Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters

Jonathan Nossiter, acclaimed filmmaker and former sommelier, had his first taste of wine at the age of three in Paris, from his father's fingertip. For him, wine is "memory in its most liquid and dynamic form," as essential an expression of culture as cinema, books, baseball, painting, even sex. With great wit and passion, he celebrates wine and its enthusiasts—and defends both from those who tell us what to drink and how to think about it.

In Liquid Memory, the American expatria…