Our Domaines Barons de Rothschild case's Appendix A note on Russia as an emerging area of consumption caught my interest. The case states: "One commonality in areas of growing consumption was the association of wine with status."
As of 2017, wine is a nearly $700M market in Russia. I'm curious as to how wine evolved alongside culture and status in Russia's storied history. As a literary enthusiast, I thought a prime lens through which to analyze this topic was literature, and where better start than Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, published in 1877, a crown jewel of Russian -- and world -- literature. (Also definitely not coincidentally one of my most beloved classics).
Anna Karenina depicts the downfall of Karenina, a countess in Imperial Russia, as she delves into an extramarital affair that challenges the boundaries of high Russian society and ultimately leads to her suicide. One of the most famous passages in Anna Karenina evokes wine's intersection with both high class in Russia and romantic enchantment.
Upon meeting the man with whom she will eventually have an affair, "Anna was drunk with the wine of the rapture she inspired... the tremulous, flashing light in her eyes, the smile of happiness and excitement that involuntarily curved her lips, and the precise gracefulness, assurance, and lightness of her movements... 'No, it's not the admiration of the crowd she's drunk with, but the rapture of one man'" (Tolstoy 176).
Tolstoy wields wine as an immensely powerful metaphor in this timeless excerpt. At the high society event where Anna meets her lover, she is drink with wine and the rapture of her extramarital suitor. Here, Tolstoy strikes an unflinching parallel between wine and raw romanticism.
There is something fearlessly tangible about this connection between wine and desire, suggestive of a greater historical high Russian societal association of wine with pleasure, status, and privilege.
Absolutely awesome post. Keep the literary metaphors involving wine coming!
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