Terroir 2016 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 The role of terroir in tourism led amenity migration: contrasting effects in Tuscany and the Okanagan valley of British Columbia

The role of terroir in tourism led amenity migration: contrasting effects in Tuscany and the Okanagan valley of British Columbia

Abstract

Definitions of terroir elude consistent agreement. As defined geographical space the common denominators of its conceptualization include natural and cultural elements of life, work, and lifestyle that have become idealized, even fetishized worldwide. It seems the ideal terroir for wine production is also an idealized lifestyle location. A very high quality of life is associated with the landscape of the wine terroir, hence, visiting a winery, running a winery and living in the vicinity of a winery has become valued among amenity seeking tourists often followed by amenity migrants.

This broad scale investigation uses the theoretical framework of evolutionary economic geography to examine the process and effects of tourism led amenity migration in Tuscany, Italy and the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Tuscany and the Okanagan are examples of old and new worlds of wine production where wine tourism and amenity migration have taken on common qualities with often differing results. Evolutionary histories of the wine and tourism industries in Tuscany and the Okanagan are laid out alongside the process of lifestyle or amenity migration that have emerged. Key motivators that facilitate tourism led, wine based migrations are theorized to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns of tourism and migration. The amenities of the wine terroir integrate natural, cultural and lifestyle characteristics associated with the rural countryside in general. The process of change from wine led tourism to migration appears imbedded in a class attachment to the romanticized social construction of wine production. However, the effects of wine based amenity migrations are deeply localized and appear driven by local innovations and innovators, the transition and specialization of local institutions and the presence or absence of windows of opportunity created by cultural and economic transformations.

Download the PDF

DOI:

Publication date: June 23, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2016

Type: Article

Authors

Donna Senese (1), Filippo Randelli (2), John S. Hull (3)

(1) University of British Columbia, 252-Arts 1147 Research Road, Kelowna British Columbia Canada V1V 1V7
(2) Universita` degli Studi Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l’Economia e l’Impresa, 950127 Firenze, Italia
(3) Thompson Rivers University, Faculty of Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism, 900 McGill Road, Kamloops, British Columbia Canada V2COC8

Contact the author

Keywords

terroir, amenity migration, wine tourism, Tuscany, Okanagan

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2016

Citation

Related articles…

Biodiversity and genetic profiling of autochthonous grapevine varieties in Armenia: A key to sustainable viticulture

Armenia, as one of the ancient centers of grapevine domestication, harbors a unique repository of genetic diversity in its indigenous and wild grapevine populations, highlighting a key role in the millennia-lasting history of grape cultivation in the Southern Caucasus (Margaryan et al., 2021).

Read More

Supramolecular approaches to the study of the astringency elicited by wine phenolic compounds

The objective of this study is to review the scientific evidences and to advance into the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of astringency. Astringency has been described as the drying, roughing and puckering sensation perceived when some food and beverages are tasted (1). The main, but possibly not the only, mechanism for the astringency is the precipitation of salivary proteins (2,3). Between phenolic compounds found in red wines, flavan-3-ols are the group usually related to the development of this sensation. Other compounds, phenolic or not, like anthocyanins, polysaccharides and mannoproteins could act modifying or modulating astringency perception by hindering the interaction between flavanols and salivary proteins either because of their interaction with the flavanols or because of their interaction with the salivary proteins.

Read More

Cork and Wine: interactions and newly formed compounds

When the cork is in direct contact with an alcoholic solution such as in case of a bottle wine, some cork components can migrate into the wine.

Read More

Modulation of the tannic structure of Tannat wines through maceration techniques: cross analytical and sensory study

The Tannat grape, native to the foothills of the Pyrenees in France, is known for producing wines with intense colour, exceptional tannic structure, and remarkable aging potential. These distinctive characteristics are attributed to its unique genome, making Tannat one of the grape varieties with the highest tannins concentration.

Read More

Preliminary results of water status and metabolite content of three new crossbreed winegrape genotypes

This study presents the preliminary results obtained in 2022, of the evaluation of three new crossbreed winegrape genotypes and their parental varieties, grown under controlled irrigation (60% ETc) and rainfed conditions in a wine-growing area with scarcity of water and high temperatures (Murcia, southeast Spain). The genotypes MC16 and MC80 were obtained from crosses between the varieties ‘Monastrell’ and ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’, and MS104 from crosses between ‘Monastrell’ and ‘Syrah’ [1]. The objective of this study was to analyse the physiological response and vegetative development of the 6 genotypes under the two irrigation conditions, and to study their effect on the content of soluble sugars and chlorophyll in the leaf.

Read More