Professor Rod Phillips gave a paper, “The French Revolution: A Pivotal Period in the History of French Wine,” at the 15th Annual Conference of the American Association of Wine Economists in Cape Town, South Africa, in June. He discussed the transfer of vineyard land and wine production facilities from Church entities to secular ownership from 1790, when most Church-owned property was expropriated by the state and sold at auction. This had the effect of transforming ownership of French wine production and ending the centuries-long participation of Church entities (especially religious houses) in the production of wine in France.
The authorities assessed the capital value of these properties and used them as the reserve price at auctions. Analyzing the sales allows us to see how much over the reserve price the properties fetched – anything from 10 to more than 300 per cent. Comparing the results to sales of non-vineyard land gives us insights into the perceived value of wine an investment in the late 1700s. This paper focused on land sales in Burgundy, and Rod will extend his research to other wine regions to see if there are regional variations.
This is part of a history of wine in the French Revolution that Rod is writing with the support of a SSHRC grant.