Geographies of qualification in the global fine wine market

Gerhard Rainer

doi:10.1177/0308518x20934816

Abstract

Although questions of “quality” have gained prominence in economic geography, research has not fully explored recent discussions on processes of qualification in economic sociology. This paper has two key aims. The first is to introduce the way qualification processes have been conceptualized in recent pragmatism-inspired, process-oriented social science contributions, drawing particularly on work relating to actor-network theory, as well as on studies focusing on status/aesthetic markets. The second is to make this body of literature fruitful for a geographical perspective on product qualification in status/aesthetic markets. For the second aim, the paper empirically focuses on the global fine wine market. Since consumer products have increasingly become aestheticized in recent decades, an analysis of the geographies of fine wine qualification—an agricultural product that is also a key example of an aesthetic/status product—can provide insights into the dynamics of aestheticization in the food and beverages market more broadly. In order to advance a global perspective on fine wine qualification, this paper draws on qualitative empirical research in three wine regions around the world: South Tyrol (Italy), Salta (Argentina) and Marlborough (New Zealand). It argues that qualifying products is not only a highly reflexive and dynamic process, as contributions from economic sociology have revealed, but also, and crucially, a profoundly geographical matter.

Highlights

During the last two decades, studies on qualification and valuation have become significantly more important in economic sociology (e.g. Beckert and Aspers, 2011; Beckert and EPA: Economy and Space 53(1)Musselin, 2013; Boltanski and Thevenot, 2006; Callon et al, 2002; Hutter and Stark, 2015; Karpik, 2010)
By putting the spatialities of qualification at the heart of the analysis, this paper aims to contribute to an economic geography of status/aesthetic markets
It feeds into recent work in economic geography that has started to investigate different aspects of the geographies of value creation in status/aesthetic markets, analyzing the importance of the micro-geographies of retail design and display (Crewe, 2016), as well as the varied geographies of brands and branding and, in particular, processes of geographical association (Overton and Heitger, 2008; Overton and Murray, 2016; Pike, 2015; Tokatli, 2014) and geographies of dissociation (Ibert et al, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

During the last two decades, studies on qualification and valuation have become significantly more important in economic sociology (e.g. Beckert and Aspers, 2011; Beckert and EPA: Economy and Space 53(1)Musselin, 2013; Boltanski and Thevenot, 2006; Callon et al, 2002; Hutter and Stark, 2015; Karpik, 2010). By putting the spatialities of qualification at the heart of the analysis, this paper aims to contribute to an economic geography of status/aesthetic markets It feeds into recent work in (cultural) economic geography that has started to investigate different aspects of the geographies of (symbolic) value creation in status/aesthetic markets, analyzing the importance of the micro-geographies of retail design and display (Crewe, 2016), as well as the varied geographies of brands and branding and, in particular, processes of geographical association (Overton and Heitger, 2008; Overton and Murray, 2016; Pike, 2015; Tokatli, 2014) and geographies of dissociation (Ibert et al, 2019). Recent studies have suggested that we are witnessing an aestheticization of everyday life and consumer products (Aspers and Beckert, 2011; Ibert et al, 2019; Reckwitz, 2017; Ro€ssel and Beckert, 2013) By following this line of argument, this paper assumes that the way fine wine is qualified and valued might arguably have repercussions for the food and beverages market more broadly. As Beckert et al (2017: 207) put it: “Studying markets such as the wine market helps us to develop the analytical tools to understand much wider aspects of the contemporary economy.”

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Conclusion