Traditional European Sharecropping Lowers Wine Quality Where It Exists

Grape production was cut by 75 percent to increase quality where sharecropping existed. European sharecropping—France’s metayage and Italy’s mezzadria—has been associated with low wine quality. “The Italian Colossus”, Wine Spectator October 31, 2011 relates,, ‘Because of the mezzadria, or sharecropping system, common throughout Italy, sharecroppers worked the land, selling the grapes and keeping half the proceeds for themselves.’