- Title
- 'Small is beautiful' and challenging in the Hunter Valley: wine histories and ideas - past, present and future?
- Creator
- Morpeth, N. A.
- Relation
- The Business of Wine: The Inaugural Wine Business Research Symposium. 'The Business of Wine': The Inaugural Wine Business Research Symposium: Conference Proceedings (Newcastle, N.S.W. 7-8 December, 2009) p. 85-96
- Relation
- http://www.newcastle.edu.au/conference/inaugural-wine-business-research-symposium
- Publisher
- University of Newcastle
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2009
- Description
- “History makes us…” goes the saying but understanding what has happened over time, let alone, what might happen remain open questions. Leaving aside, for the moment, the challenges presented by the diverse faces in the Hunter Valley of industrial, mining and residential activity, which continues apace, viticulture, winegrape growing and the complex of farming/agrarian ventures present especial niche opportunities. Understanding the development of the production, distribution and consumption of speciality produce, namely, the histories of wine and food, could well shed useful light upon the past and assist in illuminating future potential. History, socio-geography and economy all play key roles in shaping the Hunter Valley’s high quality, mostly small to medium scale winemaking and viticulture enterprise. The excellence of these ventures is arguably the key to the future of the wine industry in the Hunter. Moreover, excellence and a spirit of hard-working enterprise, albeit with many a turn and tumble, stretch back to James Busby’s seminal, late Georgian optimism and venturous practical spirit embedded in the title of his agricultural report: “Journal of a recent visit to the principal vineyards of Spain and France:…with observations relative to the introduction of the vine into New South Wales” (London, 1834). What kinds of historical understanding could be useful in “The Business of Wine” and its nonidentical twin, “The Wine Industry”? First, the historical legacies and traditions associated with wine, viticulture and winemaking remain central to the rise of Mediterranean-wide/Black Sea civilizations and Western traditions of thought. Second, Wine Industry practices and traditions as well as innovations grow in the presence, conscious or otherwise, of history, people, geography and the land. Note, “Wine Country” is an affectionate tasting and welcoming badge in The Hunter Valley – at once evoking ideas of locale and produce. Third, the contemporary histories and practices of viticulture, winegrape growing and winemaking need to harness the histories – social, economic and cultural/geographic of wine in society and culture through time. Markets and ideas of market-trading are as venerable as the ancient Mediterranean and certainly prefigure the pathfinding work of Adam Smith (as Smith himself was aware), and yet the dynamics and locale of markets remain both elusive and challenging. Wine is certainly a beverage but it is much more: wine accompanies histories, cultures and traditions, and it is a possessive and exchangeable commodity. Wine is a cultural food taken through history and over time.
- Subject
- Hunter Valley (N.S.W.); viticulture; wine production; wine industry; wine history
- Identifier
- uon:9012
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/919920
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780646524689
- Full Text
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