Burgundy to Champagne
Subtitle: the wine trade in early modern France
By: Thomas Brennan.
Series: The Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science ;; 115th ser., 1
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 350
Subjects: Wine industry -- France -- History.
Description: After an initial examination of France's viticultural society and the process of creating wine, Thomas Brennan turns his attention to the wine trade, the process of finding the buyers who would make the vines bear economic fruit. He draws on remarkably revealing statistics from Champagne to establish the crucial role played by brokers in this trade. Brennan also examines the role of brokers in the early eighteenth century, both nationally and in the provinces of Champagne and Burgundy.

He analyzes the winegrowers' response to the brokers' innovations and growing power, interpreting the language of judicial, political, and silent protests to illuminate the emerging views of the market's role in society. Brennan concludes with a look at the internationalization of the wine trade, as commercial ties grew to knit together most of France in the late eighteenth century, and certain provinces moved to thrust themselves into a wider, European commercial world.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-343) and index.