Over the past couple of weeks here on the American in Pollenzo blog, we’ve started to take a look at the morality and ethics of wine writing.
Before we continue, I wanted to take a step back and start to formulate a list of “functions of wine writing.” It’s inspired in part by (although not based on) Roman Jakobson’s “functions of language” (which I highly encourage you to read if you’re not familiar with his work).
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. I’m hoping that UniSG students and readers of this blog will help out with expanding it and making it more precise. Please feel free to comment with your suggestions. And thanks in advance for your help with this work in progress!
FUNCTIONS OF WINE WRITING
Lyrical
– poetry
– narrative
– music
Figurative
– painting
– pottery
– engraving
– photography
Technical/Educational
– ampelography
– viticulture
– enology
Legislative/Governmental
– appellation regulations
– adulteration/counterfeiting laws
– shipping laws
Descriptive
– labeling
– fact sheets
– tasting notes
– scores/ratings
Commercial
– copywriting
– marketing/promotional materials
Journalistic/Editorial
– guide books
– long-form essays
– monographics
– cartography
– blogging
– micro-blogging
– podcasts
Metatextual/Paratextual
– writing about wine writing
