Vino Veritas Research Articles

Atherosclerosis and Vine

In light of today's scientific knowledge about the causes and process of atherosclerosis, how to explain and interpret the fact, seemingly very illogical, that the French do not have a high mortality from coronary diseases caused by atherosclerosis, despite the high fat content of everyday nutrition? Such epidemiological ilogenicity, called the French Paradox, has been attributed to daily, moderate consumption of red wines, which proved correct [2]. It has been proven that the beneficial effects of red wine in the process of preventing atherosclerosis can be attributed to the effects of the polyphenols present, likewise, these effects do not only apply to red wine, but also to other drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, containing polyphenols [3]. Studies conducted on beer consumption have produced similar results. [18] It should be noted that the effect of alcohol is described by the J curve, suggesting that moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, unlike abstinence and excessive alcohol lovers, where this risk is noticeably higher. This effect of red wine is attributed, among other agents, to a significantly increased concentration of high density lipoprotein (HDL) [4]. The paper discusses the effect of HDL particles on nascent chylomicrons in the lymphoma system, which, by entering the circulatory system, affects possible association with atherosclerosis. After such knowledge of the effects of red wine (polyphenols) on the organism, can it be considered that non-consumption of the same and other polyphenols-containing drinks is a certain risk factor? ( In vino veritas).

Гастрономические зарисовки Древнего Рима в поэме В. С. Филимонова «Обед» (1837)

The article considers Dinner by V. S. Filimonov (1837) as a literary and gastronomic poem. The dishes mentioned by the poet are not only of practical use, they are incorporated into the system of literary relationships, and become a source of intertextual connections and allusions. V. S. Filimonov’s characters taste not only and not so much the dishes and drinks served; they rather taste life itself: over dinner they satisfy their hunger of long-expected meetings with true friends, have polemic conversations, relish literary novelties. The research focuses on the food culture of Ancient Rome. The poem Dinner follows the forming system of images of the Russian Italiana of the 1840s, but its thematic peculiarity allows S. V. Filimonov to show the power, the eternity of Rome from another point of view – the everyday one. Five categories, recreating the picture of the gastronomic life of the great empire, have been singled out: popular phrases and Latin expressions; culinary dishes; names and events; elements of everyday life and customs; quotes from the works of Roman authors. The object of research in this article is the first category: popular phrases and Latin expressions. A transformation of the expressions “edimus ut vivamus”, “non vivimus ut edamus”, “sub rosā”, “in vino veritas” can be traced. A probable source of the Latin expression “nubes exculenta“ for V. S. Filimonov is assumed to be the treatise of a French political leader J. A. Brillat-Savarin. By studying the culinary encyclopedia, dictionaries and cookbooks of the 18–21st centuries, an attempt is made to identify the dishes included in the notion of “nubes exculenta“ (edible clouds). The poem Dinner is compared to the original texts of the Roman authors – Natural History by Pliny the Elder, On Nature, On the Blessed Life by Seneca. The Latin sources have been translated by the author of the article.

ГУСТАТИВНІ ОБРАЗИ МИРОСЛАВА ЯРЕМАКА (НА МАТЕРІАЛАХ ПЕРФОРМАНСІВ)

The article constitutes a segment of the author's research on the representation of social practices through artistic production processes in twenty-first-century Ivano-Frankivsk. It delves into the issue of intercultural communication by examining gustatory themes within the performances of the action artist, Myroslav Yaremak. The study concentrates on actions that revolve around artistic depictions of food and beverages' growth, processing, and consumption, recontextualized within the present culture and politics of a provincial city amidst a globalized backdrop. Furthermore, the article explores the documentation aspects and the societal impact of the performances «Alma mater», «Sower», and «In vino veritas» on the small-town community. The material is organized thematically, revealing content categories such as milk, grain (seeds), and wine as significant markers. The structure of the work revolves around life experiences, meanings, and artistic images. The methodology encompasses semiotic studies by Roland Barthes, performance studies popularised by Richard Schechner, and food studies exemplified in the works of Crystal Neely. It analyses how the chosen categories' meaning and significance, as well as the artist's associated actions, evolve due to changing political or cultural circumstances. The primary empirical foundation of this study comprises self-archived performance artefacts, photo documentation sourced from Ivano-Frankivsk photographers' archives of the 1990s and 2010s, self-descriptions, performance documentation, and interviews with Myroslav Yaremak conducted between 2022 and 2023. The article reveals the process of transforming specific gestural acts into universal ones through ingrained images within daily experiences. It demonstrates how the form of performance and reperformance was shaped by cultural or political history, interpreted through the subjective experiences of the artist and his assistants. Consequently, it portrays gestural acts in the work as mediums of social interaction, wherein recipients (assistants and spectators) become active participants within the artwork.

SUSAN KEEVIL (ed.): In Vino Veritas: A Collection of Fine Wine Writing Past and Present. Académie du Vin Library Ltd., Ascot, Berkshire UK, 2019, 224 pp., ISBN: 978-1-913141-03-5 (hardcover), $45.

SUSAN KEEVIL (ed.): In Vino Veritas: A Collection of Fine Wine Writing Past and Present. Académie du Vin Library Ltd., Ascot, Berkshire UK, 2019, 224 pp., ISBN: 978-1-913141-03-5 (hardcover), $45. - Volume 16 Issue 3

In vino veritas. Wine and its Context in the Uyghur Society: an Insight to the Economic Life of the Silk Roads

This paper deals with viticulture, viniculture and their social context in the Turfan region from the West Uyghur period (9th–12th cc.) up to the end of the Mongol period (14th century). A comparative analysis of narrative sources alongside documents written in Old Uyghur (ca. 10th–14th cc.) and Middle Mongolian (13th–14th cc.) sheds new light on the interplay between wine production, commerce and state interest, demonstrating that wine was already one of the most important staple products of the Turfan region in the earlier period and a commodity of primary interest to the Mongol Empire. The article illuminates Old Uyghur sources’ depictions of ortok partners, stressing how their peculiarities differ from the better-known ortoq partnerships employed by the Mongol aristocracy, and highlights growing interest among the nobility in wine production and the institutionalization of vinicultural assets during the Mongol period. The author argues that these processes mirror changes in transportation and Eurasian interregional contacts under Mongol rule. Finally, despite the scattered and fragmentary nature of these sources on local economy and society, the author argues that they prompt a reevaluation of trade along the Silk Roads.

Eliade et l’exemplarité de Kierkegaard dans Gaudeamus

"Eliade and the Exemplarity of Kierkegaard in Gaudeamus. Eliade's relationship with Kierkegaard began in his youth and has been the subject of serious studies. Those studies analyzed and interpreted passages, which were few in number, in which an explicit reference to the Danish thinker appeared in the scholarly production of the Romanian writer in both his Memoirs and Journals. Kierkegaard's underground influence on Eliade's literary work remained to be studied. In our article, we were interested in the strongly autobiographical novel, written in 1928, Gaudeamus, in which alongside an explicit reference to the Danish thinker, were important elements (in terms of structure, characters, thematic, symbolism, etc.) of the aesthetic writings of Kierkegaard that Eliade had discovered shortly before, notably The Seducer’s Diary and In vino veritas. Our interest focused on the reiteration in both the Kierkegaardian and Eliadian works of the myths of Pygmalion and the Eternal Feminine. It thus appeared to us that it was not only, at times of great existential choices, as he himself asserts, that the example of Kierkegaard was decisive, for Eliade, but also on the literary level. Keywords: Mircea Eliade, Gaudeamus, Kierkegaard, The Seducer’s Diary, Pygmalion "

In Vino Veritas. Klimatologische en socio-economische verklaringen voor de neergang van de Leuvense wijnteelt

In Vino Veritas. Climatic and socioeconomic explanations for the decline of the wine production in Leuven. In the past, wine cultivation in Europe was much more widespread than it is today. However, around the sixteenth century, vineyards disappeared in many regions and wine cultivation was in decline. To explain this, convincing arguments have been made on the importance of both climatic and economic circumstances. By considering explanations from different viewpoints for the case of Leuven, this article explains why no consistent conclusion has been reached in the past. Climatic and economic factors were mutually reinforcing and cannot be considered separately. A combination of unpredictable harvests because of Little Ice Age weather types and small profits due to the unfavourable economic circumstances proved to be the perfect storm that caused the cultivation of grapevines in Leuven to no longer be worth pursuing.

In vino veritas, in aqua lucrum: Farmland investment, environmental uncertainty, and groundwater access in California’s Cuyama Valley

This paper explores the relationship between farmland investment and environmental uncertainty. It examines how farmland investors seek to “render land investible” (Li, Trans Inst Br Geographers 39:589–602, 2014) in spite of drought, groundwater depletion, and changing regulations. To do so, we analyze a single case study: the purchase of 8000 acres of dry rangeland in California’s Cuyama Valley by the Harvard University endowment for use in creating an irrigated vineyard. Drawing from interviews with Cuyama Valley farmers and community members, participant observation at community meetings, and public document analysis, we make two primary contributions to understandings of uncertain resource materiality in farmland investment. First, this case reveals that investors can turn environmental uncertainty into an advantage, exploiting both the temporal uncertainties associated with resource management under climate change and the spatial uncertainties inherent to all subsurface resources. We argue that the material and legal uncertainties of groundwater access provide investors with a potentially lucrative opening to assert their preferred land imaginaries and improve their property values. In the Cuyama Valley they did so through both participation in groundwater governance and the establishment of water-related infrastructure on their property. Second, this case highlights that the asset-making processes involved in farmland investment may be as much vertical as they are horizontal. The need to map and measure the uncertain vertical dimension of land creates an outsized role for scientific expertise in farmland assetization.

James Light: “The Parade of Masks” (c. 1928)

James Light: “The Parade of Masks” (<i>c</i>. 1928)

In vino veritas? Indigenous wine and indigenization in Israeli settlements

In recent years, wineries have proliferated in Israel’s West Bank settlements, some of which are now producing world‐class wine. However, growing grapes and making wine in this context represents more than simply commercial viticulture. These wineries are part of a trend to re‐establish ancient Jewish winemaking practices, which fosters the imagination of returning and reconnecting to biblical sites. Moreover, high‐tech grape science is now being employed to engineer wines from so‐called indigenous varietals to create a wine identity for Israel. Some religious settlers regard these developments as the fulfilment of a messianic biblical prophecy. This pursuit of indigenous wine thus bolsters a religiously inflected historical imagination of indigeneity that naturalizes the Jewish presence in this contested territory. This article shows that claims to authentic indigeneity emerging from viticulture entangle high‐tech grape science, biblical prophecy and an aesthetic connection to the land so that indigenous wine and an indigenous identity are co‐produced in a mutually constitutive process.

“This libation is to the gods of the underworld”: From Miltonic Pandemonium to the Blissful Bower in Kierkegaard’s “In vino veritas”

“This libation is to the gods of the underworld”: From Miltonic Pandemonium to the Blissful Bower in Kierkegaard’s “<i>In vino veritas</i>”

In Vino Veritas? Drunkenness and Deceit in Micah and Isaiah: A Conversation with Richard J. Bautch

When viewed in light of the expression, In Vino Veritas, the notion of drunkenness and deceit in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the prophetic books of Micah and Isaiah, raises certain questions. First, is the phenomenon of In Vino Veritas present in Micah and Isaiah? Second, did Micah and Isaiah have in mind issues of unethical behaviour and social injustice in the allusions to drunkenness and deceit? This article examines the translation of Micah 2:11 to ascertain whether a reading that associates drunkenness and deceit with In Vino Veritas can be considered anachronistic. It also attempts to identify the addressees of Micah 2 in order to locate the text in its historical context. It argues that when read in relation to verses 6-11 and verses 1-5, Micah 2:11 expresses concern about unethical behaviour and social injustice. Unlike in the Micah text however, the probable interpretation of In Vino Veritas in the Old Babylonian sources could apply to Isaiah 28:7 mainly because Isaiah denounced prophets who prophesied under the influence of alcohol.

In Vino Veritas? Critiquing Drunkenness and Deceit in Micah and Isaiah

Zusammenfassung:Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Korrelation zwischen Trunkenheit und Täuschung, zwei Begriffen, die in der Hebräischen Bibel durch שׁכר und שׁקר ausgedrückt werden. Hervorstechende Kennzeichen sind die orthographische Ähnlichkeit beider hebräischer Wörter sowie ihre Nähe zueinander in Texteinheiten dreier prophetischer Bücher. Ich komme zum Schluss, dass שׁכר und שׁקר durch diejenigen, die für Micha, Jesaja und Habakuk verantwortlich sind, literarisch verbunden wurden, um einen Zustand der Trunkenheit und Täuschung zu suggerieren, der mit Israels korrupter Oberschicht und seinem oft eigensinnigen Volk assoziiert wird. In dieser Kritik am Gemeinwesen gehen die beiden dreiradikaligen Wurzeln eine feste Verbindung ein, sodass שׁכר und שׁקר entsprechend einem von Bezalel Porten im Rahmen seiner Jeremia-Studien geprägten Begriff zu einem »Wortklangpaar« (

In Vino Veritas: An Invitation for Ambitious, Collaborative Proteogenomics Campaigns on Plant and Animal Models.

Vitis vinifera has been an emblematic plant for humans since the Neolithic period. Human civilization has been shaped by its domestication as both its medicinal and nutritional values were exploited. It is now cultivated on all habitable continents, and more than 5000 varieties have been developed. A global passion for the art of wine fuels innovation and a profound desire for knowledge on this plant. The genome sequence of a homozygotic cultivar and several RNA-seq datasets on other varieties have been released paving the way to gaining further insight into its biology and tailoring improvements to varieties. However, its genome annotation remains unpolished. In this issue of Proteomics, Chapman and Bellgard (Proteomics 2017, 17, 1700197) discuss how proteogenomics can help improve genome annotation. By mining shotgun proteomics data, they defined new protein-coding genes, refined gene structures, and corrected numerous mRNA splicing events. This stimulating study shows how large international consortia could work together to improve plant and animal genome annotation on a large scale. To achieve this aim, time should be invested to generate comprehensive, high-quality experimental datasets for a wide range of well-defined lineages and exploit them with pipelines capable of handling giant datasets.

Red or white wine consumption effect on atherosclerosis in healthy individuals (In Vino Veritas study).

Consumption of wine has a protective effect on cardiovascular diseases. Data from prospective, long-term, head-to-head comparisons of effects of different drinks on markers of atherosclerosis have been insufficient. In Vino Veritas (IVV) study is long-term, prospective, multi-centre, randomized trial comparing effects of red and white wine on atherosclerosis. 157 healthy subjects were randomized to white or red wine consumption for one year. We did not find increase in HDL-cholesterol in the whole group (1.66±0.58 vs 1.62±0.49, p=0.180) or difference between both groups (1.60±0.53 vs 1.64±0.46, p=0.634). At 12 months there was reduction of LDL-cholesterol in both groups, but with no difference between the groups (3.37±0.75 vs 3.60±1.10, p=0.134); there was no difference between the groups in total cholesterol, CRP, fasting blood glucose and liver function tests. Both groups had comparable differences from baseline in levels of parameters of oxidative stress. We did not find any clinically relevant differences in the lipid profile, CRP, fasting blood glucose and other markers of atherosclerosis, between long-term consumption of red and white wine. Moreover, we were unable to confirm the hypothesis that wine drinking is associated with an elevation of HDL (Tab. 7, Fig. 1, Ref. 30).

In vino veritas: Cultura, educazione e enoturismo nel contesto d'innovazione

The paper presents In Vino Veritas – IVV, a hybrid, pervasive and ubiquitous game, developed in Bento Goncalves, located in Serra Gaucha, Southern Brazil. The goal is to discuss the cultural, educational and wine tourism potential of the IVV, in a context of innovation, including learning in the areas Enology, Gastronomy and History of Italian immigration. The conception and development methodology were inspired by the concept of Living Lab (William J. Mitchell) and the cartographic method of intervention-research (Virginia Kastrup) As instruments were used participant observation, photographic records, audio, text, digital video and interviews. The data produced were analyzed and interpreted from the Actor-Network Theory (Bruno Latour). The results point to the innovation initiatives such as the IVV might contribute in the field of culture, education and wine tourism, articulated through a narrative able to engage tourists in experiences of knowledge, mixing geographical and digital spaces, valuing local culture.

In Vino Veritas and Its Possible Application to 1 Corinthians 11:21: The Revelatory Role of Wine in a House Church Setting in Light of Graeco-Roman Culture

This article investigates the role of wine in the specific context of the shared meal practice in the early Christian community of Roman Corinth. Most discussions of 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 focus upon the poor being neglected in the distribution of food when the church assembles together. This investigation considers a secondary issue in the text: an alternate way of understanding how the drinking of wine may have played a role in one brother judging another under the conditions likely to occur in a house church setting.

In vino veritas? Alcohol, response inhibition and lying.

Despite the widespread belief that alcohol makes the truth come out more easily, we know very little on how alcohol impacts deception. Given that alcohol impairs response inhibition, and that response inhibition may be critically involved in deception, we expected that alcohol intake would hamper lying. In total, 104 volunteers were tested at a science festival, where they had the opportunity to drink alcohol. Stop-Signal Reaction Times (SSRTs) served as operationalization of response inhibition. Differences in error rates and reaction times (RTs) between lying and truth telling served as indicators of the cognitive cost of lying. Higher blood alcohol concentration was related to longer SSRTs, but unrelated to the cognitive costs of lying. This study validates previous laboratory research on alcohol and response inhibition in a realistic drinking environment, yet failed to find an effect of alcohol on lying. Implications of these findings and for the role of response inhibition in lying are discussed.

In Vino Veritas (Presidential Address)

In Vino Veritas (Presidential Address)

In Vino Veritas: Old Wine Markets in New Global Economic Battles

Abstract: Wine markets have supported regional cultures and international alliances for centuries. Renaissance diplomatic and dramatic language refers to French markets, not economies, extending globally from Bordeaux to the Far East. Yet Shakespeare invents our representation of the global economy’s illgotten gains and predatory speculation in wine (and other) markets. Prince Hal leverages the very wine market that he derides obsessively into a narrative of sin and redemption. Hal consummates his narrative by rejecting Falstaff, whom he identifies as an earthly Bacchus. But Burgundy’s pragmatic representation of the excellence of viniculture in Henry V fits the paradigm of sustainable marketplaces in part because the symbolism of fine wine is universally esteemed. Today’s economic crisis proves that the quasi-Hegelian idea of an ethical economy cannot be attained through financial interdependence alone. Moreover, it validates the Renaissance narrative that responsible wine markets improve with age. _________________________________________________________________ Resumen: Los mercados vinicolas han apoyado las culturas regionales y las alianzas internacionales durante siglos. El lenguaje diplomatico y teatral del Renacimiento hace alusion a los mercados franceses y no a las economias, expandiendose globalmente desde Burdeos hasta el Lejano Oriente. Es Shakespeare quien inaugura las representaciones de la especulacion depredadora y las ganancias ilicitas en la economia global a traves de los mercados vinicolas (y otros). El principe Hal provoca el endeudamiento del mercado vinicola que el mismo ridiculiza obsesivamente por medio de narrativas ancladas en el pecado y la redencion, asi como con su relato rechazando a Falstaff, al que identifica con un mundano Baco. Sin embargo, la representacion pragmatica que Borgona hace sobre la excelencia de la viticultura en Enrique V se corresponde con el paradigma de los mercados sostenibles, en parte debido al simbolismo de que un buen vino es valorado universalmente. La crisis economica actual pone de manifiesto la idea cuasi hegeliana de que no se puede conseguir una economia etica unicamente por medio de la interdependencia financiera, e incluso valida la narrativa renacentista de que los mercados vinicolas responsables mejoran con la edad.