Uprooting wine

The global market for Geographical Indication products is predicated on terroir, the concept of an enduring bond between place, tradition, and taste. Scholarly critiques of terroir have pointed out that the interest in place-based products arose out of the increasingly global circulation of foods and people of the 20th century. I argue that the connection between Geographical Indication products and a world in motion is older, deeper, and worth taking seriously. The development of the raw materials and techniques that give products like wine their unique taste is the result of human mobility and exchange, a process that continues to drive the evolution of the taste of any given place today. Tracing the rise, fall, and reinvention of one of Italy's most famous sparkling wines, I show how global interconnectedness is at the root of local material heritage and tastes. Beyond theoretical debates, an expansive, outward-looking history of cultural heritage is critical to imagining a more dynamic future for producer communities facing the pressures of international markets, migration, and climate change.