Burgundy: A global anthropology of place and taste

Abstract

For centuries, Burgundy has been widely recognised as the home of the world’s finest wines and as the birthplace of a model of ‘terroir’ connecting taste to place. That concept was given legal form during the 1930s when the French state developed the system of Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées (AOC) emphasising the relationship between a given place, its micro-climatic characteristics and local culture incarnated by wine-growers and their traditional techniques. The story of terroir seemed to guarantee the taste of place and to justify the high price of purchase for this closed gustatory experience. This model has proved incredibly attractive and has rapidly expanded to become more global and it now provides a counter-story to that of globalisation, standardisation and industrialisation by challenging the vast array of anonymous, mass produced foods and beverages available to the consumer.
Yet as the Burgundian model of terroir has gone global by acquiring UNESCO world heritage status, its very legitimacy has been challenged amongst the vineyards where it first took root. Questions about quality, place, taste and sustainability are being asked by the new generation of young wine-growers who perceive terroir to be the fossilised and the hegemonic system of the AOC which impedes any opportunity for innovation. Moreover changes in consumer tastes are increasingly challenging traditional definitions of terroir and are questioning the work of producers. The struggle of a new generation of wine growers to open a debate about what a good quality wine means has been faced by the powerful and institutionalised model of terroir and its partisans.

Drawing on more than twenty years of fieldwork carried out not only in Burgundy, but also in following its transnational deployments in China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, this book seeks to demystify the terroir ideology and to provide a unique long-term ethnographic analysis of what lies behind terroir in Burgundy and thus raises important questions about the future of quality wine in a global era. Superficially then, Burgundy might appear to be simply acquiring recognition for its unchanging landscape, tradition and culture. Yet in reality for all the power of a rich local identity, folklore and culture broadcast to the world, underneath the comforting blanket of this seamless place untouched by change and conflicts hides a far more complex reality. Burgundy’s listing as a world heritage landscape emphasises its international reputation as a traditional and historical site of wine production and provides a new chapter into the production and marketing of quality, differentiation and authenticity. It is also about readjusting Burgundy and the grands crus in response to a global market and the shifting kaleidoscope of world wine values. Burgundy remains a persuasive story because it is presented as the original and immutable site of the terroir ideology, while imbricating its global story to competition in a constantly changing international wine market.

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ORCID for Marion Demossier: orcid.org/0000-0001-6075-1461

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