This book examines controversies in American wine culture and how those controversies intersect with and illuminate current academic and cultural debates about the environment and about interpretation. With a specific focus on the United States of America, the methods that we use to discuss literature and other art are applied to wine-making and wine culture. The book explores the debates about how to evaluate wine and the problems inherent in numerical scoring as well as evaluative tasting notes, whether winemakers can be artists, the discourse in wine culture involving natural wine and biodynamic farming, as well as how people judge what makes a wine great. These interpretative commitments illuminate an underlying metaphysics and allegiance to a culture of reason or feeling. The discussions engage with a broad range of writers and thinkers, such as Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Louis Menand, Michael Pollan, Greg Garrard, John Guillory, Amitov Ghosh, Pierre Bourdieu, and Barbara Herrnstein-Smith. The book draws upon not only a number of texts produced by wine critics, wine writers, literary critics and theorists but also extensive interviews with wine writers and multiple California winemakers. These interviews contribute to a unique reflection on wine and meaning. This book will be of great interest to readers looking to learn more about wine from cultural, literary, and philosophical perspectives.

The Spirit of Wine invites readers to discover how the fruit of the vine can deepen one's spiritual life. Internationally acclaimed professor of comparative world religions Dr. Stephen Lloyd-Moffett reveals how a life filled with wine can act as a surrogate for traditional religions and spiritual communities. Whether you are a novice in the Church of Wine or already a devotee, this book will deepen your appreciation for wine by exploring the rich history of oenological conversions, mystical wine experiences, and ancient wine rituals. The book concludes with practical tips, including the secret to creating vibrant wine communities and the virtue of monastically-inspired spiritual drunkenness. Finally, a book that pairs perfectly with a glass of wine.Dr. Stephen Lloyd-Moffett is a professor of Religious Studies at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, amateur winemaker, and caretaker of a backyard vineyard. He holds a Master of Arts and PhD in Religious Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Theology from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. His past research includes studies on comparative mysticism, asceticism, the origins of Christianity, and the cognitive science behind religious experience.

Naturalness is a hot topic in the wine world. But what exactly is a natural wine? For this book, best-selling wine writer Jamie Goode has teamed up with winemaker and Master of Wine Sam Harrop to explore the wide range of issues surrounding authenticity in wine. Sam Harrop initially trained as a winemaker in New Zealand.

A Master Sommelier introduces the basics of wine through scratch-and-sniff stickers.

Provides an introduction to the historical geography of viticulture and the wine trade from prehistory to the present, considering wine as a symbol, rich in meaning and a commercial product of great economic importance to specific regions.

Celebrate the South of France in a winemaker's memoir. Gerard Bertrand, the foremost winemaker of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, tells how, after a career as a professional rugby player, he grew his family's vineyard to an ever-greater level of excellence. Today his award-winning winery offers the full range of the wines of the Languedoc - red, white, rose, varietal, appellation, estate, still, sparkling, and dessert. An avid environmentalist, Bertrand introduced biodynamic farming to his vineyards, and in his search for deeper meaning, he has created quantum wine, an object for meditation, multidimensional and spiritual. His story will fascinate wine lovers and all those interested in making their dreams become reality.

The Aesthetics of Wine shows that discussing wine within the framework of aesthetics both benefits our understanding of wine as a phenomenon, while also challenging some of the basic assumptions of the tradition of aesthetics. Analyzes the appreciation of wine as an aesthetic practice. Tackles prejudices against bodily senses, showing how they distort traditional aesthetic theory Represents the beginnings of a reformulation of general aesthetics