A territorialização da vitivinicultura no município de Dom Pedrito/RS

Abstract

Vitiviniculture is the expression of territories and people who grow grapes and produce wine. The town of Dom Pedrito, Rio Grande do Sul, with a historical and economic tradition strongly associated with large estate and destined to livestock and grain production, has recently been highlighted in the production of grapes and fine wines. Vitiviniculture in Dom Pedrito was mainly motivated by its natural conditions of soil and climate, so that this research aims to investigate how winemakers from this town organized and structured their production system. More specifically, this study intends to understand the production organization of viticulture, to identify public and/or private policies created in order to stimulate the production, to verify the problems and challenges faced by winemakers and to identify the potentialities of viticulture in the city of Dom Pedrito. This research is, therefore, justified by the increasing transformation of productive areas in Dom Pedrito, whose vitiviniculture represents an important potential, which, over the last years, has transformed the landscape, as well as adding investments and new alternatives of production and social and cultural reproduction. For the development of this research, a theoretical-empirical investigation was conducted, based on the description-explanation, with a qualitative approach. The field work was carried out through the application of semi-structured interviews with the winemakers of the city and the Company of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Emater). In addition, the field work used observation records and photographic collection. Throughout the thesis, an attempt was made to present briefly the history of wine, giving emphasis to its development in the Brazilian territory. Furthermore, data from the world and national production were presented to discuss the concepts of Geographical Indication, focusing on Indication and Denomination of Origin – certification earned by grapes and wines from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Therefore, it was sought to explicit data collected in the field works, which, along the research course, were responding to the proposed objectives. In this sense, the discussion of results elucidated, among other points, the reason why the current winemakers of Dom Pedrito started this activity, the grapes and the wines that they produce, the size of vineyards areas and their production, the destination of production and its representativeness for the property and for the city. It should also be noted that knowledge of Brazilian legislation on wine, which establishes production and commercialization norms, as well as the concepts of territory and landscape, assisted in the analysis of interviews collected in the field. In addition, the findings raised a debate about public policies and investments for the sector, the problems that have been occurring in terms of production and commercialization and the potential of the activity for the town. Thus, it is noteworthy that the vitiviniculture is territorialized in Dom Pedrito from the public policies focused on the sector, which associated with natural conditions allows this activity to develop and integrate the local economy.