|
|
Grapes and wines: the international transfer of technology during the first globalisation, 1850-1914.
| This paper looks at the role that technological change played in the geographical expansion of commercial viticulture in the Old and New Worlds between 1850 and 1914. Technological change had four main features: the response to phylloxera and the development of hybrid grape varieties; changes in the vineyards that allowed the appearance of large estates; the development of new wine making technologies that allowed better quality beverage wines to be made in hot climates; and finally the use of chemicals to stabilise and preserve wines, an activity that led to a major decline in consumer confidence. Globally, by the turn of the twentieth century, growers, wine makers and merchants had the ability to increase output faster than demand. The paper looks at technological change and transfer between Europe and North Africa (France, Spain and Algeria) and the New World (California, Mendoza and Australia).
|
|
