch tennis—you bring it with you. This bright and bold white wine is beautifully balanced with stony minerality, making it the perfect summer sipper. 

Fast Girls by Elise Hooper
La Bastide Blanche Bandol Rosé 2023

Elise Hooper explores the gripping, real life history of female athletes, members of the first integrated women’s Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes, and Helen Stephens join with others to defy society’s expectations of what women can achieve. As tensions bring the United States and Europe closer and closer to the brink of war, Betty, Louise, and Helen must fight for the chance to compete as the fastest women in the world amidst the pomp and pageantry of the Nazi-sponsored 1936 Olympics in Berlin. While most rosé is made as an afterthought, or a by-product of the estate’s red wine, that is not the case in Bandol! This coastal region is renowned for their rosés, delivering wines like this one with delightful notes of peach blossom, nectarine, grapefruit rind, white pepper, and herbs.

The Rider by Tim Krabbé
Paso a Paso Inmemorial Malbec 2023

Brilliantly conceived and written at a break-neck pace, The Rider is a loving, imaginative, and passionate tribute to the art of bicycle road racing. Tim Krabbé begins this story at the very start of the Tour de Mont Aigoual, ready to race his rivals through the mountains of Central France. Over the course of the 150 pages that follows, Krabbé takes his bike 150 kilometers, and pulls his readers into the life of the sport he loves. This pure and fresh Malbec offers shimmering notes of cherry, strawberry, and plums backed by sweet herbs and delicate spice.

Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox
Sparkling Pointe Brut 2019

Lynne Cox’s relationship with the water is almost mystical: she describes swimming as flying, and remembers swimming at night through flocks of flying fish the size of mockingbirds, as well as being escorted by a pod of dolphins that came to her off New Zealand. She trained hard starting at age nine, working with an Olympic coach, swimming five to twelve miles each day, and eventually breaking world records. Cox has swum the Mediterranean, the three-mile Strait of Messina, and under the ancient bridges of Kunming Lake. No longer interested in breaking records, she writes about the ways in which these swims became vehicles for personal goals, how she sees herself as the lone swimmer among the waves, pitting her courage against the odds, drawn to dangerous places and treacherous waters that have challenged sailors in ships. This lively bubbly from New York showcases fresh and complex notes of citrus, stone fruit, baked marzipan, and Asian pear. 

Tumbling by Caela Carter
Chateau Lamothe de Haux ‘Zeste’ Orange Semillon 2022

Grace lives and breathes gymnastics but no matter how hard she pushes herself, she can never be perfect enough. Leigh, Grace’s best friend, has it all: a gymnastics career, a normal high-school life, and a secret that could ruin everything. Camille wants to please her mom, wants to please her boyfriend, and most of all, wants to walk away. Wilhelmina was denied her Olympic dream four years ago, and she won’t let anything stop her again. Monica is terrified. Nobody believes in her and why should they? By the end of the two days of the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, some of these girls will be stars. Some will be going home with nothing. And all will have their lives changed forever. This orange wine was created from a desire to reflect and give back to nature, resulting in a stunning wine with notes of citrus blossom, orchard fruit, and mouthwatering freshness.