Labelling practices "from above" and appropriation of wine territories : Corton's struggle between big and small ownersSummary -This article is based on a case study : the conflicts surrounding the limits of the Corton wine "appellation" (guarantee of origin) in inter-war Burgundy. We distinguish two modes of constructing territories : on the one hand, the process of "identification", that is the labelling/designation practices "from above" (in this case, the State and the representatives of various social groups) ; on the other hand, the process of "appropriation", that is the claiming by individuals themselves. Due to the impracticality of a legitimate identification of wine producing territories by the State, the 1919 law on "appellations d'origine" imposed a judiciary settlement of disagreements between wineproducers. The conflicting interests (long-established landowners with large and central properties versus more recently-settled wine growers with smaller plots of land at the margins) fought over differing definitions and modes of appropriation of the territory. The opposed groups used competing "registers" in an attempt to impose their own conception "territory" as legitimate. This process, leading to the superimposition of a number of possible territories, reveals how territories are not a "natural heritage" but rather the product of a "social" struggle. The large-scale landowners based their demand for a restrictive "zone d'appellation" on historical and economic arguments ; while the new-comers to the luxury "appellation" wine-producing economy (settled on smaller properties) used political, republican arguments in order to appeal to the IIIrd Republic tribunals. Definitions of the territory and the rules of the market are the result of a game, which exceeds the strictly economic struggle, but varies according to the political contexts and the social struggles.