The Globalization of Wine
This paper studies a twin object : wine circulation as a commodity and the circulation of wine’s meanings in the larger context of globalization. By analyzing wine circulation through the lenses of Bestor’s work on the global tuna trades (2004), I highlight some of the specific characteristics of wine’s transnational commoditization, especially the presence of two knowledge systems (laws and oenophiles’ norms) that influence the ways consumers and producers alike conceive and think about wine – the foundations of contemporary wine fetishism. I follow by illustrating this with the example of the development of the wine industry of Cirò Marina in Calabria. I demonstrate the joint impact of laws and the internationalization of the trade on that local industry. I then analyze some local discrepancies regarding wines meanings. Rather than circulating, the way people produce and interpret transnational meanings depends more on their specific position in the local production.