How do you taste a place? And who gets to decide what that taste means?

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This project explores how winemakers, scientists, and regulators in Hungary’s historic Tokaj region are redefining the meaning of terroir—a French term often translated as “the taste of place.” Long known for its sweet wines and volcanic soils, Tokaj is one of the world’s oldest protected wine regions, first codified in 1737.

 

Today, however, many local producers argue that broad regional labels don’t reflect the real diversity of the land. They’re turning to science—especially soil testing—to make their case.

 

Through interviews, fieldwork, and lab analysis, I studied how winemakers collect and interpret soil data to argue for more specific, more prestigious classifications. They use both formal techniques (like pH testing and mineral analysis) and informal ones (like touching soil or tasting grapes) to show how their vineyards are different—even superior.

 

These measurements are more than scientific tools; they’re part of a broader effort to reclaim quality, status, and market access in a region shaped by decades of collectivized farming and post-socialist transformation.

By following a local initiative to introduce a new labeling system—one that links wine quality to soil “minerality”—this research shows how measurement becomes a political act. Soil data, often seen as neutral or objective, becomes a way to imagine new futures: more precise wine labels, stronger place-based identities, and international recognition.

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In short, this project explores how something as simple as 'dirt' becomes part of a complex story about tradition, taste, and who gets to define value in a changing world.

 

This work was supported by graduate research fellowships from the Columbia University Council for European Studies Mellon Fellowship and Fulbright Hungary.

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Related publications:

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2021. Landed value grabbing in the terroir of post-socialist specialty wine, Globalizations, 18(3):390-408, DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2020.1738101

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2021.Domesticating the Taste of Place
Post-Socialist Terroir and Policy Landscapes in Tokaj, Hungary. In Eszter Krasznai Kovacs (ed) Politics and the environment in Eastern Europe. Open Book Publishers (Cambridge). https://books.openedition.org/obp/22737 

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