City, architecture and wine: Wine tourism in the contemporary society

¹ Architecture graduate student, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, FAU/UFJF, CEP 36.036-330, Brazil
² Doctor in Social Sciences, Associated Professor, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, FAU/UFJF, CEP 36.036-330, Brazil

Abstract

In the last decades, the growth of activities related to wine tourism is a potent driver of transformations in territories and societies. Wine landscapes of ancestral regions such as La Rioja in Spain, Bordeaux in France or also in the so-called “New World”, such as the Napa Valley in the United States, Mendoza in Argentina and many others around the world, demonstrate a new age where the wine tourism is essential for affecting their economies and leaving a mark in the contemporary society, in which architecture plays a major role to achieve these goals. In Brazil, an emerging country in wine production, the Valley of the Vineyards is one of the most traditional areas of production and it has been through major changes over the past decades. The countless vineyards, wine cellars, tourist establishments and the growing urbanization are redefining the landscape of the region. Using bibliographic revision to explore different perspectives on the theme, this article aims at highlighting the social, cultural and technical implications related to this kind of tourism. Moreover, both positive and negative effects reflect the identity and the characteristics of each area, along with cultural and architectural elements that are disposed in each wine cellar, time and place.