Narrating terroir: the place-making of wine in China’s southwest

ABSTRACT

China has now become one of the world’s top wine producing and consuming nations. Within this booming wine trend, terroir has played a central role to define the place of wine production, which is not only recognizable as an economic strategy but serves as the guarantor of the place and its reputation. This study, which presents the findings of fieldwork into wine production in China’s southwest province of Yunnan, argues that the terroir is the result of social crafting and construction by the process of narrative. Here, narrative can serve to delimit the distinctive terroir (Fengtu风土in Chinese) of a particular place; further, this special attribution will help determine the value, identity, and renown that defines the particular area. This interaction, which is explored, is here termed “narrating terroir.” It is a dynamic that not only encompasses the particular things within a specific place, but contributes to the development of the place as a result of political, economic, and cultural agency. More specifically, the article also attempts to uncover how this interrelationship serves wine commerce by placing it firmly within the contemporary Chinese context.

KEYWORDS:

• Narrating terroir
• taste-making
• wine
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. All translations are by the present author unless otherwise specified.

2. Quotations from The History of Mile East Wind State-owned Farm: 1958–1999. Shown in Mile East Wind State-owned Farm Exhibition Room. https://www.meipian.cn/18edb2g5

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the “Subject Contribution” of Yunnan Minzu University [YMU2017415]; and the State Scholarship Fund [留金法[2016] 5112].

Notes on contributors

Xiangchun Zheng

Xiangchun Zheng is Associate Professor of Yunnan Minzu University in Kunming, China. She received her PhD in Anthropology from Xiamen University. Her research interests and publications focus on the culture of food, anthropology of tourism, and cultural heritage in southwest China. She has published one monograph and over 30 essays. She is currently a visiting research scholar at UC, Berkeley (2017–2019).