Following grands crus: global markets, transnational histories and wine

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Description/Abstract

Starting from the premise that wine is a commodity which could be defined at the intersection of nationalism, ‘distinction’ deployed by a wealthy group of international consumers and Western European viticulture, this article seeks to engage with recent methodological debates about global and multi-sited ethnography. By examining the changes that have affected French viticulture over the last twenty years, French wine culture will be analysed against the background of globalisation and in terms of transnational practices and representations by focusing on the production of culture ‘in place’. Through a series of ethnographic encounters, the grands crus story is discussed in the light of recent debates about terroir, ‘distinction’, taste and place. I argue that transnational consumption creates new meanings and representations which disconnect the product from its original birthplace, but translate it within a new context of consumption