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This chapter summarizes the main discussions of the book outlining the topics of the three parts of the books. Part I dealt with wine words and the extensive wine lexicon that has emerged. Part II reported on the experiments conducted which interestingly showed that the nonexpert and even some expert wine drinkers generally did not agree on wine descriptions and often did not form a consensus on wines. Part III dealt with the functions of language and certain aspects of wine culture such as elitism, anti-elitism, and marketing.

This concluding chapter takes a brief look at the changes that took place among traditional producer countries in Europe and then offers some comments concerning the obstacles facing the producers in the New World. It finishes with reflections on the extent to which the organization of the wine industry today is the result of changes that took place before 1914. These changes were not uniform, and by 1914 major differences were found in the organization of production and marketing of commodity wines in places as far-flung as France, California, South Australia, and Mendoza. Even within a country such as France, new and differing institutions had appeared that altered market incentives for growers, winemakers, and merchants in places such as Bordeaux, Reims, and Montpellier.

This chapter examines the growth in wine consumption in the second half of the nineteenth century and shows the impact of phylloxera on the French market, and how the stimulus of higher international prices led to a wine boom in Spain. At the time, Europe's growers, winemakers, and merchants had to adapt to some important changes. On the demand side, the decline in transport costs produced by the railways, rapid urbanization, and rising incomes led to per capita wine consumption in France reaching more than 160 liters in the 1900s, and there were significant increases in other countries. The growth in consumption was all the more impressive given that the vine disease phylloxera vastatrix destroyed large areas of Europe's vineyards. In addition, the chapter discusses the development of scientific viticulture and wine making, and the appearance of large-scale wineries in the Midi and Algeria.

This chapter shows that wine was traditionally a luxury because of the high and discriminatory import duties, which benefited Portuguese and Spanish producers at the expense of the French. With the reforms of the early 1860s there was a temporary increase in consumption and a switch in preference away from Iberian fortified wines toward French table wines. Merchants blended cheap commodity wines from different locations to minimize quality fluctuations, but although retail prices remained remarkably stable during the phylloxera-induced period of shortages, this was achieved only by significantly reducing product quality. Poor wines and numerous press reports concerning their adulteration led to falling consumption. The failure of buyer-driven commodity chains such as the Victoria Wine Company or Gilbeys to significantly cut marketing costs implied that the small family retailer remained competitive, but neither could simultaneously cut prices and guarantee product quality for consumers.

This chapter looks at how the Californian wine industry developed. It first shows how producers adapted grape growing and wine making to local conditions; the chapter then considers the relationship between growers, winemakers, and San Francisco's merchants that led to the creation of the California Wine Association (CWA). Finally, the chapter examines the difficulties in selling to consumers accustomed to drinking beer and whisky rather than wine. Despite the success of the CWA, consumption of dry wines was strictly limited outside the small group of immigrants from southern Europe, and it was dessert wines that proved to be the most dynamic sector in the decade or two prior to Prohibition.

Through a comparative, longitudinal analysis of the wine industry in two Argentine provinces, this chapter examines how different political approaches to reform shapes the ability of societies to build new institutions for economic upgrading. Upgrading in wine and grapes often demands the creation of skills and the coordination of experiments in processes, products, and functions across a wide variety of organizational forms and sub-regions. Inherited structural factors per se can not easily explain the different solutions to this challenge. In particular, although voluntary associationalism improves the needed social learning and collaboration, it is also self-limiting. A better explanation focuses on how governments confront the dual challenge of redefining the boundary between the public and private domains, and of recombining the socio-economic ties among relevant firms and their respective business associations. A ‘depoliticization’ approach emphasizes the imposition of arm's-length incentives by a powerful, insulated government, but appears to contribute little to institutional change and upgrading. A ‘participatory restructuring’ approach promotes the creation of public-private institutions via adherence to two key principles: inclusion of a wide variety of relevant stakeholder groups, and rules of deliberative governance that promote collective problem-solving. The latter approach appears to have the advantage of facilitating collaboration and knowledge creation among previously antagonistic groups, including government.

This chapter looks at the experience of the Midi, France's cheapest wine producer. After examining long-run changes in France's domestic wine supply, and in particular merchants' attempts to augment supply during the phylloxera epidemic by adulteration, it shows how the changes in political strength of small farmers and workers increased during the Third Republic, especially after the 1884 law permitting the formation of syndicates. Despite the presence of large vineyards in the Midi, the wine industry was relatively united in its attempt first to tackle phylloxera and replant, and then to demand state intervention to control fraud. Finally, the chapter considers how smaller growers started to establish cooperatives in response to another threat to their livelihood, namely, the increasing economies of scale and skills required for wine production and marketing.

This chapter shows the nature and limits of organizational change in the production and sale of sherry over the nineteenth century. Despite an apparent flexibility in responding to increased demand in international markets, a decline in the reputation of sherry caused a rapid drop in sales, as merchants in Jerez and especially Britain sold adulterated and cheap imitation wines. Although there was much talk about protecting the name of sherry in Jerez, this proved difficult because of the diversity of interests within the producing region itself. The big export houses responded to weaker demand for their fine sherries by moving down-market to achieve volume. While the political influence of small growers in France allowed them to capture market power from the merchants by establishing regional appellations and cooperatives, this did not happen in Jerez.

This chapter examines how Australians learned to grow grapes and make wine, and the advances in wine-making technologies linked to dry table wine production. The Australian wine industry dates from the end of the eighteenth century, but as in California and Argentina, it was only in the two or three decades prior to the First World War that it became commercially important. The chapter then considers the problems of vertical coordination, or “cooperation” as contemporaries called it, between grape growing and wine making. Finally, the chapter shows that the Australian commodity chain differed from California in that it was market driven from Britain and explains why attempts to create an alternative Australian distribution network failed.

This chapter takes a look at the Argentinian wine industry. It first examines the growth of the industry after 1885 and its organization at the turn of the century. The chapter then examines the response of different groups to the major slump in 1901–3 and shows that although attempts to self-regulate the industry were generally successful, wine quality remained poor because consumer choice was determined by price. Finally, the chapter considers the response of different sectors to the collapse in wine prices after 1913 and shows the difficulties leading producers faced in passing the costs of adjustment on to growers and restricting supply.

This chapter looks at the nature of grape production and wine making on the eve of the railways. The process of creating wine followed a well-determined sequence: grapes were produced in the vineyard; crushed, fermented, and sometimes matured in the winery; and blended (and perhaps matured further) in the merchant's cellar; finally, the wine was drunk in a public place or at home. This chapter looks at the major decisions that economic agents faced when carrying out these activities. It examines the nature of wine and the economics of grape and wine production, market organization, and the development of fine wines for export before 1840.

This chapter follows the long history of commercial relations between many British ports and Bordeaux. It begins by examining the long-run changes in wine production and trade during the nineteenth century and the organization of wine production in the region. After a period of prosperity that lasted from the mid-1850s to the early 1880s, there followed three decades of depression. Moreover, information problems for consumers of fine wines were reduced by the 1855 classification, but the growth in market power and economic independence of the leading estates was checked in the late nineteenth century. Finally, small growers successfully used their political voice to achieve legislation to establish a regional appellation, which limited to wines of the Gironde the right to carry the Bordeaux brand.

This chapter begins by looking at the development of port wine for the British market, and the geographical separation between grape production in the Douro valley and the maturing and exporting houses in Porto. It then discusses the development of different types of port wine and how the sector responded to the challenges of the second half of the nineteenth century, namely, the problems of maintaining supplies and product quality during the phylloxera epidemic, and the opportunities and difficulties faced by producers in creating a mass market for cheap ports. Finally, the chapter considers the conflicts between the British exporters and Portuguese growers over regulation and regional appellations from the eighteenth century.

The large and growing wine vocabulary is analyzed into its major categories: acidity, sweetness, balance, age, astringency, body, nose, finish, effervescence, and evaluation. The vocabulary of most categories have an evaluative as well as descriptive components, where negative words either have too much or too little of the property described, whereas the positive words have the right amount. A thin has too little body while a coarse wine has too much. Both delicate and full-bodied are positive descriptors for describing body. Many words are only evaluative, and these can be divided into those of high praise, low praise, mild derogation, and strong derogation. There are also numerous metaphorical descriptors based on personality and character, such as vivacious, assertive, and aggressive.

This chapter examines food and drink in all its variety, in particular the impact they had historically on people's perceptions. The discussion exposes the degree to which modern attitudes to food and drink necessarily — or only accidentally — preclude mediation of the divine through our experience of the various ways in which our bodies are sustained. The first part of the chapter is devoted to food. The second part examines the symbolism of water and wine first before turning to more general questions about drink and the various other ways in which it is given symbolic significance. In the case of water and wine, attention is drawn to how closer examination of the multivalent character of their symbolism has the potential to enrich current understandings of the two major Christian sacraments. The final section considers the various ways in which both alcoholic and non-alcoholic stimulants (tea and coffee in particular) have, in appropriate contexts, also been seen as opening the human mind to wider perceptions of reality.

Wine culture, according to Robert Fuller, shares features with popular religion: a special vocabulary, ritualized behaviors, and ceremonies. Although wine drinking has become popular, there are still elements of elitism. Wine marketing sometimes uses snob appeal, but just as often makes fun of snobbery. Names of wines and wineries has become colorful and entertaining, partly to attract customers, but also as a larger part of the word-play in contemporary advertising. Many wines and wineries use animal names (Yellowtail, Black Swan, Funky Llama), and some are puns, like Bored Doe. Although choosing wines to complement food has always been a concern, greater attention and specificity has recently been applied to food-wine pairings; not just red wine with meat, but a Australian Shiraz with grilled rib lamb chops marinated in a mustard cream sauce.

The chapter examines the changing patterns in the overseas trade of London between 1200 and 1500. The overseas merchants included the Gascons who brought wine, the Spaniards and Portuguese who brought leather; the Hanse merchants from the Baltic who imported fish, timber, furs, wax and iron; and the Italians who brought spices and luxury goods from the Mediterranean. The impact of Royal ambitions abroad on the patterns of London's trade is explored, and the rise and fall of the export of wool and the contingent rise of English cloth exports is charted and demonstrated with graphs. By the end of the period, it is argued that London had secured a virtual monopoly of England's overseas trade.