Wine is not only a romantic escapism. It is also a highly managed agricultural practice.
What do we mean when we use the notion politics of wine?
This is to say that while it may be desirable if you believe that an agricultural product such as wine is left uninfluenced by the world of politics you are sadly mistaken.
The world of wine is made up and transgressed by politics and everything that comes with it in terms of bureaucracy, lobbyism, governing, rule interpretation and exercising of power. In this article, we will explore a few of these notions.
Politics of wine explained
We have previously outlined how one of the biggest players on the politics of wine-scene are the law makers in our article Autocracy of Law Makers.
In this article we will illustrate how wine production is affected by the law makers’ decisions.
Without leaning towards conspiracy theories – When the INAO sets out on very specific rules in order for the winemaker to obtain the AOC, this applies to and thoroughly affects the everyday life of the winemaker.
In order to obtain the AOC the winemaker has to adjust everything in her vineyard from the density of vines planted in the vineyard to the grape varieties.
Also the winemaker is urged (although not obliged) to keep her vineyard ‘clean’ or in French propre which means no or very few weeds and well trimmed leaves.
In the chais she will need to account for the storage vessels and means of conserving the wine as well as the anti-bacterial treatments need to be accounted for. As well as many many other factors.
Does it make sense?
This is not to say that these actions are all bad. Not at all.
A well trimmed leaf wall assures that the vineyard is healthily aerated; vines planted closer to each other produce wines that are a priori less watery, and a little bit of added sulfites can be beneficial in order to keep the wine in balance. And so on.
No rule is made to annoy anyone or to set up obstacles for a free and fluent production environment.
What may be a problem though is when law makers and the following entourage is made autocracy.
To read more about the autocracy of law makers see our article on the topic here.
