Deacon King Kong
James McBride
A drunken church deacon shoots a young drug dealer and sets off a chain of consequences exposing the Cause Houses’ buried loyalties, crimes, and acts of care.
The varietal
Cabernet Franc · North Fork of Long Island, New York
North Fork Cabernet Franc grows on the eastern continuation of the same glacial island as Brooklyn; its bright fruit and earthy, tensile finish suit McBride’s combination of comic velocity and hard social ground better than silkier Pinot Noir or more severe Tannat.
Ask for Fragrant, high-acid savory reds — think Cabernet Franc from Long Island or the Loire
Cabernet Franc can lead with buoyant raspberry and violet before revealing tobacco, pepper, and iron, matching a comedy whose apparent chaos gradually exposes violence, history, and moral structure.
Accessible
~$19
Domaine de la Chanteleuserie Cuvée Alouettes
Bourgueil · Cabernet Franc · 2022–2023
Tart raspberry, violet, graphite, dried thyme, and a lightly peppery finish carried by brisk acidity.
Prose texture
Its rapid turns from fruit to flowers to pencil lead echo McBride’s paragraphs as they pivot from courtyard banter to biblical cadence and abruptly exposed danger.
Refined
~$35
Paumanok Vineyards Cabernet Franc
North Fork of Long Island · Cabernet Franc · 2021–2022
Red cherry, cranberry, cedar, tobacco leaf, and loamy earth with supple but persistent tannins.
Same ground
It is grown on Long Island’s eastern glacial soils, physically continuous with the island beneath the Cause Houses, linking Brooklyn’s built landscape to the agricultural ground beyond it.
Prestige
~$60
Raats Family Wines Cabernet Franc
Stellenbosch · Cabernet Franc · 2020–2022
Black cherry, violet, rooibos, crushed herbs, graphite, and iron unfold across fine, slow-building tannins.
Metaphor
The wine begins fragrant and socially open, then gathers an iron framework with air, following the novel’s movement from Sportcoat’s comic spectacle into the neighborhood’s concealed systems of power and protection.
P.S. If your wine shop doesn't have these specific wines, just ask them for a Fragrant, high-acid savory reds — think Cabernet Franc from Long Island or the Loire.
- Temperature
- 58–62°F
- Glass
- Medium-large tulip-shaped red-wine glass
- Decant
- Serve the Bourgueil after 15 minutes of air; decant the Paumanok and Raats for 45–60 minutes.
- Alongside
- Roast pork shoulder with collard greens and beans, preferably served at a crowded communal table.