Fritz Allhoff 
Wine and Philosophy 
A Symposium on Thinking and Drinking

In Wine & Philosophy, philosophers, wine critics, and
winemakers share their passion for wine through well-crafted essays
that explore wine’s deeper meaning, nature, and significance

* Joins Food & Philosophy and Beer &
Philosophy in in the ‘Epicurean Trilogy

* Essays are organized thematically and written by
philosophers, wine writers, and winemakers

* Chapters include, ‘The Art & Culture of Wine’;
‘Tasting & Talking about Wine’; ‘Wine &
Its Critics’; ‘The Beauty of Wine’; ‘The
Metaphysics of Wine’; and ‘The Politics & Economics
of Wine’

* Accessible to a general audience while at the same time
covering some serious philosophical ground

* Incorporates traditional areas of philosophical study,
including philosophy of language, philosophy of perception,
aesthetics, metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy

* A great complimentary text to any guided-tour visit to the
Napa Valley or other wineries

Table of Content

List of Figures viii

Foreword by Paul Draper ix

Acknowledgments xi

Planting the Vines: An Introduction 1

Fritz Allhoff

I The Art & Culture of Wine 13

1 Wine in Ancient Greece: Some Platonist Ponderings 15

Harold Tarrant

2 On and Off the Wagon: Wine and the American Character 30

Jonathon Alsop

3 Muse in a Stem Glass: Art, Wine, and Philosophy 44

Kirsten Ditterich-Shilakes

4 In Vino Sanitas 63

Frederick Adolf Paola

II Tasting & Talking about Wine 79

5 Mmmm . . . not Aha! Imaginative vs. Analytical Experiences of
Wines 81

John Dilworth

6 Talk about Wine? 95

Kent Bach

7 Winespeak or Critical Communication? Why People Talk about
Wine 111

Keith Lehrer and Adrienne Lehrer

III Wine & Its Critics 123

8 What the Wine Critic Tells Us 125

John W. Bender

9 Experiencing Wine: Why Critics Mess Up (Some of the Time)
137

Jamie Goode

IV The Beauty of Wine 155

10 You’ll Never Drink Alone: Wine Tasting and Aesthetic
Practice 157

Douglas Burnham and Ole Martin Skilleås

11 Who Cares If You Like It, This Is a Good Wine Regardless
172

George Gale

12 Listening to the Wine Consumer: The Art of Drinking 186

Steve Charters

V Wine & Metaphysics 203

13 Is There Coffee or Blackberry in My Wine? 205

Kevin W. Sweeney

14 The Soul of Wine: Digging for Meaning 219

Randall Grahm

15 The Notion of Terroir 225

Matt Kramer

VI The Politics & Economics of Wine 235

16 Wine-Tasting Epiphany: An Analysis of the 1976 California vs.
France Tasting 237

Orley Ashenfelter, Richard E. Quandt, and George M.
Taber

17 The Old World and the New: Worlds Apart? 248

Warren Winiarski

18 Taste How Expensive This Is: A Problem of Wine and
Rationality 257

Justin Weinberg

19 Shipping across State Lines: Wine and the Law 275

Drew Massey

Notes on Contributors 288

Index 295

About the author

Fritz Allhoff, Ph D, is an assistant professor of philosophy at Western Michigan University. He is the co-editor of Food & Philosophy (with Dave Monroe, Blackwell, 2008). He enjoys, especially, Napa and Russian River wines as well as wine travel around the world.