NEW YORK, Sept 29 — In the latest wine and book pairing, publisher Harlequin, best known for their bodice rippers and romance novels, has teamed up with a California wine maker to launch a trio of bottles for an evening of lusty reading.

The collection, Vintages by Harlequin, has the kind of names you’d find on a Harlequin book title: Wild at Heart, Substitute for Love, and Pardon My Body.

Labels harken vintage love in the 1950s and 60s, when buxom, demure heroines with bouncy hair, pencil-thin eyebrows and scarlet lips were swept off their feet by dark, rugged, chesty leading men.

“Beneath that luscious, full-bodied exterior was a mystery of many layers,” reads the back label for Wild at Heart.

“She was warm and soft, bold and exotic and my passion grew with each encounter.”

The trio includes a chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and a red blend.

Wines are produced by California winery Vintage Wine Estates in Santa Rosa.

Harlequin’s foray into wine follows on the heels of E.L. James who made the natural transition from steamy mommy porn to wine in 2013 with the launch of Grey Red Satin, a red blend of Petite Syrah and Syrah, and White Silk, a blend of Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc.

Vintages by Harlequin are sold exclusively on Amazon.com and available only to US customers and retail for US$14.95 (about RM66). — AFP