Small Vineyards in France | Stephane Le Bras

The small vineyards Small is in fashion in the wine world: small farms, small appellations, modest grape varieties, short circuits. Small goes hand in hand with your current concerns about well-being and respect for environmental balance. This quest for authenticity and health, increasingly shared by consumers and producers, is creating niches favorable to "small wines" and "small vineyards". Traditional criteria for ranking wines and vineyards are being reconsidered, as is the classic definition of wine quality. Why should "great" wines necessarily be good when "small" wines are at best just interesting curiosities? Through the lens of social sciences, this book aims to reassess the perception, place, and changes of small vineyards. It first questions the meaning of "small" in the French wine world, through the examination of vineyards in Madiran, Buzet, Bordeaux, Rouergue, Cahors, Burgundy, and Touraine. By analyzing the specificities of these territories from medieval times to the present day, the authors shed light on market organization, spatial logics, and the diversity of viticultural practices in France. Thus, by shifting the focus, small vineyards provide a reinterpretation of national viticulture. Stéphane Le Bras is an associate professor in contemporary history at the University of Clermont-Auvergne. A member of the Center for History "Spaces and Cultures" ICHEC - EA 10011, he specializes in wine history, markets, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages.