Department of Apparel, Events & Hospitality Management

Terroir Tourism: A Vine Perspective

Byron Marlowe and SoJung LeeIowa State University

Iowa State University

Department of Apparel, Events & Hospitality Management

Introduction• Definition– Terroir tourism is defined as a regional tourism

strategy that commodifies the distinctiveness of a winegrowing region, both in terms of marketing and product (Holland, Smit & Jones, 2014).

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Introduction• Background– Vaudour (2002) developed a typology of viticulture

terroir (vine), whereby terroir is characterized as the intersection of four components of plant growing, territory, identity, and advertising.

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Introduction• Problem statement– Although Holland et al. (2014) made a significant

initial step to develop a framework of terroir tourism; it is not clear if terroir tourism is conceptually different from wine tourism and if so, how the two types of tourism are different.

– Little research has investigated terroir tourism or the development of its unique terroir characteristics.

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Introduction• Purpose of this study – To develop the terroir tourism framework by

identifying the characteristics of terroir.

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Literature Review• Terroir

• Territory

• Identity

• Advertising

• Plant Growing

Figure 1. A typology of viticultural terroir.Source: Adapted from Vaudour (2002).

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Literature Review• Terroir Tourism

– Regional Identity

– Wine Tourism Product

– Viticulture / Winemaking

– Regional Development

Figure 1. A conceptual framework of terroir tourism. Source: Holland et al., (2014)

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Literature Review• Wine Tourism• In 2006 Mitchell and Hall identified seven themes and

provide a comprehensive overview of the state of the art of wine tourism research.• The wine tourism product• The size of the winery visitation market • Winery visitor segments• The behavior of the winery visitor• The nature of the visitor experience• Wine tourism and regional development • Biosecurity risks posed by visitors

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Literature Review• Wine Tourism Product– The wine tourism product can be viewed as an

intersection of the tourism and wine industries situated within the broader context of the wine region and winescape (Hall, Johnson, & Mitchell, 2000).

– This product is a combination of developments specifically related to wineries and public investment in wine tourism (Getz & Brown, 2006).

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Methods• Sampling– The a qualitative investigation was performed on the

empirical and practical literature on terroir.• Thirteen articles were selected for content analysis. – Articles were selected for their reporting of terroir in

academic journals– Articles selected were written within the last fifteen

years

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Methods • Data Collection– Frequency of the keyword or characteristic of terroir

in the literature was reviewed, which lead to deriving characteristics of terroir and its relationship to tourism based on interpretation.

– Keywords were highlighted in the text, and examined for the frequency of each term.

–Mayring’s (2000) inductive category development was deployed to develop the characteristics.

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Methods• Data Analysis

– Category Definition– Category Development– Formative Check– Summative Check– Interpretation of Results (Frequencies)

Figure 3: Step model of inductive category development (Mayring, 2000)

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ResultsTerritory Advertising Plant Growing Identity

Land - 17 Rural - 14 Taste - 7 History - 2

Sense of Place - 6 Lifestyle - 2 Productivity - 1 Community - 2

Employment - 2 Image - 7 Plant - 12 Authentic - 3

Geography - 7 Expression - 1 Nutriment - 1 Ancestry - 2

Region - 33 Environment - 12 Atmosphere - 1 Tradition - 3

Appellation - 3 Product - 21 Geology - 5 Winemaking - 11

Landscape - 5 Artisan - 1 Sunlight - 1 Heritage - 2

Winescape - 2 Escape - 3 Varietal - 2 Legal – 5

Place - 28 Mystical - 2 Commodity - 3 Culture - 10

Soil - 7 Romantic - 1 Natural - 2 Flavor - 3

Weather - 5 Slogan - 1 Organic - 2 Viticulture - 7

Esthetics - 3 Promotion - 2 Minerals - 1 Local - 8

Earth - 3 Quality - 10 Science - 9  

Involvement - 3 Destination - 4 Water - 2  

Attachment - 1   Climate -10  

Historical - 2   Topography - 2  

Space -1      

Total: 128 Total: 81 Total: 61 Total: 60

Department of Apparel, Events & Hospitality Management

Conclusion• Theoretical

– This study initiates the examination of the working construct of terroir tourism by investigating terroir categories and developing characteristics associating terroir with tourism through category development and interpretation of the literature.

– The findings indicate that such territory characteristics as region, land and place are high frequency terroir keywords. Region as noted by Hall et al., (2000) is a component of the wine tourism product. Although, the characteristics of land and place were not identified in the investigation of the wine tourism product.

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Conclusion• Practical

– The finding indicates that such territory characteristics as region, land and place are important keywords and although not under the advertising category of Vaudour’s (2002) typology study of viticulture terroir should be considered in the marketing or branding of a terroir region.

– Regional terroir destinations can use the keywords to identify themselves as land or place first destinations because of its unique terroir characteristic. Unique characteristics revealed from this study can be considered for terroir tourism destination marketing.

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Limitation• Limitation

– Vaudour’s (2002) study on viticulture or grape growing although seminal is not the only perspective of terroir. Moran (2006) who also suggests terrior components include the legal and winemaking approach to terroir.

– The quantitative method of analysis to complete Mayring’s (2002) inductive category development has been not completed.

– The author of this study believes terroir tourism is not just a wine tourism product but that terroir is expressed most vividly in the growth, cultivation and culture of the wine making process. Therefore the vine perspective was selected for this study.

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Future Research• Investigation

• Conduct a survey of wine professionals and wine academics on terroir tourism. An investigation into their terroir tourism experiences.

• Investigation of the terroir tourism framework using involvement and place attachment theory. Surveying guests at vineyards with emerging terroir characteristics.

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