Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Irish Merchants and Bordeaux (Irish Merchants and Bordeaux: The Irish Role in the Invention of Grands Crus Wines)
Période du rapport: 2015-09-01 au 2017-08-31
This project investigates the creation of one of Europe's great cultural treasures: fine wine from Bordeaux. Modern historians have generally sought to explain the creation of Bordeaux grands crus as a result of wealthy English consumers whose demand for fine wine inspired and funded Bordelais wine-makers, or else the result of superior geography (terroir) and centuries of French wine-making skill. But these explanations, even when synthesized, overlook the necessary role of middlemen, the "British" (in fact mostly Irish) merchants who "raised" the wines in their Bordeaux cellars, blended them to their customers' tastes, and then got the wines to market in Britain and Ireland. In many ways, these merchants were as much the "winemaker" as the maitre de chai at the chateau. Indeed, in French, the merchants were known as "negociants-eleveur," or wholesaler-growers, as it was they who purchased the wine within weeks of production and then "grew" or "raised" the wine in their cellars by racking the wine from its gross lees, fining (clarifying) the wine with egg whites, and blending the Bordeaux wine with wine from the Northern Rhone Valley and Eastern Spain. The importance of these merchants has long been acknowledged by French historians, but their role in producing the wines has never been fully explained. This project has uncovered the activities of leading wine merchants in the creation of fine Bordeaux wines, and placed those activities within a broader network of trade that was centred on Bordeaux and Ireland, but included northern Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean. In so doing, my project shows that neither terroir nor wealthy consumers--nor even a synthesis of the two--can explain the birth of fine Bordeaux wine; instead, the chain of causality must include the entrepreneurial and wine-raising skills of Irish merchants and vast trading networks in which they operated.
This project is important because it shows that our most esteemed consumable commodities are not products of human skill or nature or alone, but instead of human innovation acting with natural resources, and within technological and cultural limitations, in order to meet consumer demand. Specifically, this project shows how Bordeaux grand crus wines, among Europe's most famous luxury commodities, were gradually invented by (mostly) Irish merchants over the course of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, as they purchased the most expensive and esteemed young wines from around the Bordeaux region, and then manipulated these wines in order to satisfy the demands of wealthy British and Irish consumers. It was this style of wine that would become known as "grands crus." This project should provide a helpful case study for commodity historians and business students, as well as provide a fascinating story for wine lovers around the world.
The overall objective of this project is to focus on previously unused private archival sources to tell a story about economic migration, business innovation, international conflict and cooperation, national identity, and cultural assimilation, all of which remain important topics for Europe and the world today.
This project is important because it shows that our most esteemed consumable commodities are not products of human skill or nature or alone, but instead of human innovation acting with natural resources, and within technological and cultural limitations, in order to meet consumer demand. Specifically, this project shows how Bordeaux grand crus wines, among Europe's most famous luxury commodities, were gradually invented by (mostly) Irish merchants over the course of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, as they purchased the most expensive and esteemed young wines from around the Bordeaux region, and then manipulated these wines in order to satisfy the demands of wealthy British and Irish consumers. It was this style of wine that would become known as "grands crus." This project should provide a helpful case study for commodity historians and business students, as well as provide a fascinating story for wine lovers around the world.
The overall objective of this project is to focus on previously unused private archival sources to tell a story about economic migration, business innovation, international conflict and cooperation, national identity, and cultural assimilation, all of which remain important topics for Europe and the world today.
Work performed for this project can be broadly divided into research, collaboration, and dissemination. During the course of this grant, In conducted research in the public archives of Boole Library, University College Cork; the National Library of Ireland; the manuscripts library of Trinity College Dublin; the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland; the British Library; the National Archives of the United Kingdom; the Archives Departementales de Gironde; and the Bordeaux Archives Metropole. I also conducted research in the private archives of Tastet-Lawton, Bordeaux; James Hennessy and Co., Cognac; Nathaniel Johnston et Fils, Bordeaux; and Barton Family Wines, St. Julien.
During the course of my research, I have collaborated with over 25 scholars from Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Spain, and the United States.
I have disseminated my ongoing research in many different ways and on numerous occasions. I have given three radio interviews on my research which are available to the public in podcast form. I have given 16 public lectures regarding my research, 14 in English and 2 in French. I have organized two conferences at which my own work was presented. The first of these conferences attracted a popular audience and was attended by over 400 people, the second was a small conference attended by pre-eminent Irish, French, and American historians.
So far, four articles written during the course of my grant have been accepted for publication. I am seeking publication for two more articles that have already been written, and in 2020 I hope to have completed my book on the topic of the Irish wine merchants in Bordeaux.
The result of my work so far has been a increased understanding of the way in which Bordeaux grands crus wines were invented, the critical role of Irish merchants in their invention, the broader trading context between Ireland in France in the eighteenth century, and a better understanding of the daily lives of the Irish community in Bordeaux, all of which have been discussed in my written and spoken work.
During the course of my research, I have collaborated with over 25 scholars from Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Spain, and the United States.
I have disseminated my ongoing research in many different ways and on numerous occasions. I have given three radio interviews on my research which are available to the public in podcast form. I have given 16 public lectures regarding my research, 14 in English and 2 in French. I have organized two conferences at which my own work was presented. The first of these conferences attracted a popular audience and was attended by over 400 people, the second was a small conference attended by pre-eminent Irish, French, and American historians.
So far, four articles written during the course of my grant have been accepted for publication. I am seeking publication for two more articles that have already been written, and in 2020 I hope to have completed my book on the topic of the Irish wine merchants in Bordeaux.
The result of my work so far has been a increased understanding of the way in which Bordeaux grands crus wines were invented, the critical role of Irish merchants in their invention, the broader trading context between Ireland in France in the eighteenth century, and a better understanding of the daily lives of the Irish community in Bordeaux, all of which have been discussed in my written and spoken work.
Much work has been done so far, but there is also much work still to be done. The project website is currently an overview, but will eventually provide fellow researchers with Irish wine import statistics from 1698-1829; a complete list of Irish Merchants in Bordeaux with their dates and inter-relationships; transcriptions of significant documents and letters from the private Barton, Johnston, and Hennessy archives. I have begun to seek publishers in both English and French for a volume of essays to be edited by me, based upon the papers given at the conference, "The Irish Community in Bordeaux in the Long-Eighteenth Century: Contributions and Contexts," and of course the culmination of my project will be a book that explores the role of Irish merchants in the invention of Bordeaux grands crus wines, the European and Atlantic context in which they operated, the community's contacts with Ireland, their inter-connections and relationships in Ireland and Bordeaux, and lastly, their daily lives both at work and play.
The potential impact of these deliverables will include a better understanding of how Bordeaux grands crus wines were a complex creation of French producers, Irish merchants, and the British and Irish markets; a greater awareness that many of Europe's most iconic commercial products are an artifact of international cooperation; a heightened historical awareness among producers and consumers about the emergence of the idea of "purity" and "authenticity" in the wine industry; a realization that wine and other products have always been produced for the demands of consumers, and that as wine producers face the challenges posed by global warming, they will continue to have to innovate in order to conform to consumer demands, and lastly, an awareness and celebration of the profound and complex history behind something as simple as a glass of wine.
The potential impact of these deliverables will include a better understanding of how Bordeaux grands crus wines were a complex creation of French producers, Irish merchants, and the British and Irish markets; a greater awareness that many of Europe's most iconic commercial products are an artifact of international cooperation; a heightened historical awareness among producers and consumers about the emergence of the idea of "purity" and "authenticity" in the wine industry; a realization that wine and other products have always been produced for the demands of consumers, and that as wine producers face the challenges posed by global warming, they will continue to have to innovate in order to conform to consumer demands, and lastly, an awareness and celebration of the profound and complex history behind something as simple as a glass of wine.