The emergence of authentic products: The transformation of wine journalism in Germany,1947–2008

Introduction

What turns a bottle of fermented grape juice into a cult wine? Why do many wine consumers assume without question that a wine from France tastes better than a wine from China? Questions such as these focus attention on the analysis of processes of cultural evaluation (Lamont, 2012). This is, first, about symbolic distinctions between objects that are seen as having a certain status (e.g. that of being a cult wine) and objects that are denied this status. Second, however, it is also about the evaluation of these objects as better or worse on a graduated scale. These questions are relevant not only for cultural sociology, which deals with various types of cultural values and cultural demarcations, but also for economic sociology and economics, which are concerned with the development of economic values and prices (Beckert, 2011). Even economic values do not arise solely on the basis of isolated, individual acts of evaluation, but in a social context where processes of aesthetic, moral and hedonic evaluation take place (Beckert and Rössel, 2013; Rössel and Beckert, 2013).

In our article, we will investigate these questions with an empirical focus on the world of wine, where, for example, distinctions are made between table wines and quality wines, and where aesthetic quality is reflected in the form of points on a rating scale. The theoretical starting point of the argument is Pierre Bourdieu’s (1996) field theory, which explains the evaluation and consecration of cultural objects as the result of field-specific balances of power between different actors. Empirically, we will mainly foreground the role of field-specific public spheres, surveying articles about wine in two German weekly publications: on the one hand, the news magazine Der Spiegel and, on the other hand, the newspaper Die ZEIT, for the period from 1947 to 2008. With a circulation over 800,000 (Der Spiegel) and 500,000 (Die Zeit), they range among the rather influential print publications in Germany (IVW, 2015). Among journalists, they are the most important agenda-setting weeklies (Weischenberg et al., 2006). This is also true in the area of culture and lifestyle, where both weeklies count among the agenda-setting media (Lüddemann, 2015). Thus, we have chosen two rather powerful media for our analysis. Such quality weeklies have an important function as categorization devices (Lamont, 2012), by classifying and legitimating objects in a variety of fields, from art to wine or architecture for an upper-middle class audience. In contrast to trade magazines, they convey field-specific discourses to the different groups of consumers. As previous research has shown, these publications have a huge impact on market demand and prices (Beckert and Rössel, 2013; Zahner, 2006). Thus, we are focusing on field-specific public spheres in their relation to consumers and market demand.

The relatively long period of observation allows us to take into account several theses about the historical transformation of cultural evaluation processes. First, various authors since the 1980s have propounded the thesis that these processes are more and more strongly shaped by aesthetic criteria, while instrumental and economic aspects are becoming less prominent (Featherstone, 1991; Schulze, 1992). In the context of this discussion, it has been observed that the discourse in fields such as film and pop music is increasingly oriented towards the aesthetic criteria and discursive conventions of classical high culture (Baumann, 2001, 2002; Van Venrooij and Schmutz, 2010). Second, in the context of the debate on globalization, there are claims that the cultural discourse in individual countries is becoming more and more global in scope. This is thought to lead to an increasingly cosmopolitan outlook in media reporting, but also in individual preferences (Janssen et al., 2008; Johnston and Baumann, 2007; Prieur and Savage, 2013; Rössel and Schroedter, 2015). Third, cultural sociology deals intensively with the hierarchization of cultural objects: it is often assumed in the literature that the classical distinction between high culture and popular culture is eroding, and that it is being replaced by new symbolic hierarchies. These, it is argued, can be characterized by oppositions such as that between openness and closedness or between authenticity and mass production (Beverland, 2005; Johnston and Baumann, 2007; Prieur and Savage, 2013; Roose et al., 2012).

In our study, we are able to systematically examine the three theses outlined here in relation to the field of wine. The relatively long period covered by the study makes it possible to identify long-term transformation processes as opposed to cross-sectional analysis or to short-term trends or fashions. Especially, the earlier part of our observation period covers the time frame, which is discussed in publications on aestheticization (Featherstone, 1991; Schulze, 1992). The second half of the time period enables us to focus on the more recent processes of globalization and the emergence of authenticity. Especially, the work by Janssen et al. (2008, 2011) shows that the period covered in our study is crucial for the most important cultural transformations discussed in current theories. With this long period of observation, our study especially allows to add a historical dimension to the current debates in cultural sociology about hierarchization and authenticity.

In order to fully understand the results of our study, one has to locate wine production and consumption in Germany more clearly in its social and regional context. In contrast to other European wine-producing countries like France, Italy and Spain, wine production and consumption in Germany is a rather regionalized phenomenon. Alcohol consumption in the north of Germany is traditionally dominated by beer and hard liquors, whereas beer alone dominated the Southeast (Bavaria). Wine production and consumption are mainly located in the Southwest of Germany (Spode, 2010; Tappe, 2004). However, since the 1950s, wine consumption increased strongly in the whole of Germany from 5 L per capita in 1950 to 25 L per capita in 2010 (Smith and Mitry, 2007). Thus, it is increasingly widespread in broader segments of the German population and thus also of increasing interest for media discourse. In contrast, production and vineyard area has not changed much over time (Deutsches Weininstitut (DWI), 2015). Therefore, Germany is the world’s biggest importer of wine (DWI, 2015). In a recent study of the German wine market, Pape (2012) has shown that wine consumption has indeed spread in the population, and regional differences have become smaller. However, specific aspects of consumption (expenses, preference for dry and foreign wines) are still stratified according to indicators of class. There is a clear contrast between more traditional wine enthusiasts favouring German and French wines, and the more modern wine consumers, who also include new world wine in their consumption portfolio. The former are usually somewhat older and of high status and income, whereas the latter are younger, of high education, but not of similar status as the former. However, both types of wine enthusiasts are clearly located in the middle and upper classes, which are also the main readership of the weeklies we analyse in our study.

Theory

Data and methods

The empirical results presented here are based on a quantitative content analysis of articles about wine in the weekly news publications Der Spiegel and Die ZEIT. The two publications are leading media of the (West) German public sphere, which command considerable attention, especially among university-educated readers. These are therefore particularly influential actors in the discourse on wine. The content analysis takes into account all the texts from 1947 to 2008 in which keywords related to wine appear. This comes to a total of 829 articles. However, only 654 of these are actually concerned with the subject of wine, since the term ‘wine’ also appears in other contexts (e.g. ‘new wine in old bottles’). The texts were analysed quantitatively by two coders, using a codebook developed on the basis of the theses about changes in cultural discourses discussed in the previous section. For the two coders, repeated tests showed an intercoder reliability of 0.76, which is a good value (Früh, 1998). With regard to the ‘aestheticization thesis’, the first step was to assess the relative frequency of classically instrumental/economic themes in the articles. One issue coded for was whether economic problems of the industry or of individual winegrowers were discussed; another issue was whether foreign competition was evoked. The coders also recorded positive indications of processes of aestheticization: first, the frequency with which aesthetic aspects of wine were mentioned and, second, the frequency of reports on taste aspects. Besides general positive or negative references to the taste of wine, predicates such as uniqueness, the standardization of taste and references to the taste of the consumers were taken into consideration. To assess whether the aestheticizing discourse about wine also showed a certain ‘high-culture orientation’, the analysis also considered which actors featured as authorities in the aesthetic discourse. In Germany, this role in the wine market has traditionally been played by the state, which determines the quality designations of the wine (Prädikat) by means of quality wine testing. In contrast to, for example, France and other countries, where the measurement and control of wine quality is strongly linked to protected geographic designations of origin (AOC in France, DOC in Italy) and the associated philosophy of terroir, the German state enforces a philosophy of quality in the glass. According to this philosophy, laid down in the German wine law of 1971, it is not the climate, the soil and the artisanal craft and tradition of the winemaker that account for a wine’s quality, but the taste and chemical composition of the end product in the glass (Beckert et al., 2017; Rössel and Beckert, 2013; Weick, 2016). Thus, the quality of a wine is established based on chemical analysis and tasting in state institutions. Only those wines, which passed this examination, may be called quality wine or quality wine with specific attributes. ¹ However, this state classification system is not consensually accepted among all actors in the wine field, and there are groups of winemakers who orient themselves more to the French system of protected geographic designations of origin (Rössel and Beckert, 2013). The Verein Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP, Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates) is a winegrowers’ association which is bringing its own criteria of good wine into the discourse – contrary to the German law on wine. The VDP advocates a model of wine quality which is strongly oriented towards the French model and its concept of terroir and has now developed a quality classification in competition with the official German wine classification system (Rössel and Beckert, 2013). More recently, furthermore, critics – who were previously more a feature of the art field – have begun to assume the role of authorities in the field of wine, which could indicate a shift towards the high-culture model of evaluation.

To investigate the ‘globalization’ of wine journalism, two strategies were chosen. On the one hand, the coders recorded the frequency with which certain (groups of) countries were mentioned. First, mentions of Germany were counted, since other studies on cultural globalization have shown that this process mainly occurs at the expense of the country where the reporting is taking place. Second, France was chosen as an additional country to focus on, since, as explained above, it played a leading role in the legitimate definition of good cuisine and fine wine in the late 19th and large parts of the 20th century. Hence, the frequency with which France is mentioned allows us to discern whether it has lost its role as the legitimate cultural standard in the wine field. The last group of countries to be chosen was the ‘New World’ (United States, Australia, South Africa, Chile), which has an increasingly strong presence in wine markets, including those in European countries. On the other hand, a measure was calculated for each year, the Herfindahl index, to show how much the coverage concentrated on individual countries. This index can vary between 0 and 1. The closer it is to 1, the greater the concentration on a small number of countries; the closer it is to 0, the greater the diversity of the countries that are covered. Thus, this index reflects the whole geographical breadth of wine-related articles.

The ‘authenticity’ criteria were also comprehensively operationalized. First, the content analysis identified references to both artisanal production (e.g. special care, reduction in yield, late harvest, hand picking, natural fermentation, wooden barrel), and industrial production techniques (e.g. use of harvesters, rationalization, boosting yield, fermentation with cultured yeast). Second, various references to natural conditions of wine production were recorded. These include discussions about particular grape varieties, about organic production techniques (which Johnston and Baumann (2007) also mention as indicators of authenticity) and mention of the terroir concept, which refers broadly to natural local conditions and their relevance for production techniques. The terroir concept typifies the traditional philosophy of wine production in France, which emphasizes the importance of small-scale sites and climatic conditions (Zhao, 2005: 185). Another area of analysis is whether the articles about wine make reference to the winemaking tradition in the relevant region – as a further criterion for authenticity. A final question examined is whether the winegrowers are mentioned by name and associated with particular characteristics (innovation, passion, commitment, artist, new generation). This fulfils a further criterion of authenticity, that of personalization, the idea of cultural products with a face (Johnston and Baumann, 2007). After this explanation of the operationalization of the central variables, the next section will examine whether the processes of change posited in the discussion in cultural sociology can actually be observed in the world of wine during the period of time covered by the study.

Empirical results

Our analysis of the transformation of wine journalism in Germany first focuses on the process of aestheticization. Figure 1 makes it clear that wine reporting has increased markedly in quantity during the period under observation. In the 9 years since 2000, five times more articles on the topic of wine have appeared than in the 13 years between 1947 and 1959. This shows that wine, as a cultural and aesthetic product, has come to attract more and more media attention over time. Of course, this could also reflect an increase in reports on wine scandals or problems in the wine industry. However, we can exclude this on the basis of the findings displayed in the next two graphs. OPEN IN VIEWER

In Figure 2, the declining role of economic aspects in wine reporting becomes quite dramatically obvious. While economic problems in the industry or competition from foreign winegrowers still feature in around one-third or a quarter of the articles in the 1950s, these are of absolutely negligible importance in the current discourse and are mentioned in fewer than 1 in 10 texts. At the same time, there is an increase in the proportion of articles reporting on aesthetic issues about wine and its taste (Figure 3). The proportion rises from around 60% to 80%. These data also make it clear, though, that even in the 1950s the aesthetic significance of wine was a central concern in media coverage. Thus, even in earlier decades, wine was regarded and discussed as an aesthetic product. This focus has increased markedly, however, while classical instrumental and economic aspects are losing their relevance altogether. This clearly supports the thesis of an aestheticization of wine reporting and corresponds very well with the steady increase in wine consumption in the German population. OPEN IN VIEWER

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Figure 3.

Proportion of articles about aestheticization and taste.

The next step will be to test whether a more high-culture orientation can be observed in the aestheticized wine discourse. Here, the indicator examined will be the mentioning of different actors involved in quality assessment and their relevance, since critics as experts are a typical feature of high-culture discourses. The importance of the state as an authority in quality evaluation is slightly lower at present than in the 1950s. However, it has had periods of greater significance in the interim, particularly in the 1970s. This can be explained with reference to the discussion about the new wine law in the 1970s. Ultimately, this shows that the state still plays a major role as a wine-evaluating authority. It becomes clear from the data, though, that other actors involved in evaluation are gaining relevance. In line with a high-culture attitude to wine, the role of critics is steadily growing, though at a relatively low level. The VDP, as a specific actor in quality definition, is also becoming more and more important. Overall, however, these data show only a slight tendency for wine reporting to assimilate to the high-culture discourse (Figure 4). OPEN IN VIEWER

The first steps of our analysis were able to show, first, that a clear aestheticization of the wine discourse can be observed, but, second, that there is only a slight tendency to assimilate to high-culture criteria. The next step will be to examine whether there is also evidence of a globalization of reporting in the field of wine. The relevant empirical information can be found in Figure 5. First, the Herfindahl index can be used here to show that the concentration of media coverage on particular countries decreases markedly over time. This suggests that, in the German wine discourse, attention has come to be more broadly and evenly distributed over a larger number of countries. When we look at the data for the individual countries selected here, rather interesting developments appear. If we consider the reporting on Germany, we find similar results to those in the international comparative study by Janssen et al. (2008). In line with their findings, the globalization of reporting is at the detriment of discussions of German wines in media coverage. While nearly half the articles in the 1950s reported on Germany, this now applies to less than a quarter of the articles. This indicates a dramatic decline in the importance of German wines in the media coverage. The opposite tendency can be found for wines from the New World. These were scarcely mentioned in the 1950s, but now feature in nearly one in three articles, that is, more frequently than German wines. Surprisingly, this media coverage is actually ahead of empirical developments on the German wine market, where New World wines do not yet play a major role. Of all the wine consumed by private households in Germany in 2008, only 7% came from the New World (MAFO: 3), whereas nearly 50% are from Germany. Last, we consider the frequency with which French wines are mentioned in the German wine discourse. Here, no systematic development is apparent, and French wines are currently just as important as a reference in the wine discourse as they were in the 1950s. Thus, there is no evidence of a decline in the pre-eminence of French winegrowing, comparable with the thesis of Johnston and Baumann (2007) for French cuisine. OPEN IN VIEWER

Clearly, not just the thesis of aestheticization, but also that of globalization can be confirmed for the German wine discourse. In particular, we find an increase in reporting on wines from the New World, while interest in local wines by the agenda-setting media actors declines dramatically.

The next step will be to consider whether there is also evidence of a development towards a greater emphasis on criteria of authenticity. Figure 6 looks at the first indicator, that is, whether there is a stronger focus on artisanal production techniques. The empirical information in the graph clearly shows that there are increasingly frequent reports on artisanal production techniques, while less and less attention is paid to industrial production technology. The media articles in the 1950s and 1960s were rather blunt in their approach to production techniques: one story (Spiegel, 1960) mentions the recommendation to store wine in plastic foil, which is also used for cheese, sausage and bread, thus equating wine with rather ordinary food products. Typically, these rather technical discussions are not linked to ideas of outstanding aesthetic quality. In contrast, more recent articles focus on hand picking, the selection of high-quality oak barrels and natural fermentation. Usually, the discussion of these artisanal production techniques is linked to aesthetic considerations, like in the following quote: ‘Now the grapes are picked by hand once again, increasing quality, and more than a third of the harvest matures in expensive French barrels made from Allier oak, agreeing with the bouquet of the wine’ (Spiegel, 1992). This is the first clear indication that criteria of authenticity in relation to aesthetics are gaining importance in the German wine discourse. OPEN IN VIEWER

Our next focus is on the evocation of natural conditions in the discourse, as the second indicator of a growing emphasis on criteria of authenticity. Here, it becomes very clear that articles about wine are attributing more and more significance to particular grape varieties as the basis for the production of wine. The proportion of articles discussing grape varieties increases almost threefold between the 1950s and the present. Very important in this context is the discussion of varietals, which lend themselves to mass production and rather simple wines, like Müller-Thurgau, on the one hand, and traditional high-quality grape varieties, on the other hand, like Riesling. Thus, the discourse about grapes is usually linked to assumptions about wine quality and aesthetics. The two other indicators of the relevance of natural conditions in the discourse, that is, organic production techniques and an emphasis on the terroir, also show marked increases in importance, though on a fairly low level. The concept of the terroir, however, does not appear until the 1990s. Usually, the interplay between soil, climate, grape variety and artisanal production methods is emphasized in these media stories. This points strongly to the increasing establishment of field-specific evaluation standards which follow a logic of authenticity. Thus, we can definitely confirm, for the second indicator of authenticity, that Johnston and Baumann’s (2007) thesis applies to the field of wine (Figure 7). OPEN IN VIEWER

In the next graph in Figure 8, the last two indicators of authenticity are considered: the frequency of reporting on the regional tradition of wine production and references to the producers and their characteristics. Here too, both indicators show definite increases, though this is on a relatively low level for the discourse about the tradition of wine production. In particular, the focus on the personality of the producer has become stronger and stronger over time, thus bringing wine journalism closer to the model of art journalism. And often in these reports, the winemakers are likened to artists, creating their wines like a composition and playing with their vineyard like musicians play on their instrument (Spiegel, 2005). OPEN IN VIEWER

Thus, there is also clear empirical evidence for the third thesis under investigation, the premise that criteria of authenticity have become more significant in the wine discourse over time. In contrast to Johnston and Baumann’s study on the food discourse in the United States, we can show in our study that these criteria have only developed over time, and that they were still fairly unimportant in the 1950s – the classic age of industrial modernity. Our focus on the language used clearly shows that the reporting in the 1950s and 1960s focused more on rather economic and technical aspects of winemaking, whereas the more recent discourse clearly emphasized its aesthetics, especially by elaborating on the authentic character of wine and winemaking.

Summary and discussion

What turns a bottle of fermented grape juice into a cult wine? In our article, two interconnected answers have been given to this question: one theoretical and one empirical. The fundamental theoretical argument was that processes of aesthetic consecration of cultural objects can be explained by the interplay of actors in social worlds or fields. What is regarded as a high-quality wine and where the boundaries of the wine world are drawn are determined by the major actors in this world (cf. also Diaz-Bone, 2005). This means, though, that central questions about the evaluation of aesthetic products are not answered with reference to exchange processes on the market, but by the interactions of powerful actors in the relevant social world. In the wine field, there are a number of actors and institutions – besides the actual producers – who help to turn a fermented grape juice into either a discount supermarket bargain or a cult wine. Alongside the commercial actors (wine dealers, wineries), and the individuals involved in the public discourse about wine (critics, wine journalists, wine experts), state actors in particular play a major role in the field of wine, since they carry out official wine testing and are thus responsible for official quality judgements. Our article has both theoretically and empirically foregrounded the role of field-specific public spheres, since it has become clear, especially in the area of art, that the most important evaluations of artistic objects are now more likely to be found in generally accessible mass media than in field-specific media. So, this is where the transformation of fermented grape juice into cult wine is also likely to take place. Newspaper and other media function as categorization devices creating the boundaries between different categories and qualities of wine (Lamont, 2012).

On this basis, we have conducted an empirical study of articles about wine in two German weekly news publications for the period from 1947 to 2008. The publications, Der Spiegel and Die ZEIT, are two particularly influential actors in quality evaluation and cultural consecration from the field-specific public sphere. The relatively long period of time covered by the study allowed us to consider several theses from cultural sociology about the historical transformation of cultural processes of evaluation. First, the aestheticization thesis, propounded by various authors since the 1980s, which suggests that evaluation processes are being more and more strongly shaped by aesthetic criteria, while instrumental and economic aspects are receding into the background. Second, the claim that, in the context of the globalization process, the cultural discourse in the individual countries is assuming an increasingly global scope. Third, the assumption that the traditional division between high culture and popular culture is eroding and is being replaced by new symbolic hierarchies, characterized, for example, by the opposition between openness and closedness or authenticity versus mass production. In particular, the authenticity of aesthetic objects is thought to be discernible from the use of criteria focused on artisanal production, natural conditions of production, regional and traditional connections and the personalities of the producers.

Our empirical study can largely confirm these theses: wine is increasingly regarded as an aesthetic object, while economic references have virtually disappeared from the discussion. This may correspond to the fact that winemaking is not of such a big import in a highly productive post-industrial economy, whereas wine consumption has become part of the typical middle-class and upper-middle class lifestyle in Germany. The globalization thesis can also be confirmed: references to German wine are decreasing, while wine from other countries – especially the New World – is attracting more and more attention. Contrary to all discussions about the end of French supremacy in the culinary world, however, the respect for French wines has not declined over time. Last, we can also demonstrate that the four criteria of authenticity have come to play an ever greater role in the discourse about wine in the period under consideration. In this part of our analysis, we were also able to show that the language of wine reporting has changed over the time period covered, from a more technical and economic language to one emphasizing the aesthetics of authenticity. To a certain degree, this is also a shift away from focusing on the producers and winemaking as an economic activity to the demand side and on wine as a highly symbolic consumer good. This shows empirically that, in the contemporary field of wine, a fermented grape juice is particularly likely to become a cult wine if – without any changes to its chemical composition and regardless of what country it comes from – it is presented in the field-specific discourse as an aesthetic product which can be characterized by artisanal production, special natural conditions of production, a particular tradition of winemaking and a winegrower who is comparable to an artist. Consistent with research by Johnston and Bauman (2007) on food, this shows that the criteria for the evaluation of wine in contemporary mass media focus on the authenticity of the product. Furthermore, we were able to show that these criteria have emerged historically over a long period and supplement traditional criteria focusing on France as the standard in wine production whereas the standards that are involved in industrial wine production are not of much importance anymore in the current wine discourse. As in other fields (cf. Rössel and Schroedter, 2015), the process of aestheticization has not simply led to a reproduction of classical high-culture criteria, but to a kind of merging of these traditional criteria, which are still important (France as reference point) with the more recent and postmodern criteria of authenticity.

The way wine is categorized and consecrated in the mass media as one part of the field-specific public sphere is an outstanding example of the processes that are going on in different aesthetic fields, where ‘ordinary’ objects like drinks, food or perfume are transformed into aesthetic or even artistic objects and thus correspondingly evaluated. From this perspective, the evaluation of consumer goods is not a mere function of their objective properties but depends on historically contingent evaluation criteria. As a consequence of this aestheticization process, these objects become part of a status market segment reaping higher prices than ordinary standardized products (Beckert et al., 2017). In this regard, the wine field seems to be typical for an increasing number of markets in contemporary capitalist societies. By means of the mass media discourse, aesthetic criteria become increasingly salient in the evaluative judgements of experts and laypersons alike. The transformation of such markets merits further attention in economic sociology.

Of course, our bold claim about the impact of the wine field’s public sphere is only possible because our empirical study had a focus on two of the most influential weekly publications in Germany based on their broad circulation, their agenda-setting power and their middle- and upper-middle class readership. Thus, our research dealt with rather powerful actors in the field-specific public sphere which cater directly to a certain consumer segment of the wine market. Other actors or positions like the trade press or producers’ press releases are beyond the scope of our study. However, research by Beckert et al. (2017) shows that price formation on the wine market depends strongly on producers’ self-portrayals in information presented to consumers on the Internet. Especially those wineries with a focus on authenticity gather much higher prices in the market compared to wineries with a more business-like approach. This is at least indirect evidence for the thesis, that the powerful mass media analysed in this article, mediate between high-status wine producers, on the one hand, and middle- and upper-class wine consumers, on the other hand, thus functioning as a field-specific public sphere. Future research has to show how further actors and positions are represented not only in the mass media but also in the trade press and other publications.