Wine and Identity

Branding, Heritage, Terroir

Matt Harvey, Leanne White, Warwick Frost, Matt Harvey, Leanne White, Warwick Frost

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780415814195
• eBook ISBN: 9781135079741
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Industria dell'ospitalità e del turismo
• Index: Business

In an increasingly competitive global market, winemakers are seeking to increase their sales and wine regions to attract tourists. To achieve these aims, there is a trend towards linking wine marketing with identity. Such an approach seeks to distinguish wine products – whether wine or wine tourism – from their competitors, by focusing on cultural and geographical attributes that contribute to the image and experience. In essence, marketing wine and wine regions has become increasingly about telling stories – engaging and provocative stories which engage consumers and tourists and translate into sales.

This timely book examines this phenomena and how it is leading to changes in the wine and tourism industries for the first time. It takes a global approach, drawing on research studies from around the world including old and new world wine regions. The volume is divided into three parts. The first – branding – investigates cases where established regions have sought to strengthen their brands or newer regions are striving to create effective emerging brands. The second – heritage – considers cases where there are strong linkages between cultural heritage and wine marketing. The third section – terroir – explores how a 'sense of place' is inherent in winescapes and regional identities and is increasingly being used as a distinctive selling proposition.

This significant volume showcasing the connections between place, identity, variety and wine will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics interested in tourism, marketing and wine studies.

1

Exploring wine and identity

Matt Harvey, Warwick Frost and Leanne White

Introduction

This edited volume explores the numerous ways in which wine and identity intersect and overlap. Wine and identity have broad appeal due to the opportunity to become involved in new wine experiences. Individuals might travel to a range of wine destinations and have a variety of experiences reflecting aspects of their wine identity. When visiting such destinations or experiencing such events, visitors receive messages from the creators of the sites. These sites of significance, presented as aspects of wine heritage, help to shape a common wine identity, or ‘imagined community’ among a diverse population.

The interconnecting areas of wine and identity (with a particular focus on aspects of branding, heritage and terroir) have been largely overlooked in the academic literature to date. This complex relationship between the two domains (and indeed, the multifaceted strategies used to define that relationship) is a subject worthy of considerable analysis. By understanding wine destinations through the lens of identity (be it local, regional, national or other), the visitor may develop a deeper appreciation of the wine experience. In addition, wine marketers and planners might be better equipped to promote and manage the wine destination – particularly with regard to the expectations of the potential visitor.

This introductory chapter is divided into three parts. First, it discusses the dynamic nature of global wine markets and some of the key issues facing them today. Second, it provides a brief theoretical background to our three major themes: heritage, branding and terroir. Third, it provides an overview of the chapters in the three sections of this book. Chapters 2 to 17 investigate case studies from around the world exploring diverse wine and identity issues in a wide range of ‘Old and New World wine worlds’ including France, Germany, Spain, Slovenia, Georgia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, the United States, Brazil, and Malaysia. The book concludes by highlighting and interconnecting many of the significant issues and themes explored in the volume and illuminates the path for further possible research in the area.

The focus of this book is on wine identity and wine identities in a range of New and Old World wine nations, and in the broader global context. This book is unique in that it incorporates broader issues of wine identity and opens the key areas of wine, identity, branding, heritage and terroir to both a multidisciplinary and an international approach.

Issues in contemporary global wine markets

Global wine markets are dynamic, fluctuating and ultra-competitive. This is in part because wine is very different from other agricultural products. Unlike milk, flour, fruit or vegetables, consumers seek information about where, when and how wine was made, and this is a major factor in their purchase decisions. Milk is milk, wherever it is produced; but the wine called Champagne is only Champagne if it is made in the Champagne region of France using certain prescribed methods. Wine is distinct in having an identity – a combination of brand, heritage and terroir – and that gives certain wines and wine regions a competitive advantage.

Wine production, sales and consumption are constantly affected by attempts to manipulate this identity; whether it be by producers or the result of market forces and trends. This underpins a high degree of uncertainty and the wine industry is continually beset by challenges (some might say crises) as conditions and competitors change. To begin to understand this dynamism, it is perhaps useful to apply the concept of a Black Swan Event. This metaphor was developed to describe instances where what seemed impossible in the past comes true and, with the benefit of hindsight seems logical, and even predictable. Its colourful title comes from the example that Europeans used to believe that all swans were white. Indeed, the whiteness of swans was their defining characteristic; it was unthinkable that swans could be any other colour. And then in the seventeenth century, European explorers discovered black swans (Taleb 2007).

For wine, the best-known Black Swan Event concerns the Old and New Worlds. Wine developed in the Old World of Europe and later spread to the New World (including the Americas, Australasia and South Africa). However, there was always a strong sense that the best wines came from Europe – a product of tradition and experience. In contrast, the producers of the New World could make good wine, they could produce cheap wine, but they could never make anything to match the best of the Old World. Arguably, the Black Swan Event occurred in 1976, at what has been labelled the Paris Judgment. At a prestigious blind wine tasting, the judges identified what they thought were the best French wines. They were mortified when it was revealed that their choices were actually Californian (Taber 2005; this was also the subject of the 2008 feature film Bottleshock). There were certainly instances before this of claims that New World wine could be of superior quality, but this, and other occurrences, led to the paradigm shift where it is now generally accepted that really good wine is not confined to Europe.

In the early part of the twenty-first century, the wine industry has been confronted with a number of further Black Swan Events, provoking uncertainty and discord. Two are worth considering. The first is the massive over-production of good wine. This is partly due to improved technology making it easier for a wide range of physical environments (terroirs) to produce high quality wines at a cheap cost. Hence, for example, regions utilising mass irrigation may no longer be dismissed as producing an inferior product. It is also partly that changes in geopolitics have drawn more regions into world markets. In the New World, Australia, California and South Africa have been joined by New Zealand, Canada, other US states, South America and even China. In Europe, former Eastern bloc regions, such as Slovenia and Georgia (discussed in later chapters) are shifting from nearby to global markets. This great influx of wine is both congesting and confusing markets. For consumers there are benefits in lower prices, but for producers profits are being tightly squeezed.

The second Black Swan Event still seems unthinkable. In the traditional wine-drinking countries of Europe, per capita consumption is falling dramatically. The fall is particularly pronounced among the young. Instead of the wines their parents and grandparents craved, Generations X and Y are seduced by a range of alternatives, notably beer and mixed spirits (see Chapter 3, by Alonso and Bressan and Chapter 11, by Lorey). Rather than being a marker of Conspicuous Consumption, wine is seemingly in danger of becoming a new type of Giffen Good (one where demand falls as income rises).

The challenges presented by the combination of these trends are forcing regions and individual producers to develop new strategies. Our interest is in the interplay of branding, heritage and terroir brought about by these changes. This is a Brave New World for wine, and how it is managed depends on how the past is repackaged and re-imagined as heritage and expressed in branding. As place/terroir has played such a critical part in wine’s history and development, its role in heritage and branding is also considered. Indeed, several contributors extend the concept of terroir so that it seamlessly blends with heritage and branding in what might be described overall as wine culture.

Heritage and wine

Heritage is a seemingly simple concept, particularly when applied to wine. Textbook definitions of heritage include ‘anything that someone wishes to conserve or collect, and to pass on to future generations’ (Howard 2003: 6) and ‘some sort of inheritance to be passed down to current and future generations’ (Timothy and Boyd 2003: 2). Most importantly, heritage is relevant to societies across three time frames: the past, the present and the future, and it is how society uses and interprets its heritage that causes much discussion (Frost and Laing 2013; Harvey 2001; Urde Greyser and Balmer 2007). Typically, heritage is divided into three categories: tangible immovable (most commonly buildings), tangible movable (artefacts) and intangible (customs) (Timothy and Boyd 2003: 3). The tendency for governments and others to invest substantial resources in classifying and listing heritage buildings and sites has often focused popular attention primarily on the tangible. However, there is an increasing trend for regarding intangible heritage equally with tangible heritage and seeing all types of heritage as requiring preservation (Ahmad 2006; Harvey 2001).

Applying these broad concepts to wine, it is easy to develop the notion of a wine heritage, rooted in the past and existing in the present, that people would like to preserve for future generations. Furthermore, this wine heritage is easily split into the three main categories listed above. Tangible immovable is applicable to historic buildings, such as wineries and attached grand houses. It may also be applied to grapevines, vineyards and landscapes. Tangible movable encompasses tools and equipment and may even be applied to the product itself, as in the cases of barrels or bottles of wine. The third category of intangible heritage in wine would include styles, production techniques, stories, images and ethnic customs and festivals.

However, as the abundant literature makes clear, heritage is a simple concept with complex implications. For a start, there are differences in terminology around the globe. The UK is comfortable with the term heritage, as evidenced in its heritage legislation and the development of institutions such as English Heritage. In contrast, the USA prefers the term preservation (Hall 2011) and heritage, as a term, has tended to be appropriated by fundamentalist organisations such as the Heritage Foundation (Lowenthal 1998). The association of heritage with the United Nations, as in UNESCO and World Heritage, may also explain the American aversion to the term (for example, the Grand Canyon National Park, while World Heritage listed, does not use that branding or logo in its signage). In Europe, the term patrimony is used, providing a subtle, gendered distinction.

Notions of heritage vary over time and within stakeholder groups (Harvey 2001). A common framework (which we see as applicable to wine heritage), is to focus on Who determines heritage and Why they do so (Howard 2003; Timothy and Boyd 2003). Taking this approach, heritage is viewed as Normative rather than Positivist; a negotiated and contested social construct rather than an immutable truth. The subjective interpretations and meanings attached to heritage make it about more than issues of preservation and authenticity. The concept of dissonant heritage, as advanced by Tunbridge and Ashworth (1996) recognises that heritage is often subject to multiple contested claims by various stakeholders. As Lowenthal puts it, ‘heritage battles are not just against vandals, but also those who would also claim the same heritage’ (1998: 230). Such disputes are often viewed as undesirable and to be avoided by industry and marketing practitioners, sometimes leading to further issues of sanitisation. However, as Tunbridge and Ashworth (1996) argue, contested claims need to be understood as a necessary part of any healthy debate over heritage.

The consideration of who determines heritage is often dominated by discussion of preservation classifications and schemes. This paradigm is shaped by architectural and planning perspectives and prominence is given to a highly regulated institutional apparatus (Hall 2011). A parallel may be drawn with the appellation schemes for winemaking. As an illustration of the dynamics of such schemes, it is worth considering the World Heritage listings administered by UNESCO. Under these, three wine regions are currently listed as transcending national significance and being of universal worthiness. These are: the Alto Douro (Portugal), Tokaj (Hungary) and the Lavaux Wine Terraces (Switzerland). In contrast, two French regions – Champagne and Bourgogne (Burgundy) – mounted spirited but unsuccessful campaigns for World Heritage listing in 2012. This inclusion of some and exclusion of others raises serious questions of the validity of such heritage policing. Perhaps the vignerons of Champagne and Burgundy can take comfort that their regions and wines are world-renowned without the need for World Heritage listing.

Decisions regarding heritage preservation are also made at a lower level, including those by governments and individual property owners. Again the tendency is to focus on buildings, often the grander the better. Authenticity – the notion that something is objectively real – is a prime factor in such decision-making. This is a major issue in the heritage literature. Initially, the concept came from museum studies, where curators were keen to determine the exact provenance of ancient artefacts to justify the high purchase prices paid. Extending this to heritage more generally has resulted in a major debate as to perceptions of reality and authenticity (Cohen 1988). The fuzziness and commoditisation of authenticity is very apparent in wine. For example, there are ongoing disputes about appellations, including regular instances of fraudulent substitutions and misrepresentations, such as in the 2008 ‘Brunellopoli Scandal’ in Italy (Cavicchi and Santini 2011). There is also the phenomenon of wine as a collectable, which fetches ridiculous prices at auction even when it has become undrinkable.

Wineries and wine regions are good examples of the concept of Brand Heritage as developed by Urde, Greyser and Balmer (2007). History provides an opportunity, ‘but [it] must be harnessed and employed as a strategic resource’. By carefully exercising brand stewardship, the aim is to gain value through making heritage, both tangible and intangible, ‘a key component of its brand identity and positioning’ (Urde et al. 2007: 5–6).

There are strong links between wine, identity, fantasy and mythology, and this may be seen in how wine is marketed. Castello di Amoroso, in California’s Napa Valley, is described in its brochure as an ‘authentic 12th century Tuscan castle-winery’. Given that building started in 1993, authenticity is not being used in an absolutely literal sense, but, nevertheless, is invoked to convey status, quality and a link to the past. It could be described as an authentic reproduction! Similar observations may be made of other faux European architecture, such as French Chateaux, in the Napa Valley. Over time, such fantasy architecture may in itself be regarded as heritage. In Australia, the winery at All Saints in Rutherglen was built in 1880 to look like a medieval castle, based on the Castle of May in Caithness, Scotland. Nearby Mt Ophir was built in 1892 in the French provincial style, complete with a medieval-style tower. Both are now heritage listed, as representative of the nineteenth century wine boom. Winery architecture is discussed further in Chapter 16 of this book.

While there has been a tendency to market heritage in terms of buildings, in recent years there has been a growing utilisation of events. Two types are worth noting. The first are commemorative events, utilising a specific foundation date to gain marketing leverage. An example of this is the two hundredth anniversary, in 2011, of the establishment of the Champagne house Perrier Jouët (Frost and Laing 2013). The second type is regional festivals, which are built around ethnic heritage. An example of this is the La Dolce Vita Festival, themed on the Italian background of the majority of winemakers in the King Valley, Victoria, Australia (Laing and Frost 2013).

Research into heritage tends to focus on the supply side: government agencies, site managers, product development and destination marketing. It is also important to consider the demand side: who are the visitors and what are they seeking? There has been a tendency to overstate the magnitude of special interest tourism, especially in wine and heritage, classifying any visitor with an interest as a highly-motivated pilgrim. Recent evidence suggests that visitation to heritage attractions is primarily incidental, part of a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Notes on contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Exploring wine and identity
• Heritage
• Branding
• Terroir
• Conclusion
• Index