Introduction

Wine has, from early times, played a significant economic and social role in human history. Until relatively recently, the number of major wine-producing countries was limited. Of these, only France gained a universal reputation for its wines, and in consequence largely dominated the international trade in quality wines. Since the 1990s, in a context of globalization, this situation has changed radically. In non-wine-producing countries, wine consumption is spreading from the elite to the middle classes, and Old World producers, such as France, are fighting to meet the challenge in international markets from “New World” competitors such as Australia, California, and Chile. Moreover, a new wine-producing frontier is forming in regions benefiting from global warming and in high altitude regions in the tropics. Wine is making a greater contribution than ever before to a growing number of economies, including those of a number of developing countries. It is against this backdrop that the contributions to this volume present a number of studies in the history and culture of wine from different countries and different eras up to the present day.