Development of a Piemonte wine industry and wine-making culture in the late 1800s

In the late 19th century, Piemonte vied with Tuscany for the title of most illustrious wine region in Italy based on the amount of land devoted to grape growing in each region and the "modernity" of their respective winemaking industries. But this was definitely not the status quo for these regions. This post draws heavily on the scholarship of Simone Cinolto (Soft Soil, Black Grapes, New York University Press, 2012) to examine how Piemonte arrived at that coveted position.

Pre-19th-Century Wine Environment in Mediterranean Europe
According to Cinolto, very few people experienced wine during this period "except during rural cycles and religious festivals." The resulting limited economic value of wine, combined with its highly perishable nature -- a result of a lack of understanding of its chemistry and a paucity of viable storage mechanisms -- did not provide the ideal conditions for development and sustenance of a wine industry.

Further, grape growing was a very personal affair. Vineyards, as we know them today, did not exist. Grapevines were, instead: cultivated alongside subsistence crops; unrestrained as to height; and supported by pergolas or co-located trees.

As it related to wine production, harvested grapes were brought to the cellar and foot-trod in large vats. White wine grapes crushed in this manner were quickly moved to a hand press for juice extraction. In the case of red wines, the wine was separated from the post-fermentation residue and placed into barrels for "maturation and preservation."

This traditional winemaking process was fraught with risk for the resulting wine (Cinolto):

• Dirty barrels
• Lack of filtration
• Oxidation
• No temperature control.

According to a pamphlet from the late-1800s cited by Cinolto, "The traditional practices resulted in the farmers harvesting too early, crushing grapes with dirty feet in unclean vats, and fermenting the grapes too long in pursuit of alcohol and color."

According to Cinolto, "The commercial production of wine therefore remained a fragile, risky, and inevitably underdeveloped enterprise until well into the nineteenth century."

Mid-1860s in the Langhe and Monferrato Hills
A number of factors led to the transformation of farming in southern Piemonte from the subsistence model to the position described earlier -- viable competitor for the title of most illustrious wine region in Italy. The factors, and their impacts, are detailed in the figure below.

Source: Compiled from Cinolto (Soft Soil, Black Grapes)

This boom lasted for two decades before being brought to heel by a number of factors (Cinolto):

• The spread of Phylloxera beyond the Alps
• The resumption of viticulture in France
• A tariff war between France and Italy.

By this time, however, wine had become a thriving sector of the Piemonte economy as exhibited by the following realities (Cinolto):

• The establishment of Piemonte's international prestige for its particular vineyard areas and high quality grapes
• Nebbiolo in Alba for the high-grade wines Barolo and Barbaresco
• Parts of Cuneo and the areas around Alessandria and Casale Monferrato for the production of distinctive wines like Barbera, Dolcetta, and Freisa
• Moscato in Asti for the production of a Spumante
• Improvement of enological knowledge
• The birth of the professional expert
• Creation of specialized institutes like the School of Viticulture and Enology in Alba in 1881
• Emergence of a large-scale capitalist winemaking industry
• Factories
• Machines
• Equipment for mass production
• New class of merchant intermediaries who acted as interlocutors of the large wineries and small independent wine producers.

Wine as a thriving sector of the Piemontese economy did not necessarily translate to thriving inhabitants of Piemonte. For example, even though there was a significant improvement in enological knowledge, this was shared only between a tight circle of well-to-dos and people associated with the large wineries and emerging wine indsutry. The small farmer continued to produce wine in the traditional manner. Moreover, the shift from a mixed-farming economy to a monoculture with intervening midlemen, probably contributed significantly to the heavy out-migration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Generational Roles in the Demise of the French Wine Drinking Culture

French wine drinking culture is dead.  So says Marion Demoisser in her book French Wine Drinking Culture ..., where she details a number of changes in French wine production and consumption which have had material, deleterious effects on the "strong national wine drinking culture."  According to Demoisser, a key indicator of the death of the French wine drinking culture is a decline in consumption, a decline that can be attributed to a number of factors: (i) wine has been replaced by water and other beverages in many instances as the liquid accompaniment to meals; (ii) a government clampdown on drinking and driving; (iii) an increased focus on healthy living, especially among the younger generation; and (iv) an increase in beer consumption among young people.  In a recent journal article ("The representation of wine in France from generation to generation: a dual generation gap." Int. J. Etntrepreunership and Small Business 13(2), pp. 162-180, 2011), Lorey and Poutet provide additional insight into French wine consumption and the roles played by successive generations in its decline.  We examine the Lorey and Poutet research and findings in this post.

The table below shows the decline in French wine consumption using a number of different indicators.  The table shows both overall and per capita consumption declining markedly, even in the face of an almost 50% population increase since the beginning of WWII.  It also shows the precipitous decline in people who drink wine on a daily basis and a significant increase in the people who self-identify as non-drinkers of wine.

Looking at the declines in consumption, the authors wondered whether they were reflective of a shift in the way that wine was imagined or thought of (The way of thinking or imagining about an item is called representation and is "... a dynamic structure which evolves and becomes different with the passing years and social changes, under the influence of culture and social practices.").  Further if such a shift had taken place, could its tracks be followed across generational cohorts.

In order to answer these questions, the authors undertook a research study whose objectives were to (i) describe and assess the representation of wine, and its relation to consumption, for a generational cohort comprised of people over 65 years of age; (ii) conduct similar exercises for a 30-40-year-old cohort and a post-1980-birth cohort; and (iii) compare and contrast the results.  Data for the study were collected from subjects in face-to-face interviews.

The research shows the over-65 generation as key markers for a French wine drinking culture: they consume wine on a daily basis; they view wine as a symbol of French culture; they feel very strongly about the generational transmission of this very French patrimony and were very forceful in identifying the father as the person responsible for transmission; they see wine as a healthy, therapeutic drink; and they are not impacted by drunk-driving campaigns.

In examining the data for the 30-40 year-old cohort, the authors note what they call "the first generational gap."  This group drinks wine occasionally and wine becomes the preserve of social groups -- rather than society wide as in the older generation -- that seek to promote it as a status symbol.  It is also in this group that we first begin to see concerns about drunk-driving beginning to take hold.

There is a second generation gap for the cohort born after 1980.  Wine drinking in this group is reminiscent of the way that champagne is drunk in the US -- occasionally and for special events -- and wine loses its cultural identity as fathers from the prior generation fail to pass on the patrimony.  It is in this group that wine begins to take on the mantle of a "hazardous product."

With the insights provided by this data, the demise of the French wine drinking culture is easily tracked.  The baseline group (over-65) represents the epitome of French wine drinking culture; and they continue to consume wine according to their beliefs but in declining amounts as members of their cohort die off.  The 30-45 group has elements of the wine drinking culture passed on to them but they begin to go their own way and drink wine occasionally or as a part of a special group.  So during the time when these two generations are in their "wine-drinking years," the over-65 generation is fully engaged while the 30-40 group is only partially so.  And the consumption numbers reflect this situation.  Then along comes the post-1980 generation and they contribute almost nothing to the pot: occasional/exceptional drinkers; no wine culture; and, furthermore, beginning to look at wine with upturned noses.  So now in society as a whole, we have the older generation fully engaged (but their numbers declining), the middle generation partially engaged, and the post-1980s acting as a drag on the system.  The picture that emerges is of a declining national engagement in wine drinking with the resultant decline in consumption.  Hence the statement regarding the death of the French wine drinking culture.

The French wine drinking culture has given way to what I call the Unitary wine drinking architecture.  According to Demoisser, the forces in France have led to the culture transitioning from a perception of ubiquitous wine knowledge to a three-tiered society with (i) 38% of the population (2005 figures) self-identifying as non-wine-drinkers; (ii) a middle grouping -- which she characterizes as the "wandering drinker" -- that has limited knowledge and only drinks occasionally; and (iii) the wine lover.  Given the technologies available today, and the international nature of wine opinion making, this architecture will likely prevail.

Towards a Unitary Wine Drinking Architecture

With regional/commune wine-production centers, and local foods that are perfectly matched to these wines, the Mediterranean countries of France, Italy, and Spain have long stood as the epitomization of national wine culture.  In her book French Wine Drinking Culture ..., Marion Demoisser details a number of changes in French wine production and consumption which have had material, deleterious effects on the perceived "strong national wine drinking culture."  These forces are not unique to France, as both Spain and Italy are experiencing generational change in the choice and place of drinks.  I posit that these tectonic changes are a forcing function for a decline in the national wine drinking culture.

According to Demoisser, French wine consumption stood at 170 liters per capita on the eve of WWII but had fallen to 54.8 liters by 2007 (it was 45.23 liters per capita at the end of 2009, the last year for which data are available), an almost 300% decline in a period wherein the population increased by 48%.  This decline is attributable to a number of factors: (i) In 1980, 50.7% of the population drank wine on a daily basis compared to only 20.7% in 2005; (ii) wine has been replaced by water and other beverages in many instances as the liquid accompaniment to meals; (iii) a government clampdown on drinking and driving; (iv) an increased focus on healthy living, especially among the younger generation; and (v) an increase in beer consumption among young people.

Along with the reduction in consumption, France has seen changes in the profile of wine drinkers as well as in the types of wine being consumed.  Prior to 1970, the bulk of the wine being consumed was Vin de Pays and it was being drunk primarily by the urban and working poor.  In recent years AOC wines have been consumed in greater volume while the "plonk" wines have been on a steady downward slide.  AOC wine production went from 15,535 hectoliters in 1994-1995 to 17,536 hectoliters in 2005-2006.

In contrast to the negative forces highlighted above, the country has experienced, and,in some cases, continue to experience, a number of "new architecture" forces.  According to Demoisser, France has seen, among others: (i) a post WWII economic transformation and the emergence of a new middle class; (ii) a flight from villages to towns; (iii) transformation of the French diet and the rise of the "chef king"; (iv) acceptance of the bourgeois model of wine drinking as "moderate, ritualized, and status-oriented" as opposed to the prior working-class model; (v) the rise of wine as a focus of consumption rather than an accompaniment to a meal; (vi) the birth of wine tourism; and (vii) a proliferation of clubs, activities and discourses devoted to wine.

These opposing forces have seen the demise of wine as a staple of the French diet and "its rise as a cultural and aesthetic object" and the culture transitioning from a perception of ubiquitous wine knowledge to a three-tiered society with (i) 38% of the population (2005 figures) self-identifying as non-wine-drinkers; (ii) a middle grouping --- which she characterizes as the "wandering drinker" -- which has limited knowledge and only drinks occasionally; and (iii) the wine lover.  A large number of activities, media, and locales have sprung up to meet the needs of the wine lover resulting in a situation where, in France, "... there have never been so many wine lovers with such a prolific knowledge of wine."

I posit that the architecture described by Demoisser as the new French reality already exists in the US.  As pointed out in my most recent post, 90% of the wine in the US is drunk by 20% of the population and we have about 44 million "wandering drinkers."  There are a wide range of wine-related activities available for the initiated in both wine- and non-wine- producing areas and the opportunities for dialogue with like-minded individuals are endless.  The ease of interaction and communication with self-professed and acclaimed experts, flying winemakers, and oenologists allows the wine lover to readily expand his/her base of knowledge and create a wider chasm between that group and the wandering drinker.

I posit that this architecture will be the dominant wine drinking architecture for the foreseeable future given the technologies available today and the ease of transit between nations.  The architecture will drive dialogue with like-minded people wherever they are and will increase the challenge of wine marketers as they strive to bring new wine drinkers aboard.

Further Thoughts on an "American Wine Culture"

Recently, there have been a number of articles (Orlin, Wine: The View from Orlando, Inside IWM, Zester, Fermentation: The Wine Blog)  debating the presence or absence of a wine culture in the US.  In my article I took the position that America does not have a wine culture.  I will hold to that and provide additional reasons for my position.  I propose that while the US does not have a wine culture, there is a wine drinking culture within its borders.  And third, the discussion about national wine cultures obscures the really interesting development: the rise of a world wine drinking culture and the role of the US in the development of same.

First, some definitional issues.  The articles mentioned above speak of a wine culture but if you look at the Zester article, it is focused on wine growers.  The intent in my prior article was to focus on the wine consumer.  With this duality of possibilities in mind, I propose that national wine culture = national wine drinking culture + national wine growing culture and that national wine growing culture = region1 wine growing culture + region2 wine growing culture ...  The implication is that both a wine growing and wine drinking tradition is necessary in order to have a wine culture.  Theoretically, a country/region can have a wine drinking or wine growing culture without having a wine culture.  And yes, I do believe that hundreds of years of experimenting with grapes and soil have led to knowledge of the best locales for specific varietals.

Now back to my thoughts on whether or not America has a wine culture.  One of the factors in favor of an American wine culture cited by Orlin in her Huffington Post article was the fact that we had surpassed France (one of the countries known to have a wine culture) in our consumption of wine.  Gross consumption does not tell us much as the US has approximately five times the population of France.  A more meaningful measure of intensity is per capita consumption and, in 2009, France drank 45.23 liters per capita while the comparative number for the US was 8.96 liters (Source: Trade Data and Analysis).  In the consumption table, we are bracketed by Faroe Islands (9.1 liters) and US Virgin Islands (8.69 liters).

The lack of a broad base of wine drinkers is further borne out by comments made by Robert Nicholson of International Wine Associates in a KQED forum on the state of the Napa wine industry. Robert noted that the US market had a strong core of wine drinkers with 20% of the population consuming 90% of the wine sold.  The remaining 10% is drunk by 44 million marginal drinkers, which places a significant portion of the drinking-age population into the non-wine-drinking category.

Finally, the acknowledged wine cultures consume a significant portion of their wine in association with meals.  We do have a fast food culture and wine consumption and the drive-up window do not go hand in hand.  So no, I do not think that we have a wine culture or a wine drinking culture.

But  I do think that there is a wine drinking culture within the US.  In his 1993 paper (Religion and Ritual in American Wine Culture, Journal of American Culture, pp. 39-45), Robert C. Fuller stated "The consumption and appreciation of wine among Americans has gradually given rise to a distinctively American wine culture.  By 'culture" we mean the words, ritualized behaviors, and ceremonies that express -- and shape -- a people's understanding of themselves and the world they live in."  I accept and adopt Mr. Fuller's premise with two narrowing qualifiers: (i) wine culture here is actually what I have called wine drinking culture and (ii) this culture exists within the community of wine drinkers rather than in the broader America.  Mr Fuller goes on to identify some aspects of the culture to include: wine festivals in non-wine-growing areas; lectures, seminars, and structured blind tastings at those seminars; small tasting groups in cities and neighborhoods; zealous sharing of knowledge with anyone in earshot; a language of wine; and the pilgrimage to Napa valley.

So does the US have a wine culture? One that is as expansive as the beer culture, for example?  The answer is a very decided no.  But there is definitely a culture among lovers of the vine.  In my next post I will examine how this wine drinking culture stacks up against the French model.

Wine Drinking Culture in France: Book Review

Wine Drinking Culture in France: A National Myth or a Modern Passion? (Cardiff: University of Wales) is a dense, scholarly effort which uses French wine drinking culture as a case study of the construction and evolution of a national wine drinking culture.  This book is not for the faint of heart.  Its 221 pages could have easily been stretched to 600 with no dimunition in its meanings and impact (and it would have broadened its audience signiicantly).  It is an anthropological study (an ethnography for the initiated) which utilizes disciplines as diverse as sociology, political science, philosophy, law, and consumer market research to lay out a framework and context for a French wine drinking culture and its evolution through the years.

The author, Marion Demossier, is French but lives in England and this gives her a wonderful perspective: a local's access to the sources combined with the ability to observe the collected data from outside the bubble.  Marion is Senior Lecturer in French and European Studies at the University of Bath.  She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences) in Paris and has written extensively on wine, wine consumption, and wine drinking culture.  This book is the culmination of 15 years of fieldwork to include converstaions with wine growers, oenologists, consumers, wine lovers, and others in the field.

As for most ethnographies, the author utilizes interviews with experts in the specific field to gain insight into the subject at hand and some of that dialoge is presented in later chapters in the book.  But it is the theoretical foundation contained in the first five chapters that I find most interesting and that, I think, form a solid basis for the author's conclusions.

According to the author, the concept of a French wine drinking culture developed as (i) a result of regulation from the late 19th century onward culminating in the concepts of AOC and terroir; (ii) development of French oenological and gastronomic cultures; and (iii) the success of the efforts of the wine elites and the state in promulgating the "myth of French wine as an element of national heritage and patrimony."  This "wine drinking culture," with all its associated myths, symbols, and practices, has been under attack since the 1970s, according to the author.  During this recent period, "France has experienced the emergence of a wine drinking culture which symbolizes at the same time the decline of this commodity as part of of the staple diet of much of the nation and its rise as a cultural and aesthetic object."  With these momentous, bubble-bursting (mine anyway) words, the author launches into an extended discourse of the forces of change and the look and feel of the emerging picture.  Fascinating.

This is an excellent book. If you are a wine culture nerd, read this book.  If not, wait for the movie.

The Myth of an American Wine Culture

In an article posted on The Huffington Post on March 30, Mary Orlin asks the question "... does America really have a wine culture all its own?"  And she goes on to answer emphatically "Yes we do."  I beg to differ.

Culture, as used by anthropologists, refers to the "full range of learned behavior patterns" and assumes inter-generational learning as the key "culture-transmission" vehicle.  This over-arching definition of culture is the most significant argument against the existence of an American wine culture as we have not been drinking wine long enough to have the multi-generational transfer of habits, practices, and rituals associated with a "wine culture."  Secondly, a cultural trait tends to cross-cut societal boundaries and that is definitely not the case with wine in the US.  While wine drinking is no longer reserved for society's upper crust, there are still large geographic and soci-cultural swaths of the country that remain oblivious to the pleasures of wine drinking.

In an sfgate.com article, Janice Fuhrman points out the issues faced by Spanish winemakers as they try to sell into the US market.  According to one of the interviewees, when dining in Spain, someone at the table would ask "white or red" and that would be the last time the wine would be referred to except it were bad.  In the US, according to this interviewee, once the wine is ordered, everyone has to comment on it.  This amused the interviewee because it was "only wine."  Another interviewee remarked about wine being as a much a part of the meal as the food items on the table. According to Miguel Torres, leading Spanish wine producer, and another of the interviewees, "a wine culture 'comes with thousands of years of tradition, with our ancestors, with wine drinking as an everyday part of life.'"

So how did Mary Orlin arrive at the conclusion that America has a wine culture?  In the first paragraph of her article, she points out that in 2010, Americans drank more wine than did the French.  It is not directly stated but the implication is that the French have a wine culture so if we are drinking more wine than they are then we must have a wine culture also.  Next the author turns to a SFMOMA exhibit which, she states, is premised on an American wine culture originating in 1976 with the Judgement of Paris.  Now I have not seen this exhibit but its web page seesm to hint at a broader coverage than just US wine culture. But if this museum is pushing the concept of an identifiable start date to a non-existent American wine culture then I say shame on them.