A gentleman’s journey, perhaps. A work in progress, to be sure.
Wine and Warfare
*Readers may find the references that follow this essay informative.
Why wine and warfare? Wine and warfare are real, part and parcel of human existence and history. Wine might be a human necessity. Warfare might be intrinsic to the human condition. Both convey truth, although not necessarily goodness. Wine collection and tasting tends to reveal individuals’ character, good or bad. Wine drinking tends to reveal life experiences, joyful or sorrowful. Warfare bears testament to the human capacity for gallantry and brutality, heroism and treachery, sacrifice and tragedy. Both can affect many things. Wine can touch all five senses, whereas warfare can touch at least most of them. Both can stir deep emotions and evoke intellectual reverie.
Wine and warfare can also be mired in “bullshit,” a philosophical concept for evaluating speech and claims without regard to truth or evidence. Wine can attract pseudo-profound, pretentious, and snobbish bullshit. Warfare can attract nationalist and armchair generalship bullshit. Pretentious, snobbish, nationalist, and armchair general bullshit oftentimes attest to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, in part, the tendency of the less skilled to over appraise their skill. Calling ‘bullshit!’ on wine and warfare topics—because both can be full of it—is one of my objectives.
References:
Aqueveque, C. (2018). Ignorant experts and erudite novices: Exploring the Dunning-Kruger effect in wine consumers. Food Quality and Preference, 65, 181–184.
Atir, S., Rosenzweig, E., & Dunning, D. (2015). When knowledge knows no bounds: Self-perceived expertise predicts claims of impossible knowledge. Psychological Science, 26, 1295–1303.
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is Stronger than Good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370.
Campo, R., Reinoso-Carvalho, F., & Rosato, P. (2021). Wine experiences: A review from a multisensory perspective. Applied Sciences, 11, 4488.
Capehart, K. W. (2021). Willingness to pay for wine bullshit: Some new estimates. Journal of Wine Economics, 16(3), 260–282.
Lee, K. S., & Carmer, A. (2024). Calling all wine snobs, shut up and drink the wine. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 36, Article 100926.
Pennycook, G., Cheyne, J. A., Barr, N., Koehler, D., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015). On the Reception and Detection of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit. Judgment and Decision Making, 10, 549–563.
Quandt, R. E. (2007). On wine bullshit: Some new software. Journal of Wine Economics, 2(2), 129–135.
Spence, C. (2020). Wine psychology: Basic & applied. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 5(1), 22.
Young, A. M. (2015). The Politics of Wine and the Style of Bullshit. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 45(5), 472–476.
The Lighter Side
My closest associates and I experience wine (along with other fermented and distilled beverages) from the geography, geology, and hydrology of the place. Riverine confluences, especially those central to wine regions, are known to kick my nerdiness into overdrive. Where applicable, quite typical of Old-World appellations, we also experience wine from the architecture, fortifications, and human history, including warfare, of the place.
Walking Bannockburn, for example, calls for ale or scotch. The experience of standing on Omaha Beach, back to the water, looking up at the bluff, is amplified by cidre, pommeau (my preference), and if the hard stuff is your thing, calvados. In ‘Bottles and Battlefields’, I convey essences of such experiences. Bullion Castle, perhaps the most striking I have laid eyes on, begs a toast in local brew. The pinnacle of tasting experiences entails a fortification standing guard above a river confluence, such as can be experienced at Dévényi vár. In ‘Libations and Fortifications’, I convey essences of such experiences.
I write about wine and warfare in historical contexts, somewhat facetiously. Consider, for example, that before the last few centuries, much fresh water was unsafe to drink. Wine, and other fermentations, were principal beverages. It follows then that many monumental decisions in history, including regarding warfare, were made by inebriated individuals. The Chinese and Romans, among others, tried to prevent raids and invasions by building long, yet generally ineffective walls. This seems like alcohol-influenced thinking. Goth chieftains decided to migrate their peoples southeasterly, from north central Europe to the Pontic Steppe, only to move directly west, before founding the kingdoms that became (wine-producing) Italy and Spain. Suggestions of buzzed cognitive processing here, perhaps? A certain William, then known by a rather ungracious epithet, who hailed from an apple fermentation region, decided that invading England would be a good idea. Once he did, at Hastings, he and his army found that a mead-fueled Viking army had weakened the ale drinking English army enough to win, which afforded him a change in epithet. Thus, drunkenness appears to have played a role in the Bastard being dubbed the Conqueror. Wine and warfare seem foundational to human history, and since I will be history at some undetermined time in the future, I oftentimes write about them while sipping something. A glass of Clos Léopold Gigondas, anyone?
Wine Reviews
If you would you like me to review your wines, please drop me a line.
Tours
A work in progress…