Wine Drinking Culture in France

Marion Demossier

Description

This book provides a new interpretation of the relationship between consumption, drinking culture, memory and cultural identity in an age of rapid political and economic change. Using France as a case-study it explores the construction of a national drinking culture -the myths, symbols and practices surrounding it- and then through a multisited ethnography of wine consumption demonstrates how that culture is in the process of being transformed. Wine drinking culture in France has traditionally been a source of pride for the French and in an age of concerns about the dangers of 'binge-drinking', a major cause of jealousy for the British. Wine drinking and the culture associated with it are, for many, an essential part of what it means to be French, but they are also part of a national construction. Described by some as a national product, or as a 'totem drink', wine and its attendant cultures supposedly characterise Frenchness in much the same way as being born in France, fighting for liberty or speaking French. Yet this traditional picture is now being challenged by economic, social and political forces that have transformed consumption patterns and led to the fragmentation of wine drinking culture. The aim of this book is to provide an original account of the various causes of the long-term decline in alcohol consumption and of the emergence of a new wine drinking culture since the 1970s and to analyse its relationship to national and regional identity.

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Anthropology
• Social
• Culture
• France

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 juillet 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708322857
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Wine Drinking Culture in France

A National Myth or a Modern Passion?

Marion Demossier

University of Wales Press

FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE STUDIES

Wine Drinking Culture in France

Series Editors

Hanna Diamond (University of Bath) Claire Gorrara (Cardiff University)

Editorial Board

Ronan le Coadic (Université Rennes 2) Nicola Cooper (Swansea University) Maxim Silverman (Leeds University) Didier Francfort (Université Nancy 2) Sharif Gemie (University of Glamorgan) H. R. Kedward (Sussex University) Margaret Majumdar (Goldsmiths College, University of London) Nicholas Parsons (Cardiff University)

Wine Drinking Culture in France

A National Myth or a Modern Passion?

Marion Demossier

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS C ARDIFF

© Marion Demossier, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP. www.uwp.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN

e-ISBN

978-0-7083-2208-6 (hardback) 978-0-7083-2321-2 (paperback) 978-0-7083-2285-7

The right of Marion Demossier to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copy- right, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Typeset by Mark Heslington Ltd, Scarborough, North Yorkshire Printed in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Wiltshire

Series Editors’ Preface

Acknowledgements

Map of French vineyards

Contents

Introduction: Wine Drinking Culture: A Myth or a Reality in Decline?

Chapter One: Drink, Consumption and Identity

Chapter Two: Changes to a National Wine Drinking Culture

Chapter Three: A New Wine Drinking Culture?

Chapter Four: Contemporary Discourses and Representations

Chapter Five: Ethnographies and Contexts

Chapter Six: Passion for Wine and Life-Stories

Chapter Seven: Between Self-Reflexivity, ‘Distinction’ and Social Connectedness Chapter Eight: Globalization, Nation and the Region: The New Wine Drinking Culture Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index

vi vii x

1 18 41 70 101 132 155

175

196 216 222 223 231

Series Editors’ Preface

This series showcases the work of new and established scholars working within the fields of French and francophone studies. It publishes introductory texts aimed at a student readership, as well as research-orientated monographs at the cutting edge of their discipline area. The series aims to highlight shifting patterns of research in French and francophone studies, to re-evaluate tradi- tional representations of French and francophone identities and to encourage the exchange of ideas and perspectives across a wide range of discipline areas. The emphasis throughout the series will be on the ways in which French and francophone communities across the world are evolving into the twenty-first century.

Hanna Diamond and Claire Gorrara

Acknowledgements

This book is the result of fifteen years of intense fieldwork and of constant interaction with the wine profession in France. I started my Ph.D. on the Burgundian wine industry in the 1990s and completed my analysis of the anthropology of wine with this book in the summer of 2008. Without my conversations with wine growers, professionals, experts, oenologists, consumers, wine lovers and others in the field, this work would not have seen the light of day and many of my ques- tions would have remained unanswered. It is an impossible task to thank everybody who has assisted my research, but I should like to assure them all that the world of wine is filled with passion and interest, and this work is dedicated to all the enthusiasts with whom I have shared a fascination with wine. The picture I propose here of French wine culture and consumption is unlikely to be that expected by my compatriots, but it arises, in part, as a result of my displacement and ‘exile’ in Great Britain and as a reflection of the ambiguities of my position as a ‘social anthropologist at home’. Because of the multi-sited nature of my own investigation, I have tried to propose an original perspective, that of the relationship between culture and consumption in an era of globalization. Therefore it will not be an exhaustive and self-indulging construction of the world of wine, but more a nuanced and constructive analysis of a changing world adapting to globalization. I began my fieldwork nearly twenty years ago researching the wine- making techniques of Burgundian producers, and I completed it with an ANR-INRA research project on wine with lower alcohol content involving Pernod Ricard and the Fédération des Vins de Pays (Bernard Augé). This latter research project has proved to be extremely helpful, enabling me to discover the region of Languedoc- Roussillon and its political landscape. I should like to thank my colleagues who have shared their extensive knowledge of French wine production, especially Patrick Aigrain, Clementina Sebillotte, Hervé Hannin, Étienne Montaigne and François d’Hauteville, and

viii

Acknowledgements

also the two organizers Jean-Louis Escudier and Guy Albagnac and the whole ANR team. I should like to thank all the institutions and organizations which have provided generous financial help that has enabled me to complete my research: the British Academy for supporting me financially during my year in France by granting me a Large Research Grant (LRG35396); the Department of European Studies and Modern Languages at the University of Bath for giving me research leave in 1999 and in 2003–4 which enabled me to finalize my research and to complete the writing of this manuscript. My colleague Professor Bill Brooks for his continuous support, and all my colleagues in the French section, in particular Hanna Diamond, Nina Parish and Steve Wharton, who had to endure my constant obsession with talking about wine drinking; Claire Gorrara and Hanna Diamond, the series editors, who have provided me with constant support, and the anonymous reader for his/her construc- tive comments; and Sarah Lewis from the University of Wales Press who has been a very dedicated and efficient commissioner. Finally, this work has benefited from invaluable discussions with French and British colleagues working in the field of sociology and anthropology of food and drink. Among them, I would like to acknowledge the help of Thomas M. Wilson (Binghamton University, New York), Jean-Pierre Corbeau (University of Tours), Gilbert Garrier (University of Lyon), and the AoFood team headed by Virginie Amilien, Isabelle Techoueyres and Florence Bergeaud- Blackler. A special thanks to all the professionals I have met throughout the fieldwork and for the wine tastings shared with them, especially Mauricette Pion, David Cobbold and the team of the École du Vin in Paris. I should also like to thank all the wine lovers, and especially Thierry Meyer, for sharing his sociological knowledge of this world of passions. I should like to thank the following individuals, organizations and institutions who helped me with the publication of this book and granted me permission to reproduce materials previously published elsewhere. Berg Publishers for allowing me to reproduce parts of the chapter ‘Consuming Wine in France: The ‘Wandering’ Drinker and the Vin-Anomie’, published by Berg in the volume edited by Thomas Wilson and entitledDrinking Culture. In France, I am grateful to the INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel) for its help in assisting me with the constitution of a database on wine from