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Since grape juice was first fermented, wine has captured the human imagination, engaging us in a uniquely personal way. According to authors Evan and Brian Mitchell, wine—more than any other organism, aesthetic object, or experience—reflects what it means to be human. The Psychology of Wine: Truth and Beauty by the Glass parts company from the overwhelming majority of books on the subject in that it is neither a profile of some aspect of the industry, nor a collection of tasting notes. Rather, readers are invited to explore the body, mind, and soul of wine from the perspectives of flavor, metaphor, geometry, gender, and human characteristics, including beauty, honesty, and subtlety. Attention is paid also to the historical, geographical, and psychological roots of our affinity with wine and to how the language of wine is intimate to our desires, habits, customs, and culture. Entertaining and highly informative, this book will lead readers to think about wine in fresh and challenging ways.
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The Psychology of Wine
The Psychology of Wine Truth and Beauty by the Glass
Evan Mitchell and Brian Mitchell
PRAEGER An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
Copyright C 2009 by Evan Mitchell and Brian Mitchell All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mitchell, Evan. The psychology of wine : truth and beauty by the glass / Evan Mitchell and Brian Mitchell. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-37650-4 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-31337651-1 (ebook) 1. Wine and wine making—Popular works. 2. Wine—Psychological aspects. I. Mitchell, Brian, 1938– II. Title. TP548.M665 2009 641.20 2019—dc22 2009009733 13 12 11
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This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Prologue Part I Wine, Mind and Soul 1 Drinking Antiquity 2 The God of Wine 3 The Happiest of Happy Accidents 4 What’s in a Number . . . ? 5 The Life of the Vine 6 In Vino in Memoriam 7 The Nature of Terroir 8 What You Won’t See on the Label 9 A Flight of Wines 10 An Unexamined Life, an Undrunk Wine
vii 1 3 5 9 13 28 31 44 48 52 56
Part II The Language of Wine 11 Turning Wine into Words 12 Flavors Weird and Wonderful 13 ‘‘Bottled Poetry’’ 14 Why Wine Appreciation? 15 The Other Side of Appreciation 16 For Better or for Worse 17 The Geometry of Wine 18 Is It a Boy or a Girl? 19 The Fifth Dimension
61 63 67 71 76 79 84 93 98 105
Part III How Wine Describes Us 20 Games People Play 21 ‘‘Truth That Peeps over the Glasses’ Edge . . .’’ 22 A Beautiful Wine
113 115 123 131
vi 23 24 25 26 27 28
Contents
Wine and Mammon The Tyranny of Terroir Merry, Merry Meritage Empty Vessels The Death of ‘‘Generation Wine’’? A Very Human Thing
Notes and References Index
143 149 156 164 170 177 181 197
Prologue
It’s white, or it’s red—what more’s to be said? Well, plenty. ‘‘A bottle of wine,’’ Louis Pasteur observed, ‘‘contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.’’ But how to pry into the wine and tease its insights out? How to say what they’re about? And then . . . what does the wine tell about us?
PART I
Wine, Mind and Soul
One
Drinking Antiquity
A white to start. I