IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v42y2025i2d10.1007_s10460-024-10626-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What makes terroir unique? Wine, body techniques, and agricultural modernisation in the Shangri-La region of China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiangchun Zheng

    (The University of Helsinki)

Abstract

Terroir refers to a globally circulating set of ideas about how each wine region or sub-region produces wines that are thought to be unique to that place. While the active involvement of grape-growing farmers in terroir construction has been recognised in the academic literature to some extent, there remains a gap in understanding how farmers address ever-changing situations and uncertainties as they engage in terroir creation. Drawing on fieldwork in the Shangri-La wine region of China, this paper examines processes of constructing terroir through farmers’ body techniques. It argues that farmers’ embodied flexibility and adaptability have been crucial in their navigation of the constant challenges they face, both from alterations in the socio-economic relations of agriculture in modernising China, and from a climate and terrain that is often unconducive to winemaking. In the processes of navigating these never-ending changes and challenges, farmers’ body techniques make a terroir unique.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiangchun Zheng, 2025. "What makes terroir unique? Wine, body techniques, and agricultural modernisation in the Shangri-La region of China," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 42(2), pages 787-802, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:42:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-024-10626-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-024-10626-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10460-024-10626-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-024-10626-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robin Cross & Andrew J. Plantinga & Robert N. Stavins, 2011. "What Is the Value of Terroir?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 152-156, May.
    2. Sarah Besky, 2014. "The labor of terroir and the terroir of labor: Geographical Indication and Darjeeling tea plantations," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(1), pages 83-96, March.
    3. Xabier Itçaina & Antoine Roger & Andy Smith, 2016. "Varietals of Capitalism: A Political Economy of the Changing Wine Industry," Post-Print halshs-01279546, HAL.
    4. Arnoud Lagendijk, 2004. "Global ‘Lifeworlds’ Versus Local ‘Systemworlds’: How Flying Winemakers Produce Global Wines In Interconnected Locales," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(5), pages 511-526, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ay, Jean-Sauveur & Le Gallo, Julie, 2021. "The Signaling Values of Nested Wine Names," Working Papers 321851, American Association of Wine Economists.
    2. Christopher R. Gustafson & Travis J. Lybbert & Daniel A. Sumner, 2016. "Consumer sorting and hedonic valuation of wine attributes: exploiting data from a field experiment," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(1), pages 91-103, January.
    3. Mérel, Pierre & Ortiz-Bobea, Ariel & Paroissien, Emmanuel, 2021. "How big is the “lemons” problem? Historical evidence from French wines," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    4. Cusmano, Lucia & Morrison, Andrea & Rabellotti, Roberta, 2010. "Catching up Trajectories in the Wine Sector: A Comparative Study of Chile, Italy, and South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1588-1602, November.
    5. Cross, Robin & Plantinga, Andrew J. & Stavins, Robert N., 2011. "The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sale Prices," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, January.
    6. Catherine Haeck & Giulia Meloni & Johan Swinnen, 2019. "The Value of Terroir: A Historical Analysis of the Bordeaux and Champagne Geographical Indications," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 598-619, December.
    7. De Filippis, Fabrizio & Giua, Mara & Salvatici, Luca & Vaquero-Piñeiro, Cristina, 2022. "The international trade impacts of Geographical Indications: Hype or hope?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    8. David Moroz, 2024. "What does terroir mean? A science mapping of a multidimensional concept," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 889-913, September.
    9. Gerhard Rainer, 2021. "Geographies of qualification in the global fine wine market," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(1), pages 95-112, February.
    10. Ana, Daniela, 2024. "Nature’s value: Evidencing a Moldovan terroir through scientific infrastructures," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 89(2), pages 237-252.
    11. Pecchioli, Bruno & Moroz, David, 2023. "Do geographical appellations provide useful quality signals? The case of Scotch single malt whiskies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. repec:ags:ijag24:347275 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Arnaud Sergent & Andy Smith, 2024. "A meso-political economy of how climate issues impact regulation: the case of the wood industry in France," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 105(1), pages 125-149, August.
    14. Swinnen, J. & Meloni, G. & Haeck, C., 2018. "What is the Value of Terroir? Historical Evidence from Champagne and Bordeaux," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277221, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Charters, Steve & Spielmann, Nathalie, 2014. "Characteristics of strong territorial brands: The case of champagne," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(7), pages 1461-1467.
    16. Jean‐Sauveur Ay, 2021. "The Informational Content of Geographical Indications," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(2), pages 523-542, March.
    17. Meloni, Giulia & Swinnen, Johan, 2018. "Trade and terroir. The political economy of the world’s first geographical indications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-20.
    18. Anna Krzywoszynska, 2015. "Wine is not Coca-Cola: marketization and taste in alternative food networks," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 491-503, September.
    19. Chabrol, Didier & Mariani, Mariagiulia & Sautier, Denis, 2017. "Establishing Geographical Indications without State Involvement? Learning from Case Studies in Central and West Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 68-81.
    20. Storchmann, K., 2011. "Wine Economics: Emergence, Developments, Topics," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 50(3), September.
    21. Castellano, Sylvaine & Khelladi, Insaf & Sorio, Rossella & Orhan, Mehmet & Kalisz, David, 2021. "Exploring the microfoundations of nomadic dynamic capabilities: The example of flying winemakers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:42:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-024-10626-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.