Author(s):
Bernard P Momer* - University of British Columbia Okanagan
Donna Senese - University of British Columbia Okanagan
Abstract:
The origins of winemaking in North America reflect colonial migration patterns of settlers and clergy members. The early diffusion of wineries across the continent therefore followed traditional relocation models. However, with the evolution of wine making into a full-blown wine industry over the last 25 years, the spatial diffusion process of wineries became intertwined with the redefinition of the rural economy. An analysis of the opening dates and geographical distribution of North American wineries indicates that the recent spatial diffusion of the wine industry responds to socio-cultural changes based on neo-localism and Epicureanism, more so than to the classic spatial diffusion models. The data collected have been triangulated with personal interviews with wine industry stakeholders to reveal the importance of the value added tourism based sector of the industry, where wine consumption now outranks agricultural production in these landscapes. Our findings will contribute to an understanding of the localised processes involved in the adoption of the wine industry as a mean to create and recreate a regional identity based on the consumption of wine landscapes.
