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

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.