Red and White: The Globalization of Wine in the Anthropocene

Project Information

Red and White

Grant agreement ID: 896298

DOI

10.3030/896298

Project closed

EC signature date 22 April 2020

Start date 2 November 2020

End date 1 November 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 214 158,72

EU contribution

€ 214 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I STAVANGER
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Red and White (Red and White: The Globalization of Wine in the Anthropocene)

Reporting period: 2020-11-02 to 2022-11-01

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The world is changing in the Anthropocene—not only the climate, but also entire ecological systems causing changes to soil, air and even the nutrients found in a many foods. Humans and the technologies they create and deploy are entangled in these ecological systems across the earth, for better and for worse. More than ever, humans are managers of global processes that we have a very limited understanding of. This has consequences for wine not just as an alcoholic beverage, but also as the embodiment of cultural heritage for communities around the world. We are only now beginning to see the consequences of industrialization on climate and the global impact of warming temperatures, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels have on the people and places where wine is an essential way of life.

This is not the first time the vines and their communities have faced similar challenges. Prohibition in the US had tremendous implications for the production, consumption, and taste of wine. While the industry eventually recovered, and even thrives, American wine was transformed into a product unrecognizable to consumers of the previous generation. These changes eventually transformed vineyards across the globe and embedded new practices within other national traditions. Understanding how the wine industry responded to both the implementation and the repeal of Prohibition has lessons for dealing with natural disasters and climate change in the 21st century. It also has lessons regarding the reshaping of the landscape and the transformation of the cultural heritage of wine producing regions in the wake of globalization and industrialization. Red & White: The Globalization of Wine in the Anthropocene (Red & White) uses state-of-the-art and innovative historical techniques to understand how climate change and industrialization/globalization are not only reshaping landscapes and communities, but also the culture surrounding and flavors embedded in wine. The overarching question Red & White asks is how has science and technology been leveraged to expand the wine industry globally in the 20th and 21st centuries and how has that shifted the taste of the wines as the climate warms?
Given its interdisciplinary focus and contemporary implications, Red & White will appeal to a number of diverse communities including academics, industry professionals, hospitality managers and the general public to better understand how the climate crisis is reshaping the industry and the flavor of wine across the globe.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The overarching objective of Red & White was to develop skills in digital history and begin research on a manuscript examining wine and climate change. Even with a year of pandemic, I was able to expand my training and digital skill in GIS, drones, re-photography and oral history, complete several secondments totalling and synthesize the research in the form of draft chapters and an article on viticulture and oenology as the climate is warming.
Over the course of my MSCA fellowship, I took courses in digital environmental humanities, GIS, leadership, project development and grant writing. I also conducted research on in Bordeaux, New York City, the Piemonte and Chianti regions of Italy, and the Monticello District of Virginia. I arranged secondments in Chianti, Italy (1 week), Alba, Italy (1 week) and Crozet, Virginia (6 weeks), virtual with Battonage—Women in the Wine Industry (10 meetings). I also learned to fly a drone and how to use drone images in GIS systems. In addition to the training aspects of my project, I also researched and wrote a 3 draft chapters toward a book manuscript 1) on the history of wine at the University of California Davis, 2) on the globalization of Bordeaux wines in the post war period and 3) on wildfires and wine taint. Additionally, I researched an wrote an article on terroir, which is under review.
Results
I have 3 draft chapters of a book, organized 2 symposia one of which resulted in a special issue for Environment & History on the senses and the environment which I am co-editing with Gerard J. Fitzgerald and submitting a chapter on the concept of terroir, editing a second special issue on wine in the Americas and will write the introduction. I gave 11 conference papers and 1 keynote address. I had 10 weeks of secondment and participated in 6 industry events including ProWein in Dusseldorf, Germany. I also re-established the Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability working group and organized the Graduate Student Symposium through it. I organized a text seminar for sharing early work and participated in two reading groups.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project incorporates sensory history into Enviromental History with an emphasis on multi-sensorially experience moving environmental history beyond the state of the art. The project also focuses on the history of taste which is overlooked in historical research and creates a template for other to incorporate in their work. The potential impact is broader than the field of history as it help make consumers aware of how sensory experiences are linked to place and how climate change it impacting what they think they know and understand about wine from a production and a consumption perspective.

Barolo in December