: Une étude empirique des certifications de qualité dans la vitiviniculture française

Summary translation

Should controversies be cut short? An empirical analysis of agri-environmental certifications in the French vitiviniculture When we started our study about the environmental qualifications of French wines, in 2004-2005, the environmental concern seemed to be in a state of standby. This stagnation worried the actors and fed their controversies. Among the agrobiologists, two camps were confronting one another: they accused each other of impeding the development of organic agriculture. Since 2007, organic viticulture started spectacular growth. Did one side defeat the other? No opponent, no resistance was removed; change did not occur within the organic sphere. It resulted from a growing concern of a few AOC vintners for an authentic terroir quality and the controversy is still running. What is more, the same is occurring among producers within the Protected Denominations of Origin. The analysis of these two different cases shows that the controversy rests upon two divergent interpretations of the use of the organic or Protected Denominations of Origin labels. According to some, the label defines a quality resulting from the application of its regulations and constraints; for others, organic or terroir quality are linked to global approaches aiming at precise goals, but the implementation of which requires constant adaptation to all the specificities of each particular situation. These two interpretations of labels are quite incompatible. Should we therefore clear up the conflict by opting for one or the other side? The analysis of the integrated farming qualification, which, strangely enough, remains in the fringe of the wine environmental turn, helps suggest a negative answer to this question.