final paper tuesday night work in progress
Ben Snyder
Harris
REL 350, PECS 390
13 December 2006
Dionysus Online:
The controversy over the globalization of wine and a hands-on perspective
Introduction
Studying the cuisine of a civilization can provide a unique insight into its culture. One of the oldest and most honored food traditions in Western culture is the making and consumption of wine. Viticulture, the term that refers to every aspect of wine, including the process growing of grapes, fermentation, aging, bottling, classification, labeling, and tasting, is enveloped in many intricate and highly valued systems of tradition throughout the Western world. Wine plays a prominent role in many Western diets and is the basis of many communities’ economies. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, Western peoples have not only produced and consumed wine in enormous amounts in food and recreation traditions, but have also incorporated it into various religious practices. Its presence is ubiquitous in and foundational to the West’s cultural history.
The old adage, ‘where there is wine, there is civilization,’ is not only romantic but true: the presence of viticulture indicates that a society has reached a sophisticated level of organization and complexity. The cultivation of grapes and fermentation of wine is a process that requires a great deal of time, energy, knowledge, and skill. The grape vine is special in that without daily maintenance it will quickly overgrow and yield useful produce. Man must coax the product from the plant, by continuously training the vine to its trellises and pruning unhealthy and extraneous shoots. Once harvested after months of growth, grapes can only be turned to wine through the application of a careful and precise crushing, fermentation, and aging process. It is not automatic and cannot be easily mechanized. Wine is the product of the farmer’s and winemaker’s combined effort and its quality depends on both parties’ intimate care.
Wine is a product that is both consumed globally yet is inextricably tied to locality. Different wines can contain an incomparably wide array of flavors; and, similar to, yet more-so-than, coffee and tea, a wine’s flavor reflects the unique peculiarities of the conditions where the grapes are grown. This concept is known as terrior. Conditions such as the amount of sunlight the grapes get, the altitude at which they grown, the levels of different nutrients in the soil, the amount of oxygen in the air, the precipitation, and so on, are all reflected in the finished product. This is why wines have what is called a vintage. Some years the wine an estate makes tastes unlike that of other years, either because of a change in precipitation or temperature or something else altogether that is not entirely known; and, if it is well liked, many bottles from that year are saved and sold at higher prices. Wine lovers cherish this aspect of its food culture; it is delicate and not easily standardized.
However, just as any other agricultural product, the wine industry is subject to changes in technologies and economies. The most recent and relevant change affecting the wine industry is economic globalization. Within the past three-to-four-decades, great changes have occurred in the technology of wine production and nature of the global wine market. In this paper I will outline the current conditions and controversies of the globalization of wine and offer a personal take on the matter based on work I did on small scale vineyards in Sudtirol, Italy and North Carolina during the late Winter, Spring, and Summer of 2006. I will attempt to show that there is evidence to support the critique that globalization promotes the homogenization of wine, hastens environmental degradation, and deconstructs the cultural tradition of terrior and local character. I will also show how these issues relate to and derive from broader critiques of globalization as a whole. I will supplement this thesis with personal experiences and insights.
Globalization
The way one acquires, produces, and consumes food has changed a lot with the modern phenomenon of globalization. Globalization is generally understood as “the process that fitfully brings the elements of a world society together,” or, the gradual developments that spread economies, cultures, politics, and technologies across the world, between nations and among peoples. Many people associate the concept of globalization with the notion of ‘development.’ For many people, globalization means the expansion of American, or Western, prosperity and freedom to all people of the world. People such as John Micklethwight and Adrian Wooldridge identify globalization with individual people’s increased consumer choice and, therefore, freedom. To these, globalization is making everyone richer, or, in their words, “globalization makes us richer - or makes enough of us richer to make the whole process worthwhile.”
Many see globalization simply as the Western styled, capitalist centered commoditization of everything. Globalization, in this context also linked to the concept of modernization, emphasizes man’s supreme intellectual ability to control the forces of nature, and bend them to his will. Vandana Shiva, for example, sees the process of modernization promoted by the powerful Western states as blatant disrespect for the sovereignty of nature and indigenous peoples and traditions.
The globalization of wine is a relatively recent phenomenon. Most observers, such as the Wall Street Journal’s George M. Taber, agree that wine market became truly entered the era of globalization when it became apparent that New World wine producers, such as the United States, Australia, Argentina, and so on, were capable of producing wines of as high a quality of those from the ancient Old World producers in France, Italy, and Portugal. Taber explains:
The globalization of wine began on May 24, 1976, in Paris. Steven Spurrier, and Englishmen who owned a wine store decided to stage a testing of little-known California wines and some of the most famous French products as part of the celebration of the American bicentennial… Few outside California had heard of Mr. Spurriers California choices: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Chateu Montelena…. The French wines, though, were icons: Chateu Haut-Brion, Chateu Mouton Rothschild….Mr. Spurrier invited nine leading French oenophiles....The wine was poured into neutral bottles so the judges could not knowingly score the home team high….To the judges shock, California won in both the Chardonnay/white Burgundy and the Cabernet/red Bordeaux competitions…(Taber)
This was a watershed event in the history of wine. Known ever since as the ominous ‘the judgment of Paris,’ this moment signaled the end of the era when European wine makers reigned supreme over the world’s wine markets.
In the next thirty years, New World wine producers have edged their way in further and further into global wine export markets. In a 1999 issue of the Economist, Gideon Rachman reports that:
In the 1980’s around 85% of all the wine exported in the world came from just four Western European countries-France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. By 1997 that figure had fallen to 72%.... New-world exports have surged over the past decade; those from Chile are up over 400%, and those from Australia up 350%. (Rachman)
The rapid ascent of New World wine exporting is related directly to the decline of Old World wine exporting.
One of the focal debates over the globalization of wine is that many people feel that it encourages the homogenization of the product.
Wine in Sudtirol
There is very little historical record of the origins of the Tirolian viticulture. Sizzo de Rachewiltz gave us this brief account: It seems that about three-thousand years after the first wine yielding grape vine was domesticated in Greece, wine grapes were brought to the Northern Italy region by the pre-Roman Etruscan civilization, around one-thousand to one-thousand-five-hundred B.C. The next major account comes from the ancient Roman military leader Cato who was one of the first Latin prose author of importance. He wrote in detail about the agriculture and food culture of ancient Rome and the territories it explored and conquered. In two of his major existing works, Cato hailed the wine made and drank by the Raetians, a group of Alpine dwelling peoples who inhabited what is now Sudtirol, Italy. The wine that Cato experienced then is what many now believe was the Vernatsch and Legrain varieties, native to the Tirolian region. As the Roman empire expanded, a major toll road was foraged and governed in Sudtirol, with Roman officials, tradesmen, and soldiers bringing with them their culture. The food ways and especially their tastes in wine influenced the varieties of wine yielding grape vines that are found in the area today.
The next major step in the story comes around 600 B.C., after the Roman empire fell and the Francs, Longobards, and Bavarians began to settle in the region, further influencing the viticulture of the area. As the Franciscan monasteries are recognized by historians as helping to preserve some of the philosophic, scientific, agricultural, and medical knowledge accumulated during the Roman empire, they are also credited for continuing the tradition of wine making and drinking. Throughout the Middle-Ages until the Carolingian period, monastic organizations maintained vineyards in Sudtirol, beginning a tradition that continues today, as some of the best and most sought after wines are still produced by Tirolian monasteries. During this time it also became fashionable for rich noblemen to own vineyards in Sudtirol.
Modern day Sudtirol is a region that is both affected by the permeation of American culture and yet clearly values its local custom, culture, and history. The food and wine there can be called a combination of Italian and German fare, yet it is truly a unique cuisine of its own. No where else in my ravels in Europe, or in my lifetime in America, did I see so many advertisements for Speck, a thinly-sliced, bacon-like, pork product that was served everywhere in Sudtirol, on baguettes, in dumplings, and on top of pizza. However, wine is the food-way that gives the Sudtirol its true regional dignity. Types such as Vernaces and LeGrein are not only hard to find in big-American-supermarkets, but it is almost grown, fermented, and consumed exclusively in the Sudtirol. Wine in the Sudtirol is a true expression, celebration, of culture, rather than a consumer commodity.
During my internship at the Brunnenburg castle in Sudtirol, Italy, I learned a great deal about the wine making and wine drinking culture of the area. The Rachewiltz family, who own and live on the Brunnenburg property, use most of their land for viticulture. The grape-growing operation was mainly headed during my stay by the family’s younger of two sons, Nick de Rachewiltz. On their vineyard they grew some of the region’s native grapes such as Vernatsch and Lagrein as well as other, world-known varieties such as Goldmuskateller and Pinot Grigio. Vernatsch is what Nick called the Tyrolean “national wine,” as it is the most commonly consumed wine in the area. Nick explained that the grapes are quite large and the vine produces a lot more fruit than the average grape vine, which is partially why the first settlers to the Tyrol cultivated this variety, since any agricultural effort is made more difficult with the steep mountain slopes and cold winter climate. Sizzo also explained, that since it is a light, sweet, fruity wine, it is easy to swig, or drink quickly in gulps, which makes it the perfect accompaniment to Speck, a bacon like pork product that is very popular in the region. Vernatsch is a very adaptable grape that is influenced greatly by terroir, or, the specific micro-climate, soil, and altitude conditions of an area. The flavor and character of wine made from Vernatsch can differ greatly between individual estates. Vernatsch also happens to be an edible grape, though it is mostly used for wine making in the Sudtirol. Vernatsch is usually not aged, though when it is it is mostly done in steel casks or wooden casks. There are seventy different Vernatsch wines produced in Sudtirol.
Legrein is another popular wine widely grown and consumed and native to Sudtirol. Legrein is in fact believed to be the first wine producing grape variety native to Sudtirol. It is notably darker, heavier, and drier than Vernatsch. Traditionally, Legrein was mainly used to mix with Vernatsch to give it a darker color and richer flavor. Today, Legrein making techniques have advanced to make it possible to produce a full-bodied dark red wine from the grapes that is enjoyable on its own and not too overpowering.
The work I did on the vineyard in Italy was limited due to he fact that we were there mostly during the winter months. I did help prune the young vines and bind them to their wires with plastic line. Training vines to the wire lines that rung along the wooden posts making the rows is important because grape vines can grow so wildly. Keeping them ordered, in line, and neat, is part of the domestication of the plant. It would be impossible to specialize the type of grape and harvest the fruit if they were not trained to the wire.
Most of the work I did on the Rachewiltz family vineyard was related to the maintenance of their property, the relationship with their neighbors, and the heating of their castle. During my stay, a neighbor of the Rachewiltz family who was expanding his vineyard asked the family to remove some trees from the edge of their property that were shading an area of his land that he wished to plant grape vines on. Helmut, Brigette’s brother who helped run the farm and who lived in an apartment attached to the croft, cut down about twenty-five trees with a chain saw and then cut those trees and their branches into smaller, fire-wood-sized pieces. I spent several days of work collecting these pieces of wood and putting them into piles. We also had to collect all the brush, the smaller twigs and dead leaves and things, into a large pile that was eventually burned. We spent several other days loading these piles of wood into Nick’s tractor and driving them up the mountain to Nick’s wood-shed, where other people from the trip were stacking the wood in storage until it was properly aged. The family didn’t mind doing their neighbor a favor because they themselves were taking down a wall on the edge of their property to make room for more vines and were also building a road. Both of these projects could have indirectly effect their neighbors vineyards and business, so they were happy to help in what their neighbors needed. Also, they could always use all of the fire wood since they’re castle is heated by a central wood furnace. On other days, I helped with the taking down of that stone wall so they could plant more vines.
American Vineyards
In the United States, I encountered winemakers who were attempting to uphold the terrior tradition of small estates of Europe by producing a wine that reflected the unique traits and qualities of North Carolina. North Carolina wines, produced in sometimes humid, and generally sunny, hot areas, are notoriously sweet and often considered incapable of complexities found in some European and Californian vineyards. Once I got back to the USA I decided to complete my hours on a couple vineyards near Greensboro. Both of these vineyards were also small and family owned. They also shared the unique quality of being able to make their own wines and put their own labels on their bottles. The vineyards in Sudtirol, Italy, where I was, participate in a wine cooperative. The individual growers raise a crop and sell their grapes to a winemaker at a fair price. The wine maker then separates the grapes by type and quality, not by estate, and produces large quantities that sell mostly regionally, but also nationally, and internationally. In the end a vineyard owner may buy a bottle of wine from his local area but not know specifically whose grapes are in it. Here, though, both the vineyards I visited crushed their own grapes and produced their own brand on wine.
The difference between the Flint Hill Vineyard in Yadkins County, NC and the Grove Vineyard in Gibsonville, NC, is that the Flint Hill Vinyard owners and operators rent out a facility every year, which often changes due to time and quantity of harvest, and crushes their own wines while the Grove Winery has their own facility which crushes and ferments the wine from their vineyard and other vineyards the own in Virginia and Georgia.
The Denominazione Di Origine Controllata, or DOC, is an Italian federal organization that regulates the production and labeling of wine in Italy. The DOC’s laws, established in 1963, protect the quality of Italian wines by specifying geographical limits, grape varieties, alcohol levels, yields per acre, and aging requirements for particular wines (virtualtalia.com). Wines bearing the DOC label are considered premium quality. The Alto Adige region, which the larger area encompassing Sudtirol and its neighboring communities, is world renowned for its terrior; 95% of all DOC wines come from this region (DOC article).
Environmental Impact of Wine Making
Another of the broader complaints against globalization generally is that businesses willing to compete in global markets are inclined to utilize production methods that negatively impact the environment.
In a study conducted by the Department of Energy and Environmental Research (DREAM) of Palermo University in Italy, the wine making process at a Sicilian winery, considered a representation of a small-to-medium scale wine making operation, was assessed in terms environmental impact at every level of production, from the growing of the grapes to the distribution of the bottled wine. The environmental impact was calculated down the per-bottle-cost. The process described in this study is characteristic of that implemented by small-to-medium-scale wineries to produce high and very-high quality wines.
“Like most of the conventional agriculture operations, viniculture is often characterized by high environmental burdens due to the use of pesticides and synthetic nutrients” (POEMS: Case Study pg. 357).
http://www.winenet.com.au/articles/WineNetwork_Micro-ox-where-now_RPaul02.pdf
Harris
REL 350, PECS 390
13 December 2006
Dionysus Online:
The controversy over the globalization of wine and a hands-on perspective
Introduction
Studying the cuisine of a civilization can provide a unique insight into its culture. One of the oldest and most honored food traditions in Western culture is the making and consumption of wine. Viticulture, the term that refers to every aspect of wine, including the process growing of grapes, fermentation, aging, bottling, classification, labeling, and tasting, is enveloped in many intricate and highly valued systems of tradition throughout the Western world. Wine plays a prominent role in many Western diets and is the basis of many communities’ economies. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, Western peoples have not only produced and consumed wine in enormous amounts in food and recreation traditions, but have also incorporated it into various religious practices. Its presence is ubiquitous in and foundational to the West’s cultural history.
The old adage, ‘where there is wine, there is civilization,’ is not only romantic but true: the presence of viticulture indicates that a society has reached a sophisticated level of organization and complexity. The cultivation of grapes and fermentation of wine is a process that requires a great deal of time, energy, knowledge, and skill. The grape vine is special in that without daily maintenance it will quickly overgrow and yield useful produce. Man must coax the product from the plant, by continuously training the vine to its trellises and pruning unhealthy and extraneous shoots. Once harvested after months of growth, grapes can only be turned to wine through the application of a careful and precise crushing, fermentation, and aging process. It is not automatic and cannot be easily mechanized. Wine is the product of the farmer’s and winemaker’s combined effort and its quality depends on both parties’ intimate care.
Wine is a product that is both consumed globally yet is inextricably tied to locality. Different wines can contain an incomparably wide array of flavors; and, similar to, yet more-so-than, coffee and tea, a wine’s flavor reflects the unique peculiarities of the conditions where the grapes are grown. This concept is known as terrior. Conditions such as the amount of sunlight the grapes get, the altitude at which they grown, the levels of different nutrients in the soil, the amount of oxygen in the air, the precipitation, and so on, are all reflected in the finished product. This is why wines have what is called a vintage. Some years the wine an estate makes tastes unlike that of other years, either because of a change in precipitation or temperature or something else altogether that is not entirely known; and, if it is well liked, many bottles from that year are saved and sold at higher prices. Wine lovers cherish this aspect of its food culture; it is delicate and not easily standardized.
However, just as any other agricultural product, the wine industry is subject to changes in technologies and economies. The most recent and relevant change affecting the wine industry is economic globalization. Within the past three-to-four-decades, great changes have occurred in the technology of wine production and nature of the global wine market. In this paper I will outline the current conditions and controversies of the globalization of wine and offer a personal take on the matter based on work I did on small scale vineyards in Sudtirol, Italy and North Carolina during the late Winter, Spring, and Summer of 2006. I will attempt to show that there is evidence to support the critique that globalization promotes the homogenization of wine, hastens environmental degradation, and deconstructs the cultural tradition of terrior and local character. I will also show how these issues relate to and derive from broader critiques of globalization as a whole. I will supplement this thesis with personal experiences and insights.
Globalization
The way one acquires, produces, and consumes food has changed a lot with the modern phenomenon of globalization. Globalization is generally understood as “the process that fitfully brings the elements of a world society together,” or, the gradual developments that spread economies, cultures, politics, and technologies across the world, between nations and among peoples. Many people associate the concept of globalization with the notion of ‘development.’ For many people, globalization means the expansion of American, or Western, prosperity and freedom to all people of the world. People such as John Micklethwight and Adrian Wooldridge identify globalization with individual people’s increased consumer choice and, therefore, freedom. To these, globalization is making everyone richer, or, in their words, “globalization makes us richer - or makes enough of us richer to make the whole process worthwhile.”
Many see globalization simply as the Western styled, capitalist centered commoditization of everything. Globalization, in this context also linked to the concept of modernization, emphasizes man’s supreme intellectual ability to control the forces of nature, and bend them to his will. Vandana Shiva, for example, sees the process of modernization promoted by the powerful Western states as blatant disrespect for the sovereignty of nature and indigenous peoples and traditions.
The globalization of wine is a relatively recent phenomenon. Most observers, such as the Wall Street Journal’s George M. Taber, agree that wine market became truly entered the era of globalization when it became apparent that New World wine producers, such as the United States, Australia, Argentina, and so on, were capable of producing wines of as high a quality of those from the ancient Old World producers in France, Italy, and Portugal. Taber explains:
The globalization of wine began on May 24, 1976, in Paris. Steven Spurrier, and Englishmen who owned a wine store decided to stage a testing of little-known California wines and some of the most famous French products as part of the celebration of the American bicentennial… Few outside California had heard of Mr. Spurriers California choices: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Chateu Montelena…. The French wines, though, were icons: Chateu Haut-Brion, Chateu Mouton Rothschild….Mr. Spurrier invited nine leading French oenophiles....The wine was poured into neutral bottles so the judges could not knowingly score the home team high….To the judges shock, California won in both the Chardonnay/white Burgundy and the Cabernet/red Bordeaux competitions…(Taber)
This was a watershed event in the history of wine. Known ever since as the ominous ‘the judgment of Paris,’ this moment signaled the end of the era when European wine makers reigned supreme over the world’s wine markets.
In the next thirty years, New World wine producers have edged their way in further and further into global wine export markets. In a 1999 issue of the Economist, Gideon Rachman reports that:
In the 1980’s around 85% of all the wine exported in the world came from just four Western European countries-France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. By 1997 that figure had fallen to 72%.... New-world exports have surged over the past decade; those from Chile are up over 400%, and those from Australia up 350%. (Rachman)
The rapid ascent of New World wine exporting is related directly to the decline of Old World wine exporting.
One of the focal debates over the globalization of wine is that many people feel that it encourages the homogenization of the product.
Wine in Sudtirol
There is very little historical record of the origins of the Tirolian viticulture. Sizzo de Rachewiltz gave us this brief account: It seems that about three-thousand years after the first wine yielding grape vine was domesticated in Greece, wine grapes were brought to the Northern Italy region by the pre-Roman Etruscan civilization, around one-thousand to one-thousand-five-hundred B.C. The next major account comes from the ancient Roman military leader Cato who was one of the first Latin prose author of importance. He wrote in detail about the agriculture and food culture of ancient Rome and the territories it explored and conquered. In two of his major existing works, Cato hailed the wine made and drank by the Raetians, a group of Alpine dwelling peoples who inhabited what is now Sudtirol, Italy. The wine that Cato experienced then is what many now believe was the Vernatsch and Legrain varieties, native to the Tirolian region. As the Roman empire expanded, a major toll road was foraged and governed in Sudtirol, with Roman officials, tradesmen, and soldiers bringing with them their culture. The food ways and especially their tastes in wine influenced the varieties of wine yielding grape vines that are found in the area today.
The next major step in the story comes around 600 B.C., after the Roman empire fell and the Francs, Longobards, and Bavarians began to settle in the region, further influencing the viticulture of the area. As the Franciscan monasteries are recognized by historians as helping to preserve some of the philosophic, scientific, agricultural, and medical knowledge accumulated during the Roman empire, they are also credited for continuing the tradition of wine making and drinking. Throughout the Middle-Ages until the Carolingian period, monastic organizations maintained vineyards in Sudtirol, beginning a tradition that continues today, as some of the best and most sought after wines are still produced by Tirolian monasteries. During this time it also became fashionable for rich noblemen to own vineyards in Sudtirol.
Modern day Sudtirol is a region that is both affected by the permeation of American culture and yet clearly values its local custom, culture, and history. The food and wine there can be called a combination of Italian and German fare, yet it is truly a unique cuisine of its own. No where else in my ravels in Europe, or in my lifetime in America, did I see so many advertisements for Speck, a thinly-sliced, bacon-like, pork product that was served everywhere in Sudtirol, on baguettes, in dumplings, and on top of pizza. However, wine is the food-way that gives the Sudtirol its true regional dignity. Types such as Vernaces and LeGrein are not only hard to find in big-American-supermarkets, but it is almost grown, fermented, and consumed exclusively in the Sudtirol. Wine in the Sudtirol is a true expression, celebration, of culture, rather than a consumer commodity.
During my internship at the Brunnenburg castle in Sudtirol, Italy, I learned a great deal about the wine making and wine drinking culture of the area. The Rachewiltz family, who own and live on the Brunnenburg property, use most of their land for viticulture. The grape-growing operation was mainly headed during my stay by the family’s younger of two sons, Nick de Rachewiltz. On their vineyard they grew some of the region’s native grapes such as Vernatsch and Lagrein as well as other, world-known varieties such as Goldmuskateller and Pinot Grigio. Vernatsch is what Nick called the Tyrolean “national wine,” as it is the most commonly consumed wine in the area. Nick explained that the grapes are quite large and the vine produces a lot more fruit than the average grape vine, which is partially why the first settlers to the Tyrol cultivated this variety, since any agricultural effort is made more difficult with the steep mountain slopes and cold winter climate. Sizzo also explained, that since it is a light, sweet, fruity wine, it is easy to swig, or drink quickly in gulps, which makes it the perfect accompaniment to Speck, a bacon like pork product that is very popular in the region. Vernatsch is a very adaptable grape that is influenced greatly by terroir, or, the specific micro-climate, soil, and altitude conditions of an area. The flavor and character of wine made from Vernatsch can differ greatly between individual estates. Vernatsch also happens to be an edible grape, though it is mostly used for wine making in the Sudtirol. Vernatsch is usually not aged, though when it is it is mostly done in steel casks or wooden casks. There are seventy different Vernatsch wines produced in Sudtirol.
Legrein is another popular wine widely grown and consumed and native to Sudtirol. Legrein is in fact believed to be the first wine producing grape variety native to Sudtirol. It is notably darker, heavier, and drier than Vernatsch. Traditionally, Legrein was mainly used to mix with Vernatsch to give it a darker color and richer flavor. Today, Legrein making techniques have advanced to make it possible to produce a full-bodied dark red wine from the grapes that is enjoyable on its own and not too overpowering.
The work I did on the vineyard in Italy was limited due to he fact that we were there mostly during the winter months. I did help prune the young vines and bind them to their wires with plastic line. Training vines to the wire lines that rung along the wooden posts making the rows is important because grape vines can grow so wildly. Keeping them ordered, in line, and neat, is part of the domestication of the plant. It would be impossible to specialize the type of grape and harvest the fruit if they were not trained to the wire.
Most of the work I did on the Rachewiltz family vineyard was related to the maintenance of their property, the relationship with their neighbors, and the heating of their castle. During my stay, a neighbor of the Rachewiltz family who was expanding his vineyard asked the family to remove some trees from the edge of their property that were shading an area of his land that he wished to plant grape vines on. Helmut, Brigette’s brother who helped run the farm and who lived in an apartment attached to the croft, cut down about twenty-five trees with a chain saw and then cut those trees and their branches into smaller, fire-wood-sized pieces. I spent several days of work collecting these pieces of wood and putting them into piles. We also had to collect all the brush, the smaller twigs and dead leaves and things, into a large pile that was eventually burned. We spent several other days loading these piles of wood into Nick’s tractor and driving them up the mountain to Nick’s wood-shed, where other people from the trip were stacking the wood in storage until it was properly aged. The family didn’t mind doing their neighbor a favor because they themselves were taking down a wall on the edge of their property to make room for more vines and were also building a road. Both of these projects could have indirectly effect their neighbors vineyards and business, so they were happy to help in what their neighbors needed. Also, they could always use all of the fire wood since they’re castle is heated by a central wood furnace. On other days, I helped with the taking down of that stone wall so they could plant more vines.
American Vineyards
In the United States, I encountered winemakers who were attempting to uphold the terrior tradition of small estates of Europe by producing a wine that reflected the unique traits and qualities of North Carolina. North Carolina wines, produced in sometimes humid, and generally sunny, hot areas, are notoriously sweet and often considered incapable of complexities found in some European and Californian vineyards. Once I got back to the USA I decided to complete my hours on a couple vineyards near Greensboro. Both of these vineyards were also small and family owned. They also shared the unique quality of being able to make their own wines and put their own labels on their bottles. The vineyards in Sudtirol, Italy, where I was, participate in a wine cooperative. The individual growers raise a crop and sell their grapes to a winemaker at a fair price. The wine maker then separates the grapes by type and quality, not by estate, and produces large quantities that sell mostly regionally, but also nationally, and internationally. In the end a vineyard owner may buy a bottle of wine from his local area but not know specifically whose grapes are in it. Here, though, both the vineyards I visited crushed their own grapes and produced their own brand on wine.
The difference between the Flint Hill Vineyard in Yadkins County, NC and the Grove Vineyard in Gibsonville, NC, is that the Flint Hill Vinyard owners and operators rent out a facility every year, which often changes due to time and quantity of harvest, and crushes their own wines while the Grove Winery has their own facility which crushes and ferments the wine from their vineyard and other vineyards the own in Virginia and Georgia.
The Denominazione Di Origine Controllata, or DOC, is an Italian federal organization that regulates the production and labeling of wine in Italy. The DOC’s laws, established in 1963, protect the quality of Italian wines by specifying geographical limits, grape varieties, alcohol levels, yields per acre, and aging requirements for particular wines (virtualtalia.com). Wines bearing the DOC label are considered premium quality. The Alto Adige region, which the larger area encompassing Sudtirol and its neighboring communities, is world renowned for its terrior; 95% of all DOC wines come from this region (DOC article).
Environmental Impact of Wine Making
Another of the broader complaints against globalization generally is that businesses willing to compete in global markets are inclined to utilize production methods that negatively impact the environment.
In a study conducted by the Department of Energy and Environmental Research (DREAM) of Palermo University in Italy, the wine making process at a Sicilian winery, considered a representation of a small-to-medium scale wine making operation, was assessed in terms environmental impact at every level of production, from the growing of the grapes to the distribution of the bottled wine. The environmental impact was calculated down the per-bottle-cost. The process described in this study is characteristic of that implemented by small-to-medium-scale wineries to produce high and very-high quality wines.
“Like most of the conventional agriculture operations, viniculture is often characterized by high environmental burdens due to the use of pesticides and synthetic nutrients” (POEMS: Case Study pg. 357).
http://www.winenet.com.au/articles/WineNetwork_Micro-ox-where-now_RPaul02.pdf