Barry C. Smith
Interest in wine has steadily increased in recent years, with people far more sophisticated about wine than they used to be. And, inevitably, those who take a serious interest in wine find themselves asking questions about it that are at heart philosophical.
Questions of Taste is the
first book to tackle these questions, illuminating the philosophical issues surrounding our love of wine. Featuring lucid essays by top philosophers, a linguist, a biochemist, and a winemaker and wine critic, this book applies their critical and analytical skills to answer--or at least
understand--many thorny questions. Does the experience of wine lie in the glass or in our minds? Does the elaborate language we use to describe wine - alluding to the flavors of cheese or fruit, or to a wine's "suppleness" or "brawniness" - really mean anything at all? Can two people taste one wine
in the same way? Does a wine expert enjoy wine more than a novice? These questions and others are not just the concern of the wine lover, but go to the heart of how we think about the world around us - and are the province of the philosopher.
With a foreword by leading wine authority
Jancis Robinson (editor of the highly acclaimed Oxford Companion to Wine), this volume will be of interest to anyone who thinks seriously about the experience of enjoying wine, as well as those interested in seeing philosophy applied to the world of the everyday.
Jancis Robinson: Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Roger Scruton: The Philosophy of Wine
2. Kent Bach: Knowledge, Wine and Taste: What good is knowledge (in enjoying wine)?
3. Barry C. Smith: The Objectivity of Tastes and Tasting
4. Jamie Goode: Wine and the
Brain
5. Ophelia Deroy: The Power of Tastes: Reconciling Science and Subjectivity
6. Adrienne Lehrer: Can Wines Be Brawny?: Reflections on Wine Vocabulary
7. Tim Crane: Wine as an Aesthetic Object
8. Steve Charters: On the Evaluation of Wine Quality
9. Gloria Origgi: Wine
Epistemology: The Role of Reputational and Ranking Systems in the World of Wine
10. Andrew Jefford and Paul Draper: The Art and Craft of Wine
Index
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Barry C. Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck College and Deputy Director of the Institute of Philosophy, University of London.
