The Physician, the Drinker, and the Drunk

A history of wine and inebriation resulting from minute study of late medieval medical and natural philosophical sources

Why is it so puzzling for people to decide whether to censure wine, or to celebrate it?

In this book, Azélina Jaboulet-Vercherre traces a history of wine drinking by mining historical sources for descriptions of wine's properties. Relying mainly on French and Italian natural philosophical sources, with a special focus on the late Middle Ages, Professor Jaboulet-Vercherre examines and illuminates the disparate – and often conflicting – opinions of writers on wine with respect to both the preservation and restoration of health and the quest for pleasure. She also explores their analyses of wine’s potentially dangerous impacts.

The 13th to 15th centuries were a time when medical experts had profound insights to offer on the subject of wine, opinions gained not from the experimental laboratory, but rather from the steady application of their cognitive skills.
This study bridges gaps in our understanding of the role of wine in late medieval civilization and, by extension, our own.

Azélina Jaboulet-Vercherre received her Ph. D. in History from Yale University in 2011, after a rich set of curricula in Art History (École du Louvre), History (Sorbonne; École Pratique des Hautes Études), Archaeology, and Literature (Sorbonne).
She is now assistant professor at École Hôtelière de Lausanne, where she has created several “Wine History” courses for the Bachelor’s and EMBA programs.