Wine and Conventions: A Fruitful Coupage

Abstract

Research on wine production and consumption has largely benefited from convention theory. The comprehensive nature of this theoretical framework is especially suitable for accounting on the multifaceted logics entangled in the wine industry: tradition, nature, fame, supply, expertise, inspiration, leisure, and rules all are crucial factors for a deep understanding of the world of wine. Namely, the worldwide quest for quality among producers and consumers has been discussed from this theoretical standpoint because the very definition of quality embodies conflict and compromise across the whole range of orders of worth. In addition, this discussion is inflected with a geographical approach. Two broad sets of compromises have been outlined in extant literature: the European model, rooted on terroir and designations of origin, is heavily reliant on domestic conventions, whereas the so-called New World wines mostly compete on the basis of public and market attributes. However, this dichotomy is becoming blurred due to pressures imposed by the search for sustainability, the standardization of consumers’ preferences, the influence of experts and ratings, and the market power of large corporations. The geographical embeddedness of wine conventions is, thus, challenged by those actors able to mobilize resources and attributes from different worlds of wine production.