Commercialization of Historical Memory in the Names of Italian Wines in the Early 21st Century

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2023-3/165-183

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of historical nomination in the commercial appellations of Italian wines that appeared on the market in the period 2000–2022. The study tested the hypothesis that the commercial name of wine is a tool for updating and exteriorizing the collective memory of the local community, which thus constructs the idea of the past it needs using the network method. A representative sample of research units (enonyms) was selected from the websites of Italian wine producers and specialized magazines of wine products. The names of wines were analyzed in terms of linguo-cognitive and cultural-historical criteria that supposedly guided wine producers when choosing historical names for wine products in order to sell them to potential buyers – representatives of local communities. The logic of the wine commercialization process made it possible to identify the linguo-communicative mechanism of the enonym, which functions as an implicit narrative, created by the wine producer for the wine consumer. The article analyzes historical strata from the history of the Ancient World (Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Etruscan culture, the history of the Samnite peoples), which serves as productive material for reconstructing the collective memory of Italian local communities. Accordingly, signs, symbols and representations of historical memory were identified in the communicative pragmatics of the local, national and universal levels. The study showed that in Italy the concept of local rather than ethic identity is relevant. The boundaries of local identity are outlined by a common history, its strata that are involved in the "great past", or even the sacred past, are actualized.