A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow tells the story of a Russian aristocrat living under house arrest in a luxury hotel for more than thirty years.

 

After the Russian Revolution Count Alexander Illyich Rostov, aristocrat and bon vivant, is placed under house arrest in Moscow’s most luxurious Hotel Metropol. Not in his usual suite but in a tiny attic.

 

From here he watches the world change around him while he maintains a daily routine from a breakfast of fruit and coffee to nightly brandy. He spends his days befriending hotel staff, fellow guests, and receiving visits from old friends.

Rostov is a true gentleman—intellectual, elegant, and perfectly correct. He truly knows wine and deeply understands the romance and roots of terroir. Indeed wine is pivotal in the story and features in a number of important scenes.

 

In one chapter, Bolshevik officials decide that the hotel’s wine cellar is “counter to the ideals of the Revolution.” The hotel staff is forced to remove labels from more than 100,000 bottles, and the restaurant must sell all wine for the same price. The Count—who sees himself as a wine expert—is horrified.

 

Victoria Daskal has sourced four of the wines featured in the book A Gentleman in Moscow for the September subscription box.

 

This limited edition box is also being offered as part of the Chiswick Book Festival and will contain 4 specially selected wines, a copy of A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, and an invitation to a virtual discussion on the wines featured in the book which takes place on Wednesday September 15th at 8:30pm.