Wine Tastes: The Production of Culture among Service Workers and Consumers in Napa Valley Wineries Öffentlichkeit
Jamerson, Heather M. (2010)
Published
Abstract
Abstract
Wine Tastes:The Production of Culture among Service Workers and
Consumers in Napa Valley Wineries
By Heather Michelle Jamerson
More people than ever before organize their lives around
consumption, thereby allowing most income groups the ability to use
commodities to upscale their lifestyles. This process is especially
evident in the case of wine, as consumers from all walks of life
upscale their lifestyle through its consumption. In the United
States, a familiarity with fine wine has long served as cultural
currency within high status groups. However, the U.S. wine industry
has experienced explosive growth in recent years making wine and
wine-related knowledge (e.g., ratings) more accessible across
income groups. The expanded sense of wine "tastes" and wider access
to wines may suggest that old class hierarchies have been replaced
by more democratic spaces of consumption--with fine wine
consumption no longer limited to the affluent. Yet, not all wines
are equal, nor are all consumers. Instead, industry critics and
"experts" (e.g., Robert Parker or The Wine Spectator) legitimate
certain wines and how to appreciate them. Simultaneously, consumers
themselves enter consumption sites with varying levels of skills
and knowledge (e.g., cultural capital) that shape their tastes for
particular wines and how they consume them. Service workers mediate
this relationship by communicating critic-generated information
about style, value, and ways to appreciate wine to consumers. By
using wine as a case study, this project combines research on the
production of culture and on cultural capital to ask: How do
service workers (as cultural intermediaries) and consumers interact
with expert-generated classifications and under what conditions do
these interactions uphold or lessen social class boundaries? This
project draws on a variety of data sources, including industry
publications (e.g., The Wine Spectator); participant observation
and interviews with consumers and tasting room hosts in Napa
Valley, California; and informal conversations with industry
insiders (e.g., winemakers, consultants and winery owners). These
findings advance theoretical and empirical knowledge about
stratification as well as economic and cultural sociology by
highlighting the cultural dimensions of social class and
status.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: WINE IN THE FIELDS OF PRODUCTION
AND
CONSUMPTION.................................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 2: OUT OF THE DUST OF THE PROHIBITION: U.S. WINE
CLASSIFICATIONS
AND NAPA
VALLEY........................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................................7
FROM PROHIBITION TO
PRESENT....................................................................................................................9
MARKET EXPANSION VS.
QUALITY................................................................................................................17
FEDERAL REGULATIONS AND INDUSTRY
CLASSIFICATIONS........................................................................25
American Viticultural Areas
(AVAs)........................................................................................................26
Labeling......................................................................................................................................................29
Beyond Legal
Classifications....................................................................................................................37
Distribution and
Sales...............................................................................................................................44
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................................50
CHAPTER 3: IN VINO VERITAS: RESEARCH METHODS AND
DATA..........................................52
QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH...............................................................................................................................52
Case Study and Grounded Theory
Research...........................................................................................53
RESEARCH
METHODS.....................................................................................................................................60
Text
Analysis..............................................................................................................................................61
Sampling in Napa
Valley...........................................................................................................................64
Participant
observation.............................................................................................................................68
Interviews and Informal
Conversations...................................................................................................69
ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................................................73
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: SUBJECTIVITY AND
REFLEXIVITY.....................................................................75
DATA
COLLECTION.........................................................................................................................................81
Spring
2006................................................................................................................................................81
Winter
2006................................................................................................................................................85
Spring/Summer
2007.................................................................................................................................87
Spring/Summer
2008.................................................................................................................................93
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................................97
CHAPTER 4: INTOXICATORS, EDUCATORS AND GATEKEEPERS: THE
ENACTMENT OF
SYMBOLIC BOUNDARIES IN NAPA
WINERIES..................................................................................99
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................99
ARTISTIC
CLASSIFICATIONS.........................................................................................................................101
ACS and Market
Societies.......................................................................................................................104
The Role of Critics as
"Experts"............................................................................................................106
Service Workers as
Intermediaries.........................................................................................................109
WINERIES IN NAPA
VALLEY.........................................................................................................................112
Mass-Commercial
(Generalists).............................................................................................................114
Limited Commercial
(Specialists)..........................................................................................................119
Elite/Exclusive
(Specialists)....................................................................................................................124
Old
Napa...............................................................................................................................................................125
New
Napa..............................................................................................................................................................126
Elite Tasting
Rooms.............................................................................................................................................129
THE ENACTMENT OF CLASSIFICATIONS IN NAPA
WINERIES.....................................................................132
Mass-Commercial: Intoxicators and the Sale of
Status........................................................................133
Limited Commercial:
Educators.............................................................................................................137
Elite/Exclusive:
Gatekeepers..................................................................................................................143
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................................154
CHAPTER 5: NAPA VALLEY CONSUMERS AND THE MERGING OF SYMBOLIC
AND
SOCIAL
BOUNDARIES................................................................................................................................159
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................................159
CONSUMPTION AND SOCIAL
BOUNDARIES..................................................................................................163
THE ORGANIZATION OF
SPACE....................................................................................................................173
VARIOUS FORMS OF CAPITAL AND FORMS OF
LEGITIMACY......................................................................176
Mass Commercial
Consumers................................................................................................................176
Limited Commercial
Consumers............................................................................................................184
Status-Oriented Elite
Consumers...........................................................................................................193
Cultural Omnivorous Elite
Consumers..................................................................................................205
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................................221
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION: THE LINGERING
FINISH.................................................................228
FUTURE
RESEARCH......................................................................................................................................240
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................................245
List of Tables
TABLE 1: TOP 10 WINE COMPANIES IN THE US (BASED ON CASE
SALES)
TABLE 2: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH DESIGN (INTERMEDIARIES)
TABLE 3: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH DESIGN (CONSUMERS)
TABLE 4: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR WINE TASTING ROOM STAFF
TABLE 5: INTERVIEW GUIDE: CONSUMERS
TABLE 6: DEMOGRAPHIC AND OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION FORM
TABLE 7: CODE LIST
TABLE 8: FIELD RESEARCH IN NAPA VALLEY
TABLE 9: SUMMARY OF WINE ORGANIZATIONS IN NAPA VALLEY
TABLE 10: SUMMARY OF TASTING ROOMS IN NAPA VALLEY
TABLE 11: CLASSIFICATIONS IN NAPA TASTING ROOMS
TABLE 12: CONSUMER CATEGORIES
TABLE 13: COMPARISON BETWEEN HOLT'S (1998) LCC RESPONDENTS AND NAPA
VALLEY MASS COMMERCIAL CONSUMERS
TABLE 14: COMPARISON BETWEEN HOLT'S HCC RESPONDENTS AND
STATUS-ORIENTED AND OMNIVOROUS CONSUMERS IN ELITE TASTING
ROOMS
List of Figures
FIGURE 1: THEORETICAL DIAGRAM
FIGURE 2: ARTISTIC CLASSIFICATIONS IN MARKET DRIVEN SOCIETIES
FIGURE 3: CLASSIFICATIONS, TASTING ROOMS, CONSUMERS AND CONSUMER
CULTURES
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