Wines of Brazil: from the past to the future

Abstract

How was the wine industry born in Brazil? What were the most striking facts of the 20th century? What was the nature of the relationship between the wine cooperatives and the wine industry? What were the impacts on the Brazilian market of the entry and exit of multinationals companies? What are the strategies of the Brazilian wines companies that were established essentially aftter he departure of the multinationals, when it was necessary to face the high cost of the Brazilian production and the strong competition of the imported wines? This research aims to present a panorama of the development of the wine industry in Brazil through the testimony of descendants of Italian immigrants who settled in the Serra Gaucha at the end of the 19th century to devote themselves to vitiviniculture. To this end, we used the methodology of oral history, which involved, in the first place, a consistent and extensive research on the subject to be treated. To this end, we carried out historical and documentary interviews which made it possible to construct a representative panel and gave rise to an excellent tool for reflection.