Heritage Narratives and Territorial Branding in Brazilian Sparkling Wine: Altos De Pinto Bandeira and Wines of Brazil

Brazilian wine regions shaped by Italian immigration have long mobilized European lineage to legitimize their production, yet they operate in markets that increasingly reward differentiation, symbolic clarity and specialized territorial identities. Focusing on the Altos de Pinto Bandeira Denominação de Origem (DO) and the Wines of Brazil export program, this article proposes a five‑dimension framework for analyzing wine heritage as a communicative and territorial resource in branding communication: time depth, continuity, recognition, valorization and strategic fit. Using a nested multiple case study of five DO‑licensed wineries and the national branding program, based on documentary and website analysis, it codes each case along these dimensions and derives a typology of heritage strategies (inherited‑fit, reactivated‑fit, strategic, invented‑fit, misaligned). The results show that heritage becomes most communicatively effective when it exhibits strong strategic fit with both territorial identity and product category, particularly in sparkling wine, where Brazil has achieved its clearest institutional recognition and international visibility. The Altos de Pinto Bandeira DO functions as heritage infrastructure, turning family and cooperative narratives into territorially anchored communicative assets. The article argues that a sparkling‑centred strategy aligning Italian‑Brazilian heritage with contemporary representations of “Brazilianness” can strengthen Brazil’s wine territorial brand and outlines how the proposed framework can inform the strategic communication of territorial brands in other emerging wine regions seeking place‑based development through geographical indications.