Wild
Cheryl Strayed
This needs a wine with trail dust, smoke, pepper, and a firm structure that becomes more generous with air: muscular enough for the ordeal, but not polished enough to erase it.
The varietal
Syrah · Mountain and plateau sites, anchored by Washington’s Columbia Valley
Syrah beats Cabernet’s polish and Pinot Noir’s delicacy here: its pepper, smoked-meat savor, and dusty tannin evoke campfires, injured feet, and exposed trail, while Washington connects directly to the journey’s northern culmination.
Ask for Peppery, high-structure reds from exposed terrain — think Syrah from Washington, Chile, or Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
Syrah carries smoke, iron, dried herbs, and black pepper while its tannins relax noticeably with air, reproducing the memoir’s movement from abrasion and burden toward hard-won openness.
Accessible
~$19
Domaine des Tourelles Syrah
Bekaa Valley, Lebanon · Syrah · 2021–2022
Blackberry, cracked pepper, dried thyme, warm earth, and a dusty, savory finish.
Terroir mirror
Grown on Lebanon’s high, sun-struck Bekaa plateau, it translates the memoir’s early desert miles into fruit marked by heat, herbs, and dry earth rather than lush sweetness.
Refined
~$32
Polkura Syrah
Marchigüe, Colchagua Valley, Chile · Syrah · 2020–2022
Blueberry and black olive lead into smoked meat, graphite, pepper, and tightly grained tannins.
Metaphor
Its initially severe tannic grip loosens after air without disappearing, mirroring how the pack, grief, and trail remain heavy even as Strayed learns to carry them.
Prestige
~$65
Gramercy Cellars Lagniappe Syrah
Columbia Valley, Washington · Syrah · 2019–2021
Wild blackberry, violet, green peppercorn, smoked bacon, iron, and mineral tension unfold across a long, cool finish.
Same ground
Washington fruit places the final bottle near the memoir’s northern destination, with the Columbia Valley’s windblown loess and basalt supplying the dust, rock, and exposure of the landscape east of the Cascades.
P.S. If your wine shop doesn't have these specific wines, just ask them for a Peppery, high-structure reds from exposed terrain — think Syrah from Washington, Chile, or Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley..
- Temperature
- 60–62°F
- Glass
- A medium-large Syrah or Bordeaux glass with a tapered rim
- Decant
- Decant 30–45 minutes; give the Gramercy closer to an hour when young.
- Alongside
- Pepper-crusted lamb with charred onions and rosemary potatoes, preferably after a long walk.