“The Facts About Enjoying Wine,” an article, 66-69.

“The Facts About Enjoying Wine,” an article, 66-69.

A feature-length article on how to consume and appreciate wine.

“Our ignorance about wines and the art of enjoying them is one of the secret scandals of the civilized world,” writes the author S.S. Field. They proceed with a field guide to table wines, constantly mentioning that “civilized peoples” ought to know this information in order to truly be civilized. Again, buying and consuming certain types of alcohol is associated with membership in the upper echelons of society. The article contains factual information on what constitutes certain types of wine; for example, it says that if more than 51% of the wine comes from a certain grape, the wine will bear that grape’s name (i.e. “Cabernet”). It encourages readers to “keep a ‘cellar notebook’” to document their experiences with different wines. It advises readers on how to store wine: “never… in a place where the temperature may go above 70 degrees or below 45.” It outlines the various types of wine appropriate for different categories of food: read meat or game, fowl, desserts, cheeses, nuts, coffee. The article focuses mostly on the rules and rituals surrounding wine, indicating the importance of alcohol in the social rituals of American culture.

Marney Kline

Cosmopolitan Magazine

Hearst Corporation

November 1953

Magazine article