On Winegrowers and More‐than‐Human Workers in Ohioan and Alsatian Vineyards

Abstract

Understandings of the terroir concept range from recognizing “the environment” as being largely responsible for affecting the taste of a place‐based product like wine to considering the intervening role of social actors in its production. This article takes the perspective that non‐human life forms, as well as non‐living entities, are more than just ecologically embedded observers. They also have active roles in the terroir system itself. Here, I use multispecies framings and multisensory approaches to analyze data gathered from interviews and participant observation with winegrowers in central Ohio and eastern France over a period of 18 months. I contend that non‐human actants contribute various forms of labor throughout the terroir system, as understood through semiotic relationships with human counterparts. Attending to more‐than‐human workers is important for understanding changes to the “taste of place” in times of climatic, political, and socio‐cultural change.

Having a drink with awkward Brett: Brettanomyces, taste(s) and wine/markets

“…This article is a praxiography of wine; I focus on the biophysical and social practices that bring ontologies into being (Krzywoszynska, 2019; Mol, 2002), with a theoretical approach informed by STS. I focus not on what these pesky microbes are, but shift to following what they do (Arceño, 2021; Mol, 2021; Paxson, 2008). This involves ‘following’ (Cook, 2004) the many lives of Brett and how it makes itself known in the world.…”

“…Brett challenges the binarization of more‐than‐human actors into good/bad, productive/destructive, domesticated/wild. There is certainly a renewed push for pro‐biotic approaches in the vineyard, variously labelled as regenerative, agroecological, low‐input, organic or integrated pest management (Arceño, 2021). Although this does not presage a ‘Gaian agrarian future’ in and of itself (Krzywoszynska, 2020, p. 246), it does offer hope for more nuanced, holistic and nature‐centric understanding of doing wine production.…”

“…While most wine yeasts are essential to the values of wine and many ‘fungal Earth Others’ provide valuable contributions to sustainability (Barron & Hess, 2020), Brett is more awkward. The nascent literature on more‐than‐human labour emphasises both the material and immaterial products of non‐human labourers (Arceño, 2021; Barron & Hess, 2020; Krzywoszynska, 2020) but this is of less help in the case of Brett. Rather than being the workhorse Saccharomyces or the diligent honeybee, Brett is more of a stumbling drunk who knocks over the group science project.…”

The natural wine phenomenon and the promise of sustainability: Institutionalization or radicalization?

“…Indeed, debates on NW intersect with the long‐standing debate of wine terroir. This raises the question of the role of human agency and the role of nature or more‐than‐human actors in producing a wine and conveying a taste of place, as shown by Mark Anthony Arceño (2021) in the case of Ohio's winemakers.…”