Grafting and globalization of wine. A study in Mendoza, Argentina

Abstract

This article deals with grafting, an activity that has gained a great boom in globalized viticulture and that is scarcely worked on in literature. Grafting is carried out with different objectives, either to rejuvenate old plants or add production, to take advantage of the foot of a plant already adapted to a terrain and unfavorable conditions, or to change variety, and has acquired great importance in the face of growing competition in the world wine market. It addresses the origins and characteristics of the activity and its growing importance given the change from a productivist model to a model focused on quality. The study was carried out in the eastern part of Mendoza, where a core of grafters is located, whose important social and symbolic capital has allowed them to move from the local to the transnational level, responding to the growing demand for grafters in globalized wine-growing areas in which quality, the uniqueness of the product and the adaptation of production to a more demanding consumer is crucial in order to remain in an increasingly competitive market. The study is based on a mixed methodology, secondary data, and first-hand information gathered mainly in interviews with a set of actors, among which the grafters are the main ones.