Cultural Studies Analysis of the Concept of "Terroir"

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the concept of "terroir" as a socio-cultural structure. The paper presents the history of development and the main ideas of the creation of the concept of "terroir" in the context of the formation of regional cultural identity. The lack of a unified approach to determining the key characteristics of the "terroir" is due to the fact that it includes not only a set of soil and climatic features, but also cultural ones. Taking into account the difficulties of translating the term, the insufficient number of Russian-language materials, a special place in the work is occupied by a review of foreign scientific studies translated by the author on the concept of "terroir" and the identification of its role in the formation of cultural identity. The purpose of the study is to identify the research potential of the concept of "terroir" for the analysis of cultural practices related to the production and consumption of wine. The research methodology consists in using a structural and typological method to analyze the concept of "terroir" and a genetic method to establish cause-and-effect relationships between natural and cultural factors of the formation of "terroir". The work also relies on the method of cultural classification to group the typological features of the "terroir" as a result of human transformation of a natural phenomenon into a socio-cultural structure. Results: for the first time, based on the material of foreign scientific sources, the process of formation of the concept of "terroir" is considered, which involves the inclusion of social and cultural aspects in the definition of terroir, strengthens its connection with the cultural landscape. The terroir is considered as a set of natural and cultural characteristics that have a significant impact on the process of formation and actualization of regional cultural identity. The scope of the results. The work is a contribution to modern cultural, philosophical, sociological, marketing, tourism and economic studies of the terroir, as it establishes a link between the practices of wine cultivation and consumption and the cultural identity of the region. The work can become the basis for the formation of cultural policy and the image of the wine regions of Russia.