We think we know how to appreciate wine—trained connoisseurs take dainty sips in sterile rooms and provide ratings based on objective knowledge and technical expertise. In Epistenology, Nicola Perullo vigorously challenges this approach, arguing that it is the enjoyment of drinking wine as an active and participatory experience that matters.

Perullo argues that wine comes to life not in the abstract space of the professional tasting but in the real world of shared experiences; wines can change in these encounters, and drinkers along with them. Just as a winemaker is not simply a producer but a nurturer, a wine is fully known only through an encounter among a group of drinkers in a specific place and time. Wine is not an object to analyze but an experience to make, creatively opening up new perceptual possibilities for settings, cuisines, and companions.

The result of more than twenty years of research and practical engagement, Epistenology presents a new paradigm for the enjoyment of wine and through it a philosophy based on participatory and relational knowledge. This model suggests a profound shift—not knowledge about but with wine. Interweaving philosophical arguments with personal reflections and literary examples, this book is a journey with wine that shows how it makes life more creative and free.

"The act of reading [Perullo's] book is as physically pleasurable as drinking the wines it regularly lands on." - Forbes

"This book is a distinctive, original work with a take on wine that you will not find elsewhere, and many wine lovers will be inspired by the sweeping vision of what wine appreciation can be." - 3 Quarks Daily

"Epistenology is an impassioned and provocative critique of objectivism in the world of wine." - Philosophy in Review

"Whether for a food studies, philosophy, or popular culture course, Perullo’s discussion of wine as experience will open the eyes, mouths, and hearts of its readers to live vulnerably with wine as they never have before." - Gastronomica