On Winegrowers and More-than-Human Workers in Ohioan and Alsatian Vineyards

Abstract

Understandings of the terroir concept range from recognizing “the environment” as being largely responsible for affecting the taste of a place-based product like wine to considering the intervening role of social actors in its production. This article takes the perspective that non-human life forms, as well as non-living entities, are more than just ecologically embedded observers. They also have active roles in the terroir system itself. Here, I use multispecies framings and multisensory approaches to analyze data gathered from interviews and participant observation with winegrowers in central Ohio and eastern France over a period of 18 months. I contend that non-human actants contribute various forms of labor throughout the terroir system, as understood through semiotic relationships with human counterparts. Attending to more-than-human workers is important for understanding changes to the “taste of place” in times of climatic, political, and socio-cultural change.