Denial of the wine-growing landscape

The aim of this presentation is to analysis the impact of the viticultural landscape in communication on labels of wine produced in heroic viticulture areas. To verify whether the ”viticultural landscape” tool has been used to arouse emotions and stimuli in the consumer, a study was carried out on the front and back labels of wines from heroic viticulture areas belonging to the Cervim which competed in the traditional annual mountain wine challenge. The immediate aim was to analyse the frequency of use of the message “heroic viticulture”, the form it was used in and the relative importance attributed to the message among the other information contained on the label, taking into account the geographical origin of the wines and the type of producer (private, winegrowers’ association).
The analysis showed that the viticultural landscape was used only for few wines and in different forms, favouring definitions rather than images.
It was possible to find the reasons behind the producers’ choices and for non-use (lack of available space, effective terminology and forms of communication, as well as the need for regulations on wine-labelling).
The analysis concluded that consumers and the distribution chain perceive communication of the viticultural landscape, especially heroic viticulture, as being positive for choosing and assessing the quality of a wine, while producers are still bound to traditional communication that has found neither the form nor the place for using the relationship between landscape and wine to advantage.
To sum up, it seems that mountain wine and heroic viticulture wineries still deny the validity of the message “viticultural landscape-heroic viticulture”.