Uncorking the bottle.
Subtitle: The socio-technical deconstruction of technology transfer in the high quality viticulture of Mendoza, Argentina.
Publisher: FLACSO Argentina
Published: September 2009
Place of publication: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Language: eng
Format: eBook (PDF)
Number of pages: 307
Description: Uncorking the bottle. The socio-technical deconstruction of technology transfer in the high quality viticulture of Mendoza, Argentina.
The recent establishment of quality wine production in Mendoza, Argentina, entailed significant changes in viticulture. Many attribute the improvements to a drive to export wine, in combination with the import of new technologies. This has given way to interpretations as though: ‘the local scene successfully incorporated global developments’ – in line with the classic argument of technology transfer. However, to explain the inextricable mix of heterogeneous aspects, including different levels of interaction (“old-world, new-world”, “local, global”), that compose “Mendozine quality wine” a different theoretical and methodological approach is needed, with greater explanatory power.
Building on the Social Construction of Technology, developed by Bijker (1995) and Pinch & Bijker (1987) a framework was developed that is able to address questions about a specific configuration in Mendoza, while at the same time involving the sectorial dynamics unfolded over several decades and people and artifacts (developed in different locations). To this basic conceptualization a triangulation was added of concepts of different theoretical origin: Callon’s (1991) Techno-Economic Networks, Lundvall’s (1991, 1988) interpretation of innovation as an interactive process of learning, and Thomas’ (2007) socio-technical trajectories and dynamics. All these elements are combined in the concept of “socio-technical alliances”. 
The thesis starts by analyzing the problem of the integration of traditional grape producers into the new high quality viticulture. It then explores the technologies associated with this socio-productive transformation, to focus on two of them. First, a reconstruction of the trajectories of different irrigation systems permits us to understand why some producers are less willing than others to install “drip-irrigation”. Second, the development of Malbec as the flagship variety of Mendoza – and Argentina - illustrates that innovation is not only, or even primarily, a technological process. The quality system was established through multiple instances of cooperation and transfer and implied various innovations. In conclusion, the process of socio-technical change is heterogeneous, impeding the standard conceptual distinctions between transfer, diffusion and innovation. Furthermore, the stabilization of the functioning of technologies involves a constant process of alignment and coordination of socio-technical alliances.