Recent transformations in Argentina’s wine making activity and advancement of agribusiness, 1990-2010

Abstract

This paper deals with the changes in grape growing and wine making activities since the late 1980s and how they are linked to the transformations of agriculture in Argentina, to the productive logic of agribusiness in particular, and to globalization processes in general. It also develops how these transformations, similar to those of other agrifood activities, are expressed in a particular way in the Argentine grape growing and wine making activities, taking into account its history, the characteristics of its productive subjects and the problems and conflicts between specific sectors. Thegrape growing and wine making of the Province of Mendoza (Argentina),where the regional and traditional activities did not disappear, but underwent specific processes of reconversion, is proposed as a case study. Data from both secondary and primary sources are analysed.