Finding Meaning in Wine

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 book, Finding Meaning in Wine by Michael Sinowitz is written from an interesting perspective ? interesting in that Mr. Sinowitz is a Professor in the English department at DePauw University in Indiana.  He?s a wine aficionado, with an obvious interest in going beyond the basics of what wine is about, and a particular interest in what those of us who write about it have to say, and whether it?s helpful or not."

Rich Cook, winereviewonline.com

"This book is an English Professor?s application of literary analysis to wine... this book is interesting, thoughtful, and stimulating. I highly recommend it... In short, Michael Sinowitz?s approach to understanding wine writing, wine tasting, and the art and culture of wine is unique and helpful to those of us who do the tasting and writing."

Donald Winkler, International Wine Review

"The most interesting and challenging aspect of Michael Sinowitz?s new book, Finding Meaning in Wine, is his argument that our worldview?our personal set of beliefs?often shapes our approach to wine, as growers, makers, journalists or drinkers."

Joshua Greene, Wine & Spirits

?In this complex book about wine in the US, which has an autobiographical flavor, [Sinowitz] reports his conversations with California wine makers and wine writers. An English professor, Sinowitz borrows heavily from literary theory in his discussions, drawing upon cultural, literary, and philosophical perspectives and quoting writers not usually associated with wine such as Roland Barthes and Pierre Bourdieu. In brief, this is a book for intellectuals who enjoy wine and wonder why."

D. M. Fahey, Emeritus, Miami University, Ohio