The territorial redefinition of the Vineyard Landscape in the sherry wine region (Spain)

Nature and what is natural, and culture and what is cultural, are conceived of as social constructs and not as isolated concepts (MacCormack & Strathern 1980). As a result, there is a certain relevance in addressing nature’s social reconstruction patterns that link ecological processes and socioeconomic structures. This convergence has been developed as an ethnographic (Braun 2004; Demeritt 2002) and ethnoecological source (Johnson & Hunn 2010), which has led to an understanding of how certain landscapes arrived at their current situation, their historical processes, and how public planning and management models have attempted to combine the protection of nature and the promotion of local heritage for use in tourism.

“An Archaeology of Landscapes” (Anschuez et al. 2001) provides an adequate method for modulating the relationships between local populations and their natural surroundings. Sauer (1956) alleged that cultural landscapes facilitate an analysis of their historical processes; and in this, Sauer’s analysis adopts a de la longue durée temporal perspective (Beneš & Zvelebil 1999). In this line, it is worth mentioning the valuable contributions of a number of researchers who draw on the principles that originated in the School of Annales (Burke 2013), and highlighting the work of Braudel (1972) as the most important reference (1972).

The wine sector is a strategic sector of the economy for many European countries, including Spain, which is one of the great wine producers of the world. According to data from the International Organization of Vine and Wine (IOV 2017), Spain is in first position for the amount of planted area (975,000 hectares), this area being divided into 85 Protected Designation of Origin areas. The prestige that wine culture has acquired has turned it into a social symbol and a fashion reference.

The functional vineyard landscape is associated with both viticultural practices and the natural environment in which it is developed. The vineyard landscape has a historical value, due to it being a result of transformations and cultural practices that have taken place over centuries, and that find their ultimate expression in the industrial heritage of the winery. There exists an idealized vineyard landscape, expressed in words through literature and poetry, and captured in works of pictorial art. The vineyard landscape also has social connotations as the fruit of human labor; this generating the local identity and the know-how of the inhabitants.

Rural areas have experienced an intense social and economic restructuring that has been brought on by globalization (Marsden 1995). Territorial innovation and development trends have arisen that capitalize on natural, landscape, and cultural values (Rosenberg & Walsh 1997) in order to shape differentiation strategies (eds Torre & Traversac 2011; Woods & McDonagh 2011).

The influence of agricultural post-productivism has generated changes in the following areas and ways: 1) in extensive agricultural production (López-Guzmán et al. 2011), where the decline in internal demand leaves exportation as the only option; 2) while during the Fordist period the Protected Designation of Origin led the consumer to quality; for the current period, brand image is the determining factor of the reflection of wine’s culturalization (Barco 2013); 3) modern-day environmental and heritage appraisal (Buller & Hoggart 2017); 4) the need for diversification towards new experiences is currently being expressed through wine tourism (Bosangit et al. 2015); and 5) the productive delocalization and disarticulation (Coe & Yeung 2015) of this industry should also be included.

The focus of this research is to analyze the historical evolution of the vineyard landscape in the Sherry Wine Region, the factors that have triggered modifications in the relationship between the local people and their environment, and the causes of the territorial redefinition of the vineyard landscape.

The relationship between landscape and heritage goes back to the nineteen-eighties, when it became the subject of scientific debate (Claval 2007; Scazzosi 2004). A territory and its image are not only a physical embodiment, but also evidence of social appropriation (Howard 2003). In addition, there has been a culturalization (Sahlins 1976), or patrimonial appropriation, of nature (Vaccaro & Beltran 2010), where its protection is the result of cultural expression.

This is due in part to UNESCO, who have included rural landscapes in spaces declared for their heritage values. In 1992, the category of cultural landscapes appeared in discussions on rural landscapes (Aplin 2007; Rössler 2006). According to the definition of this category, priority is given to a landscape as both a process and a material asset (Harris 1999), while at the very end of the twentieth-century what was most highly valued was the individuals who created, recreated and enjoyed the landscape (Antrop 2005; Rössler 2006). More recently, the appreciation of immaterial values made this definition appear archaic (Fernández & Silva 2016); this was especially so on the occasion of the European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe (2000), which identified the landscape as being any part of a territory as perceived by the local population (Article 1).

Sixteen winegrowing regions around the world have been declared Heritage of Humanity cultural landscapes by UNESCO (Petrillo et al. 2015). Spain, despite being the world’s main producer of wine has not been recognized as such, and it was not until 2017 that the La Rioja and Rioja Alavesa Vine and Wine Cultural Landscape was entered onto the tentative World Heritage list. According to some authors, the intention of preserving the vineyard landscapes of Spain does not make much sense while the national Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) continues to subsidize the uprooting of vineyards (Lasanta et al. 2016; Fernández & Silva 2016), or while they are at risk due to property speculation (Elías 2014).

However, respect for vineyard landscapes has led to their protection, with examples in Spain being the Catalonian Law for Landscape Protection, Management, and Planning (Ley de protección, gestión y ordenación del paisaje de Cataluña - 2005); and the La Rioja Law for Cultural, Historical, and Artistic Heritage (Ley del Patrimonio Cultural, Histórico y Artístico de La Rioja - 2004), which expressly states that the vineyard landscape is part of traditional culture and that among real assets, support for the building of wineries is a priority.

The ability to mobilize people to come to vineyard landscapes has made it a tourist resource of high heritage and social value. In Figure 1 is presented the elements that make up each of the concepts.

Figure 1

The symbiosis between the specific, the global, and the historical discourses, serves as a paradigm for reflecting on landscape, heritage, and wine tourism in the Sherry Wine Region (Figure 2).

Figure 2

The present study is a paradigmatic case study that illustrates local restructuring processes, changes in local–global planning, and the socioeconomic impacts arising from the globalization of food. In May and July 2017, a program of qualitative interviews was implemented that exemplified these phenomena. The interviews and the study area visits served to have different perspectives on how the vineyard landscape of the Sherry Wine Region has changed over the past 20 years, and what the future prospects for it are. Ten interviews were carried out. The interviewees were, 1) farmers, 2) winemakers, 3) tourism entrepreneurs, 4) historians, and 5) public sector technicians.

There was also an analysis and compilation of documentary material, which included, 1) historical documents, such as the Distribution Book (Libro del Repartimiento), which paints a vivid picture of the landscape in medieval times, and allows for a deeper understanding of landscape transformations; 2) a map from the digital library of the Royal Academy of Spanish History (Real Academia de la Historia Española); and 3) material from media sources, especially local and regional sources.

The vineyard landscape is currently undergoing a metamorphosis in the direction of production models that are more diversified, and more differentiated by their quality; with the coordination between public and the private sectors playing a fundamental role.

With this rural restructuring process, the Sherry Wine Region has lost its character as a wine-producing area, and has evolved into a wine-tourism region. This transformation is due to its inability to adapt to globalization; but also, in part, to how the Protected Designations of Origin does not favor local interests and provides no guarantee of the territorialization of agro-food activity.

The Protected Designation of Origin is traditionally based on three pillars: the territory, the grape variety, and the human factor. However, the new wine production companies focus on the grape variety, the enologist, and the brand, as indicators of quality (Viladomiu & Rosell 2006); while the Protected Designation of Origin does not guarantee local planting since the commercialization and distribution have been taken out of local hands due to processes of delocalization and de-territorialization (Soler 2011).

The new territorial approaches are centered around going out to the countryside and admiring the vineyards. This is the value now given to this heritage, and it is being reinforced by an attempt to consolidate wine tourism in this singular vineyard landscape, with wine culture as the main focus.