This issue poses two questions: the relationship between beauty and taste (is landscape quality an index of wine quality ?), and the gap or the conformity between our image of the “terroir” and the visible reality. The landscape is both an object and a representation. When it is presented as a advertising image, there is inevitably a choice; to show the attractive aspects of the product and to exacerbate them. It results in an aesthetic construction process which is not or no longer faithful to the original landscape. It can be positive when it encourages a discovery; on the other hand, it can be negative when it betrays an identity, and finally it can also lead those managing the territory to modify the identity of their vineyard landscape.
The Chinon vineyard is an example of an approach in the hypothesis that there is a relationship between taste and landscape. The Anjou vineyard is a second example, which characterises a gap between a showcase and a landscape reality.
Author: F. Joliet
National Institute of Horticulture, 49100 Angers, France
Department of Landscape, National Institute of Horticulture, Angers, France
Email: Fabienne.Joliet@inh.fr