Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenors:
-
Marion Demossier
(University of Southampton)
Sarah Yoho (University of Leeds)
Peter Howland (Massey University)
Christopher Kaplonski (Anthroenology)
Clelia Viecelli (University of Southampton)
Send message to Convenors
- Format:
- Panels
- Location:
- SO-D320
- Sessions:
- Thursday 16 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Stockholm
Short Abstract:
The panel "Wine Mobilities" seeks to examine the trope of mobility in the wine sector by looking at the roles of "flying winemakers", wine producers, experts, and consumers as well as the circulation of wine stories at transnational level and their impact on our understanding of the world.
Long Abstract:
Anthropological inquiry into wine studies opens a unique and distinctive window onto complex processes of Globalisation defined as time and space compression (Harvey 1989). While mobility has long been a topic of study in anthropological research, those working in the field of anthropology of wine have not given sufficient attention to the theme of staying, moving and settling against the hegemonic context of terroir ideology. Unlike food, wine as a global commodity has a multifaceted transnational social function which extends deeper than other commodities due to its intoxicating and pleasurable effects. It connects people through space and time, and it does so not only through consumption, but also the deployment of stories, the sharing of knowledge and emotional bonds, and the remembrance of special convivial encounters. Mobility is, therefore, central to its existence.
The panel "Wine Mobilities" seeks to examine the trope of mobility in the wine sector by looking at the roles of "flying winemakers", wine producers, experts, and consumers as well as the circulation of wine stories at transnational level and their impact on the global wine industry. Wine Mobilities invites exploration into how wine producers and wine consumers craft their own life histories through mobility, and what kind of values and meanings they give to their own professional and lay practices through their experiences of Globalisation.
We welcome case studies engaging with wine mobility and what they tell us about the world we live in.
Keywords: wine, stories, globalisation, mobility, modernity
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 16 August, 2018, -Paper short abstract:
This study attempts to uncover the association between taste and story of the wine that has defined the character and meaning of certain place. Here, storytelling can serve to delimit the distinctive taste of a particular place; in turn, this special taste will help determine the value, identity and renown that defines said area. This interaction which I explore I term ‘narrating the taste.’ It dynamically contributes to the development of the certain place as a result of political, economic and cultural agency. More specifically, I also attempt to uncover how this interrelationship serves commerce and tourism by placing it firmly within contemporary Chinese context.
Paper long abstract:
The taste of food, although primarily associated with flavors as experienced through physical processes, appears to also be strongly influenced by symbolic meaning and social function. Indeed, over the past two decades anthropologists and sociologists have begun paying greater attention to the social and cultural aspects of the taste of food; their studies link taste initiation with memory, emotion, gender roles, cooking practices, social class, gastro-politics, as well as embodiment and commodity. This study, which presents the findings of fieldwork into wine production in China’s southwest province of Yunnan, attempts to uncover the association between taste and story that has defined the character and meaning of the region’s wine. Here, storytelling can serve to delimit the distinctive taste of a particular place; in turn, this special taste will help determine the value, identity and renown that defines said area. This interaction which I explore I term ‘narrating the taste.’ It’s a dynamic that encompasses not only the particular things within a specific place, but that which contributes to the development of the place as a result of political, economic and cultural agency. Based on this interaction of narrative and taste I try to overcome divisions between linguistic meaning and the embodiment of practice. More specifically, I also attempt to uncover how this interrelationship serves commerce and tourism by placing it firmly within contemporary Chinese context.
Key words: narrative, taste, wine
Paper short abstract:
This paper problematizes local notions of terroir. Beliefs around wine production and the meanings Istrian winemakers give their wines are challenged by their exposure to international production standards and travel to international trade events.
Paper long abstract:
Winemakers in Istria, Croatia say that 'wine is alive'. This paper problematizes local cosmologies around the agency of wine and vineyards and how these cosmologies are challenged by winemakers' increasing exposure to western wine conventions and definitions of terroir.
Winemakers believe that wine communicates between barrels in cellars, where old wine may express feelings of jealousy towards newly harvested and fermenting wine through actions such as secondary fermentation, turning to vinegar, or becoming volatile. Grapevines may also communicate with wine to indicate their phase of growth and prepare the cellars for eventual harvest. Winemakers are attuned to such expressions and plan work in cellars and vineyards accordingly. They also hold beliefs around the influence of the moon and weather patterns on the lively activities of their wines, both during and after fermentation.
Wine is also said to be alive because of the micro-biological components allowed to exist in it. Indeed, wine that is pasteurized or otherwise stabilized through the use of chemicals is considered dead and thus unhealthy for human consumption.
Such beliefs are cast into new light as winemakers increasingly travel to international wine trade events and are exposed to modern production practices, and engage in conversation with visiting foreign tourists with their own wine knowledge.
However, Istrian traditional beliefs extend our understanding of local notions of terroir and what meaning winemakers give their wines. This paper reflects on these changing beliefs and how winemakers reconcile them against the demands of the international standards increasingly defining their industry.
Paper short abstract:
After Moldova lost its main export market for wine, the postsocialist winemaking country has been forced into articulating new wine (his)stories and identities compatible with the globalized wine market which is centered on Old World countries and dominated by the terroir ideology.
Paper long abstract:
Crafting an identity suitable for the international wine market has been the priority of Moldova's wine sector in the post-2006 years, when Russia set the first ban on Moldovan wine imports. Since then, the main actors in the wine sector - the public-private National Office for Vine and Wine and the private wineries - have been pushing for legislative and organizational changes, and strived to develop strategies to encourage a 'right wine culture' among Moldovan winemakers and consumers. Some of the priorities of these actors have been the implementation of a Protected Geographic Indication system, developing marketing strategies in individual wineries as well as creating a country brand, 'Wine of Moldova', to participate with in international exhibitions and contests. Being historically an export-oriented industry with up to 90% of the wine going abroad, the sudden loss of a large, traditional market forced the sector into articulating new wine (his)stories and identities and start speaking the language of the globalized wine market which is centered on Old World countries and dominated by the terroir ideology. By tracing how historical dependence on a single market and local narratives on 'wine culture' interplay with the recent strategies for mobilizing wine on the western markets, this paper unpacks the tensions between the possibilities of the postsocialist republic and the expectations of a globalized wine market.