[ATHENA] Symposium ICOHTEC - Session "Wine in History "

[Liliane Pérez (liliane.perez AT wanadoo.fr via athena Mailing List) <athena AT services.cnrs.fr>]

Chers collègues
Ci-joint une proposition de participation à une session organisée par Irina 
et Dmitri  Gouzévitch pour le 43e Symposium ICOHTEC, Porto (26-30 juillet 
2016) : " Wine in History : between Technology, Science and Transfert of 
Knowledge (XVIIth-XIXth centuries)".
Date limite de soumission : 8 février 2016
http://www.icohtec.org/annual-meeting-2016.html
Wine in History : between Technology, Science and Transfer of Knowledge 
(XVIIth-XIXth centuries) 

Wine is inextricably linked to the human civilization. A highly symbolic 
cultural phenomenon which made the delight of poets and artists, it is 
associated both with the pleasures of life and conviviality and with their 
excesses. However, the social historical function of wine goes well beyond 
this symbolic representation. Indeed, without wine, many antic and medieval 
societies simply would not have survived, especially after the rise of the 
cities and the concomitant process of massive water pollution. The wine is 
also an economic phenomenon because its production and trade made the wealth 
of many cities, regions and countries.
Biggest beneficiary of Christian religious practices, the wine in the 17th 
century Europe suffered from the competition with the imported exotic drinks 
(tea, coffee, chocolate) before finding a new impetus in the technological 
innovations of the Enlightenment (bottles, corks and so on). During the 19th 
century, science and technology interferred actively in this traditional 
field, changing progressively the technical conditions of the production of 
wine and of its related accessories required for packaging, preservation, 
storage and transportation. The improved communications and the promotion of 
national legislations greatly contributed to transform the wine production 
into a world-wide spread industry having gained a foothold even in those 
geographical areas that had never experienced this culture before.
This session aims to explore some new aspects of this problematics linked, in 
particular, with engineering innovations in the field of wine production and 
with the role played in this process by the transfer of knowledge.