I suspect most people would agree that the point of drinking wine is to get drunk, or a least tipsy. But I argue in my Three Quarks essay this month, that the norms of wine tasting suggest a much different aim—the formation of community.
The essay is here.
Exploring the Philosophy of Food and Wine 
Really well written and interesting essay. I love the idea that wine tasters are “creating as well as consuming aesthetic meaning.” That description captures the unique experience of wine tasting in a way that’s never occurred to me before.