It’s never too late to be an up-and-coming writer. Just ask Joe Lertch, 72, (pictured above, left) the owner of The Vineyard Wine Bar in Havre de Grace, and Mark Robinson, 69, (right) a food and wine enthusiast who lives in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The two men co-authored their first cookbook at the end of November, a five-year labor of love. And they’re going to do it again—books two and three are already in the works.

Their first book, The Art of Spice & Wine Pairing: Simple Recipes to Enjoy Everyday (self-published, $44.95), offers just what the title advertises, featuring recipes like Chive and Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin and Spicy Cayenne Shrimp Tacos, with detailed chapters on wine grapes. The recipes are accompanied by Mark Robinson’s mouthwatering photography.

Both men started cooking at a young age: Lertch in Neptune City, New Jersey, at age 8 when he made a botched egg breakfast for his parents that prompted him to keep trying; Robinson in his native Sydney, Australia, where Graham Kerr and his cooking show The Galloping Gourmet stirred his culinary curiosity. They met when Robinson, who relocated to the U.S. for a job in the printing industry, had dinner at Lertch’s Harford County wine bar and restaurant.

Soon, Robinson was helping Lertch with his business website, and together they launched The Wine Matrix on YouTube, exploring topics like “How to Open a Bottle of Wine Without a Corkscrew While Staying at Your Hotel” and “Using the Right Glassware.”

Tell me what made you decide to write a cookbook?
JL: We get a lot of customers at The Vineyard Wine Bar because we’ve got a nice selection of retail wines. They’ll say they’re preparing dinner and want a good bottle of wine. I’ll ask, “What kind of spices are you using? How are you preparing it?” My decades in the wine industry have enabled me to process what the spices are and how the meal is being prepared, so I can pick out a bottle of wine.

But my hours have trimmed back, and there are times when I’m not there. I told the staff that I’m going to get a book on spice and wine pairings so that they can use it as a reference. But I couldn’t find any books on spice and wine pairing, so I started writing down what spices go with what wines.

Why did you add chapters on wine grapes?
JL: A lot of times, people come into the Vineyard, and they’re very intimidated by wine. We want to make it easy for them to understand. So I started putting together a chapter on indigenous white grapes and white wines, what country they come from, and how to pronounce them phonetically. I did the same with red grapes. It’s so much easier if you look at a grape and know how to pronounce it, what flavors it works with, and what spices it works with. That takes the intimidation factor away.

How did Robinson get involved?
JL: Mark is a very talented chef, a great food photographer, and an audio-video whiz. I started running things by him, and he began collaborating on the book, eventually taking over the spice section. The next thing you know it’s four-and-a-half years later, and we decided this could be a great reference tool for any home kitchen, any professional kitchen, and even for someone getting carry-out food.

How did you decide which spices to include?
JL: It started turning into what looked like a set of encyclopedias because we had so many spices. We said, let’s determine the top 15 spices that basically every kitchen is going to have and every grocery store is going to carry. Mark worked his magic and started putting together recipes with his own photos.

How did you pair the spices and wine with the recipes?
MR: We looked at the flavor profile. It’s like if you walk into a restaurant, and the sommelier comes to your table, and he asks you a couple of questions. What wines do you currently drink? Are you interested in stepping outside of the box? The book is the same concept.

Where did you get the recipes?
MR: They came from different places—from family, from my mother, from meals Joe and I deconstructed. We each have had a great opportunity to travel around the world for business and for pleasure and go to different restaurants. You come back with ideas and deconstruct what a meal tasted like.

How would you describe the recipes in the book?
MR: You don’t have to be a CIA-trained chef to be able to do them. They’re meant to take 30 to 40 minutes, so you can come home from work and make one of them.