Wine in history: Pleasure, debauchery, and sumptuary laws
From the “gaily debauched citizens of Locri’ in seventh-century BCE Greece, to the misconceived project of Prohibition, Stuart Walton looks…
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Wine in history: Drinking with Cleopatra
We know that Cleopatra was a woman of “capacious and unabashed appetites,” says Stuart Walton. But which wines were fit…
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The origin myths of wine
Wine was a gift of the gods in most antique Mediterranean civilizations, says Stuart Walton. And for those of us…
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Wine in history: A tax on pleasure
Discontent with wine tax was one of the catalysts for the French Revolution, says Stuart Walton, who wonders if taxes…
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Wine in history: Medicinal properties
Wine has long been thought to have medicinal properties, says Stuart Walton, who looks at the ways in which it…
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Wine etiquette in history: Connoisseurship, moderation, and faux pas
From Ancient Greek and medieval strictures on serving sizes, to modern anxieties about serving temperature, Stuart Walton negotiates the elaborate…
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Wine in history: Wine glasses (and other receptacles)
Stuart Walton on the long history of drinking vessels, from gourds to the changing fashions of modern wine glasses. In…
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Wine in history: Tales of adulteration and fraud
From the inventive witches’ brews of 18th-century fortified wine shippers, to the elaborate homespun fakes of Rudy Kurniawan, Stuart Walton…
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