Plenty to wine about at gala

JAY McInerney brought his own wine and caviar to PEN America’s Literary Gala — despite the upscale black-tie affair’s open bars with free-flowing vino and a full meal served to guests.

In a roomful of literary heavy hitters under the iconic whale at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday night — including Zadie Smith, Masha Gessen, Hari Kunzru, Gary Shteyngart and Gay Talese — spies noticed that the “Bright Lights, Big City” writer was acting as his lucky table’s own personal sommelier, ignoring the wine on the table and uncorking and serving no fewer than 10 bottles that he brought and stashed on the floor.

When we asked the scribe what he served, McInerney shared, “I brought five bottles of white Burgundy and five of red Burgundy.” For any oenophiles, the Chez Jay selections included a “2013 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet Clos de Mouchere. And 1999 Domaine Chezeaux Griotte-Chambertin.”

He also brought along “a ton of caviar.” (The PEN America gala does honor “free expression,” after all.)

McInerney — whose wine writing includes the tome “A Hedonist in the Cellar: Adventures in Wine” — told us, “I often bring my own wine to these events. Always enough for the whole table.”

Also at the event, Margaret Atwood and Penguin Random House partnered to create “The Unburnable Book,” a custom fireproof edition of her novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In a video announcing the project, Atwood was seen attempting to torch a prototype with a flamethrower. The singular copy is made of nonflammable pages and is being auctioned off by Sotheby’s to raise awareness on book bans.

Michael Douglas honored jailed Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko, and Sen. Cory Booker gave an award to Audible founder Don Katz. Presenters also included Ruth Negga and “Billions” breakout Kate Dillon.