Du territoire géographique au territoire économique : la situation de la viticulture

Through time and space, the construction of the wine territories reveals them as subjects of economic issues. The analysis of these economic issues mobilizes traditional concepts (theory of comparative advantages) and more moderns (new economic geography). Thus, we progress gradually from the geographical territory with numerous dimensions (subsoil, soil, vegetation…) to the concept of economic territory of which the use by the wine growing refers to the traditional factors of structuring and the use of space (ground, population, financing, nature, …). Considering the use of these various factors within a region, a country or / and between several countries requires: (1) to consider the intensity of these factors in the wine elaboration, (2) to analyze the factor distribution in the space. Moreover, the competition between the wines as tradable goods adds an additional dimension to the context. Today, the growing importance of the national and supra-national organizations of political decisions (for example, European Union and World Trade Organization) requires analysing the strategies of stakeholders in the wine market. This work has to be set up under the scope of different ways in regulation according to countries and changes in terms of protection and differentiation of terroirs and their products. For an economic efficiency, these organizations agree on broad objectives all dedicated to increase the transparency of the information and the comparability of the wine growing products. Then, does a discrepancy exist because these products are often the outcome of differentiations, practices and rules based on territorial specificity? The growth of demand and its pressure add additional constraints.