The Matter in Wine Discourse: Semiotics of the Etna Terroir

Abstract

This work discusses the relationship between wine, matter and terroir. In the first part of the essay, I explore the themes of wine and terroir with the aim of moving beyond a naturalist and exclusively chemical-physical vision of wine. To do so, I propose to approach the wine field through the semiotic definition of “wine discourse”, as a transversal field that brings together, alongside wine, countless different cultural objects such as landscape, packaging, cartography and architecture. The terroir can be seen as an isotopic device that, as a red thread, allows a number of cultural objects to be constructed and experienced within the wine discourse. I will test this hypothesis with the semiotic analysis of a particular case, the Etna production area, and some of its objects such as terroir maps and architectures.