Focus on Wine & Territory Topics

Themes

The Wine & Territory research area is an extension of the IRGO’s historical focus on wine. It investigates the interactions between key players in the wine industry—winegrowers, merchants, cooperatives, and institutions—and the territories in which they operate.

This research axis adopts a multidisciplinary approach to analyze market transformations, territorial dynamics, and consumption practices related to wine, understood as a cultural product with strong identity significance. It aims to better understand how wine industry actors respond to contemporary challenges—environmental, economic, and social—while leveraging and reinforcing their local roots.

Research within this axis is structured around three main themes :

Theme 1 – Consumption and Markets

This theme focuses on purchasing behavior, decision-making criteria, and consumption experiences related to wine, examined within the broader context of changes affecting cultural goods. It also explores how actors adapt to ongoing transitions. Three key areas of research emerge: decarbonization of practices, expansion into new export markets, and the development of wine tourism through service-oriented strategies.

Theme 2 – Resilience & Transitions

This theme examines the capacity of stakeholders to adapt and recover in situations of crisis or vulnerability. The research explores transformation processes within wine-producing regions, particularly in response to ecological, economic, and social transitions. It also considers support systems available at the local level and the broader ecosystem that enables organizational resilience.

Theme 3 – Identities and Territorial Valorization

This theme investigates how wine-producing regions express their uniqueness through representations, identity narratives, and the imagery associated with wine brands. It analyzes both symbolic and economic levers for enhancing the value of territories, focusing on the construction of local identities shaped by producers and consumers alike.

These themes reflect the research team’s strong expertise in understanding the complex interplay between wine, territory, and the various actors involved in the industry.

Director
Juliette PASSEBOIS

Deputy director
Jean-François TRINQUECOSTE

Objectives

The Wine & Territory research area aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the current challenges facing the wine industry in light of growing economic, environmental, and social pressures.

Three main objectives guide the activities of the research group:

The first objective is to foster high-quality academic output by researchers and ensure its dissemination both within the national and international academic communities, as well as among stakeholders in the Bordeaux wine sector.
The second objective is to facilitate the development of collaborative research projects. These collaborations are encouraged not only among IRGO research teams, but also with scholars from other disciplines across the University of Bordeaux (economics, law, etc.). The ambition is to promote and enhance IRGO’s academic contributions to the wine sector through a multidisciplinary lens.
The third objective is to support social innovation within wine-producing regions. The research conducted and its dissemination aim to strengthen the long-term performance of industry stakeholders by providing insights and tools that foster adaptation, innovation, and sustainable development.

How it works

The Wine & Territory research group is co-directed by two faculty members who coordinate and foster the group’s activities. They convene biannual meetings to enable members to share and discuss ongoing research. In addition, the co-directors organise events open to both the academic community and industry professionals, showcasing recent work and advances related to the group’s core themes.

The group also offers material and logistical support for the dissemination of research, including assistance with academic publications and participation in national and international conferences and symposia.

Influence and projects

The influence of the ‘Wine and Territory’ theme is ensured by the publication of the work of researchers in the theme in specialised works, collective works, academic journals and national and international scientific events, as well as by theses defended or in progress.

Outreach is also ensured by the organisation of two annual events open to the public and professionals in the sector. The division also aims to be a receptacle for collaborative projects on key issues and, by organising thematic working groups, supports the structuring of projects around key issues for the wine industry (e.g. working group on the resilience of winegrowers). Members of the division are also involved in the development of local research projects (e.g. the medals and wine perception project with BSE, the SEREALINA project on food resilience in New Aquitaine and the PQN-A project on countries and districts in New Aquitaine).

Finally, the researchers in this area maintain links with key players such as the CIVB and the ISVV, thus strengthening its presence in the regional landscape.