New Zealand's wine came to the world's attention in the late 1980's with its production of some of the best quality sauvignon blancs. Since then the industry has grown significantly and has increasingly gained an international reputation as a producer of quality, boutique wines.This volume provides an innovative, multi-disciplinary and critical review of wine production and consumption focusing specifically on the fascinating wine industry of New Zealand. It considers the history, production, aesthetics, consumption and role of place (identity) from multi-disciplinary perspectives to offer insight into the impacts of wine production and consumption. By linking the study of wine to broadly constructed social, cultural, historical and transnational processes the book contributes to contemporary debates on the "life of commodities", "social class" and "place and people". Throughout comparisons are made to other internationally recognized wine regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy.This title furthers the understanding of the social/cultural context of wine production and consumption in this region and will be valuable reading to students, researchers and academics interested in gastronomy, wine studies, tourism and hospitality.


Peter J. Howland has a PhD in Anthropology (Canterbury University) and is an independent researcher with interests in middle-class consumption, identity, distinction and sociality.