Sober Revolution

Joseph Bohling

Description

Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne. The names of these and other French regions bring to mind time-honored winemaking practices. Yet the link between wine and place, in French known as terroir, was not a given. In The Sober Revolution, Joseph Bohling inverts our understanding of French wine history by revealing a modern connection between wine and place, one with profound ties to such diverse and sometimes unlikely issues as alcoholism, drunk driving, regional tourism, Algeria's independence from French rule, and integration into the European Economic Community.In the 1930s, cheap, mass-produced wines from the Languedoc region of southern France and French Algeria dominated French markets. Artisanal wine producers, worried about the impact of these "inferior" products on the reputation of their wines, created a system of regional appellation labeling to reform the industry in their favor by linking quality to the place of origin. At the same time, the loss of Algeria, once the world's largest wine exporter, forced the industry to rethink wine production. Over several decades, appellation producers were joined by technocrats, public health activists, tourism boosters, and other dynamic economic actors who blamed cheap industrial wine for hindering efforts to modernize France. Today, scholars, food activists, and wine enthusiasts see the appellation system as a counterweight to globalization and industrial food. But, as The Sober Revolution reveals, French efforts to localize wine and integrate into global markets were not antagonistic but instead mutually dependent. The time-honored winemaking practices that we associate with a pastoral vision of traditional France were in fact a strategy deployed by the wine industry to meet the challenges and opportunities of the post-1945 international economy. France's luxury wine producers were more market savvy than we realize.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History of Europe
• Viticulture
• France

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501716065
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

The Sober Revolution

TheSoberRevolution

AppellationWineandthe Transformation of France

JosephBohling

CornellUniversityPress Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2018 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2018 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Bohling, Joseph, 1978– author. Title: The sober revolution : appellation wine and the transformation of  France / Joseph Bohling. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2018. | Includes  bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018015873 (print) | LCCN 2018016576 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501716058 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501716065 (pdf) |  ISBN 9781501716041 | ISBN 9781501716041 (cloth; alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Wine industry—France—History—20th century. |  Wine and wine Making—Marks of origin—France—History—20th  century. Classification: LCC HD9382.5 (ebook) | LCC HD9382.5 .B64 2018  (print) | DDC 338.4/76632009440904—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018015873

Cover illustration: “Plaisir de boire, ne dure qu’un moment!” [“The pleasure of drinking only lasts a moment!”] HCEIA (Haut comité d’étude et d’information sur l’alcoolisme) poster, c. 1955–1960. Courtesy of the National Archives of France, PierrefittesurSeine.

Tomyfamily, for loving me absolutely

ListofFiguresandTables

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

NoteonUsage

GuidetoTerms

Introduction

1.UndertheInfluence

Contents

2.TheImperativeofIntervention

3.QuantityorQuality?

4.DrinkingandDriving

ix

xi

xvii

xx

xxi

1

16

50

86

119

vi i i

Contents

5.EuropeanizingtheRevolution

Conclusion:Terroirvs. McWorld

Notes

Bibliography

Index

153

180

199

243

269

Figures

FiguresandTables

 1. Map of major wine and brandy regions in France and French Algeriaxxvi  2. French wine production and exports, 1950–19803  3. French wine consumption, 1950–19804  4. A typical appellation wine label from the Sauternes AOC in 19477  5. Unloading barrels of industrial wine on the banks of the Seine in Paris, c. 19389  6. Transporting industrial wine by truck, c. 19559  7. Promotional material from the Association of ProWine Propaganda, c. 1930s38  8. Promotional material from the Association of ProWine Propaganda, c. 1930s39  9. “Le CowBoy,” 195479