Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Drugs that are Tolerated and Forbidden
2. Alcohol and its Effects
3. The Ancients and Religious Rituals
4. Wine, Self Certainty and Philosophy
5. Paying Bacchus his Due
6. Wine and the Moral Vacuum
7. American Health Warnings
8. Wine as an Accompaniment to Thought
9. Wine as Something to Live By

Promotional Information

Here Scruton explains the connection between good wine and serious thought with a heady mix of humour and philosophy.

About the Author

Sir Roger Scruton is widely seen as one of the greatest conservative thinkers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and a polymath who wrote a wide array of fiction, non-fiction and reviews. He was the author of over fifty books.

A graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge, Scruton was Professor of Aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London; University Professor at Boston University, and a visiting professor at Oxford University. He was one of the founders of the Salisbury Review, contributed regularly to The Spectator, The Times and the Daily Telegraph and was for many years wine critic for the New Statesman. Sir Roger Scruton died in January 2020.

Reviews

If you are searching for an interesting gift for the wine buff in your life, this will last a lot longer than another bottle of wine ... The greatest joy of this book is the appendix where [Scruton] suggests what wines to drink with different philosophers' works. It is irreverent and funny, but at the same time, wise.
*The Bookbag*

By turns challenging, enjoyable, thought-provoking
*Times Literary Supplement*

[Scruton's] indisputable passion for wine will send you off to your next glass better informed and more thoughtful than before.
*Metro*

[Scruton] writes deliciously ... this book is a marvellous read - provocative, spicy, balanced and brimful of wise words ... it is hugely recommendable.
*The Oldie*

A good-natured and witty exploration of the wine-drinking phenomenon, from its place in Christian worship to a sojourn down at the local bar.
*Good Book Guide*

I have never met Roger Scruton, though I would like to ... Scruton's book is for people who are already wine lovers and want to link their pleasure to a greater world outside
*The Spectator*

They don't come much more knowledgeable than Roger Scruton ... light-hearted but thought-provoking
*Bath Life*

He is by turns interesting, fatuous, informative, cranky, outrageous, rhetorically self-indulgent, and insightful...For general readers, and especially Monty Python fans, this book is great fun.  Summing Up: Recommended.
*CHOICE*

[Scruton is] clearly a man of remarkable energy, art and scope ... [An] entertaining experience.
*The Australian*

Scruton liberally dispenses nuggets of wisdom throughout his book and very effectively uses personal narratives to make his case... the patient reader and drinker has much to glean by following the author's gustatory and thought-provoking journey in the world of wine.
*The European Legacy, Volume 16, Number 5*

A novel approach...there are nuggets of wisdom and insight.
*The Herald*

[An] elegant defense of wine and its place in society ... offers a window into an unusually original, subtle, and independent mind: the mind of a gifted philosopher ... all wine lovers should feel compelled to read him.
*The World of Fine Wine*

The third chapter is one of the finest expressions of reverence to French wines I have ever read - perfect for curling up with in front of the fire, with a large glass of claret.
*The Scotsman*

[Scruton] is no slouch when it comes to wine ... the first part of the book combines a memoir of his development as a "wino" (his word) with some useful tips and factoids ... in the book's second part ... he is good on wine as the expression of a place and community, on the nuances of intoxication and on the social beneficence of buying rounds.
*The Observer*

Spendid ... partly a serious guide to the wines of France, Italy, and Spain and (if you must) the "New World", it is also very funny ... this is one of Scruton's most enjoyable books, uncorking much wisdom, and concluding with a wicked guide to the right drink to take while reading various philosophers.
*The Guardian*

Witty and philosophical.
*The Daily Telegraph*

[Written with] customary brio
*Times Higher Education*

Roger Scruton's 2009 memoir I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher's Guide to Wine is a splendidly convivial fireside draught... A sweet hymn to Bacchus.
*www.theguardian.com*