Conclusion

Summary

The Conclusion recapitulates the ways in which the shifting balance of scientific opinion, economic power and bureaucratic intervention (which was inevitably political) shaped the trajectory of wine over the course of the twentieth century and into the new millennium. The lesson is that innovations in one field did not necessarily spill over into the others, which often meant that they stalled. Race runs as a thread through this history because its inscription in laws shaped consumption patterns, had a bearing on export possibilities, and led producers and merchants alike to set their priorities according to their reading of the market and where the profits lay. The Conclusion ends by speculating about whether the legacies of racial framings are finally being addressed.