The local wine as an area identified and recognized is a complex socio-historical reality that calls an effort of observation and theoretical reflection using various social sciences that address training and development of human activities rooted in the territories.
The notion of terroir now holds both the front stage of the scientific debates hat agitate professional circles of the winemaking and marketing.
The issue that we discuss below implements a historical approach to pattern formation in wine.
The combination of disciplinary knowledge is essential to consider the overlapping of factors involved in this territorial construction.
There are 4 times logical and chronological: descriptions and looks over the vineyards, organization and demarcation of the territories, control of the vineyards and new institutions, the construction of the wine lands.
Keywords: territory, social construction, délimitation, description.
Authors: Serge WOLIKOW
Maison des sciences de l’homme, Dijon, USR CNRS 3516, Centre Georges chevrier, UMR, 5565.