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  Introduction

  Charles S. Taylor

  These essays tell stories from a journey that began over 50 years ago. Beginning my final year of college I planned to attend law school and and then contribute as I could to the search for solutions to the societal problems so dominating those times. A passage in Plato (Republic III 405a) was the catalyst to an unanticipated realization that I would pursue my goals more authentically teaching philosophy at the college level. In Spring two years earlier (1968) I had already made an abrupt change abandoning a chemistry major and to study in Vienna, Austria for a year. My interest in wine did not arise in that year but the seeds that soon grew into my passion for wine were planted in a Viennese Weinkeller. I cannot say which – philosophy, university teaching or wine – was least expected at that moment to be guiding my intellectual travels for the next 50 years.

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  I. Expect the Unexpected: Heraclitus, Kant and the Æsthetics of Fine Wine

  Charles S. Taylor

  Actually, you do not even have to taste this wine,” said the owner of a high-end fruit market who, due to his own passion, sold wine as well. “Just smell it!” He was right. I opened that 1947 Giacomo Borgogno Barolo Riserva a year later to celebrate my wife’s 35th birthday, when the wine was also 35 years old. I expected that the wine would be good, a library release only one year earlier from what was considered the best Barolo vintage of the 20th century by a well-regarded producer. The wine was wonderful to smell and, indeed, to taste. More significantly, it was so different from other Barolos I had tried that its unique character was stunning.

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  II. Contemplation and Fine Wine: Tasting with Saintsbury, Schopenhauer, and Pater

  Charles S. Taylor

  One never knows when it will happen. I went to my cellar to choose an accompaniment for a chestnut soufflé and a 1995 Domaine Huet Vouvray Clos du Bourg Demi-Sec returned with me . Before opening that wine, I had a set of informed questions...

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  III. Tasting Dwelling Thinking

  Charles S. Taylor

  It started simply enough. Wanting something not yet tasted I brought from the cellar a barely 6-year old 2009 Fattoria di Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico. Had it turned the corner into its optimal drinking window? Six years is usually a bare minimum for these wines to get through their early awkwardness while reports said the 2009’s were early-maturing. A pleasant surprise, it was delightful. Chianti aroma and taste as well as the harmonious, full-spectrum profile one expects even from an entry-level Felsina Chianti were all in place. Based on that experience I opened on the next opportunity a 2009 Badia a Coltibuono. Historically slow to evolve, it was, as well, in its early maturity — presenting its own classic form of Chianti Classico. Its angularity and deeper tone disclosed Gaiole origins in contrast to its cousin from close-by Castelnuovo Berardenga. Both were quite simply spot on, as good as Chianti Classico can be. If only things were that simple!

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  IV. Gifts of Taste: Discussing Wine With Heraclitus and Friedrich Hölderlin

  Charles S. Taylor

  It happened on a weekday evening. Dinner was Pasta e Fagioli and I would have chosen a wine from Tuscany. But, in my cellar a thought arose to explore, and a 19-year-old 1999 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Sorì Paitin ended up on the table. A new pairing 1 plus a wine from a new-to-me producer I had waited 15 years for it to mature provided opportunities. Pasta e Fagioli should be a fine accompanist to the wonderful softening taste of a maturing Barbaresco from the good 1999 vintage. The pairing worked well enough to repeat. That was merely the prelude.