The artification of wine: lessons from the fine wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy

In this paper, we address the interrelations between fine art and fine wines, with ‘fine wine’ defined as an aesthetic entity as opposed to a mass-produced product created only to satisfy consumer needs. In the context of fine wines, we discuss the processes of artification, through which such wines are recognized as art (Shapiro and Heinich 2012), and heritagization, in which the cultural differentiation implicit in the concept of terroir (i.e., the various elements of a micro-climate that contribute to a wine’s specific attributes) connects a wine to its history and provenance. Our investigation focuses specifically on fine wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy, which are renowned worldwide for their depth and flavors. What traits are intrinsic to the definition of art, and what social processes culminate in transforming an entity from non-art to art? This article aims to address these questions, and argues that fine wines, as a source of aesthetic pleasure, are themselves an art form