Finding Common Ground: The Need for Cooperation and Collaboration in the Spanish Natural Wine Industry

PurposeThis paper aims to develop an understanding of cooperation and collaboration in the natural wine industry in Spain as well as a deeper understanding of the challenges facing natural wine producers in the 21st century.Design/methodology/approachField interviews using a structured questionnaire were conducted with five Spanish producers of natural wine in five different regions during fall 2018 and late spring 2019. Interviewers prompted respondents to expound upon the potential of incorporating cooperative relationships to help producers grow their businesses, share production and marketing techniques and explain how they educate consumers about natural wines.FindingsContent analysis among five field-researched case studies reveals common goals and challenges, but Spanish natural wine producers have not reached a consensus on the benefits of cooperative relationships. Respondents acknowledge that their indecisiveness and consumer confusion about natural wines are barriers to working together.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralizations from a sample comprised five companies cannot be made, nor can we claim that respondents were unbiased. Respondents were reluctant to release financial and production data; thus, the outcomes of coopetition strategies were indeterminate. It may be that a coopetition strategy is only positive up to a fixed point, upon which a diminishing-returns effect is manifested. Observations were made during a period when the Spanish wine industry was contracting, as political uncertainty in that country and post-Brexit clouded the future of tourism in and exports from certain Spanish wine regions.Practical implicationsCollaboration and cooperation would afford Spanish natural wine access to shared resources, networks and farming technology and knowhow to enhance the image and reputation of natural wine in Spain and internationally.Social implicationsTo explore how cooperative and collaborative relationships might be achieved, five case studies of natural wine producers in Spain illuminate their real-life challenges and goals. Cooperative relationships among these producers have the potential to contribute to industry growth and value creation, while creating shared competitive advantages. As these niche producers weigh how to come to a consensus about pooling resources and working together to educate the prospective natural wine consumer, doing so may well lead the next wave of entrepreneurial, innovative activity in an industry that is ripe for change.Originality/valueTo explore how natural wine producers face the challenge to increase transparency in its production and to help consumer to know what natural wine is. In the Old World, the French Fraud Control Office recognized the category “vin méthode nature” (wine nature method) as a special wine. It was the first step towards helping consumers to reduce the information asymmetries existing between the productive and consumption fields, increasing transparency in natural wines production.

Attitudes towards natural wines among Spanish winemakers: Relationship with environmental awareness

Although wine consumers are increasingly interested in natural wine, the definition of natural wine is still unclear. Thus, scholars argue that consumer understanding of natural wine characteristics might be vague and, therefore, natural wine perception can be heterogeneous among consumers. Accordingly, in this study, we question whether the perception of what is natural, or not, may affect consumer wine choice behaviour, by focusing on those attributes consumers may use to infer the naturalness of a wine. We present results from a survey conducted in Italy on 340 red wine consumers, which allowed us to determine drivers of wine consumption frequency and wine preference structure. By means of a choice experiment, we investigate the effect of a natural wine claim (‘objective naturalness’) and the effect of personal perceptions of naturalness (‘subjective naturalness’) on consumer evaluation for attributes that are generally linked to natural wine production. We find that consumers mostly associate natural wine with “artisanal” wine-making techniques and that wine choice behaviour can be affected by whether a wine is perceived as natural or not. However, we observe contrasting results when controlling for the effect of ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ wine naturalness. Finally, results show that respondents are willing to pay a price premium for the attributes linked to natural wine production, such as ecological certifications and wine-making techniques, but not for the “natural wine” claim. This suggests researchers should disentangle the different aspects of natural wine when exploring consumer preferences for this product.

China has a long history of grape cultivating and wine making, which can be tracked back to thousand years ago. Nowadays, after a rapid economic growth of thirty years, China has become one of the world's largest wine-consuming markets with great growth potential. At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that China is an important wine producer as well. In recent years, both the vineyard area and wine production have increased dramatically in China owing to the increasing domestic demand, improved life-standard and improved technologies and matured management experience in the area of viticulture. In the meantime, the international wine market is vigorously competitive. Hence, there is a need to consider the potential of China's domestic production to satisfy domestic demand and even the competitiveness in the international market. With this goal, this Thesis provides four questions: 1. What is the competitiveness of Chinese wine industry compared to the main wine producing countries in the world and how has it evolved historically. 2. Considering the huge size as a country and local diversity, what are the main factors of regional competitiveness and how is the regional competitiveness of wine production in different wine regions in China. 3. Facing the influence of climate change of both challenges and opportunities, what are the possible effects on regional competitiveness and adequate adaptive measures. 4. What are the internal and external factors which shape the wine industry and wine market in China and what kinds of strategies can contribute to the further development of the wine industry in China. To answers these four questions, the specific objectives of this thesis are as following: 1. To analyze and determine competitiveness of Chinese wines in a global scenario. 2. To analyze the regional competitiveness of local wine industries and factors which contribute to its determination. 3. To study the impacts of climate change on the wine production in China and provide adaptation strategies. 4. To analyze determining factors and provide adequate strategies for the development of the Chinese wine industry. To support this study, several methods have been adopted like literature review, statistical analysis, market competitiveness analysis, Porter’s Diamond Model and industry competitiveness analysis, climate change scenario analysis, climate change adaptive capacity analysis, and SWOT and SWOT Matrix analysis. Overall, the results of this study provide scientific implication on the research of evolution and perspectives of China’s wine industry from several aspects like historical, social, industrial, commercial and cultural variables. Even though China has dramatic expansion in domestic vineyard and increase in grape and wine production, compared with other countries, the competitiveness of Chinese wine production is still low with small export wine value and volume but the competitiveness general has been improved in a small scale in recent years. Wine producing regions are across the whole nation with diverse natural and social conditions. According to the Porter’s Diamond Model and the theory of industry competitiveness, Xinjiang has the highest competitiveness of Factor Condition; Beijing possesses the strongest competitiveness of Demand Conditions; Xinjiang ranks the first of Related and Supporting Industries and Shandong is the first in relate to Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry. For the Total Competitiveness, Shandong has outstanding advantages. For climate change, a general tendency of increasing temperatures and accumulated temperature, water scarcity with increasing number of frost-free days and higher frequency of extreme events, all of which will bring both challenges and opportunities to the young Chinese wine industry. Climate change adaptive capacity of Chinese wine industry is analyzed and adaptive strategies are provided at policy, financial, technical, institutional and collaborative level. According to SWOT and SWOT Matrix theory, 6 internal factors for Strength, 9 internal factors for Weakness, 9 external factors for Opportunity and 7 external factors for Threat, considering both traditional conditions such as wine production, wine policies as well as new conditions such as e-commerce, climate change and domestic economy trend, have been achieved in four sectors- Grape Producing, Wine Processing, Wine Selling and Wine consuming- of wine industry in China. For the further development of Wine industry in China, 8 strategies such as government support and establishment of wine laws at governmental level, 5 strategies such as a diverse and sustainable development at industrial level and 4 strategies such as broadcast of wine knowledge at business level have been provided.

Natural wine (NW) lacks an official or agreed definition, but it can be generally described as a wine produced with organic or biodynamic grapes with minimal intervention in the cellar, and with minimal or no use of oenological additives. The present study aimed to test the hypotheses that self-defined NWs differ from conventional wines (CW) in their chemical composition and main sensory characteristics. The levels of conventional oenological parameters, turbidity, biogenic amines, ochratoxin A, ethyl carbamate, sulphites, chlorides, some metals, major, trace and Strecker aldehyde volatile compounds were determined in 28 wines, including natural and conventional Spanish commercial white wines. Wines were also sensory described following a labelled free sorting task. NWs presented higher pH, volatile acidity (VA) and turbidity values, and a more intense yellow colour, whereas they have a lower malic acid content compared to theor conventional counterparts. NWs presented lower levels of total sulphur dioxide but significantly higher levels of biogenic amine putrescine, although both compounds are within the legal limits in all cases. None of the dimensions of the similarity space discriminated NWs from CWs. However, 70% of the NWs were grouped on the basis of various aromatic defects related to their higher content in 4-ethylphenols and VA. The remaining 30% were not differentiated from their conventional counterparts. It could be confirmed that NW can be globally differentiated from CW with respect to to their chemical and their sensory profiles, whereas the content in toxicants was not significantly different, with the exception of total sulphur dioxide and putrescine levels. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Purpose– This paper aims to explore the nature of the cooperation–competition nexus in regional clusters by examining how wine firms in Australia engage in knowledge exchanges about a “common” strategic issue: climate change. Further, it determines if differences in climate change innovations exist based on sub-regional position.Design/methodology/approach– Using a survey, data were collected from 557 firms across three wine-producing regions in Australia. Respondents were drawn from a leading wine industry database.Findings– The findings suggest that, after accounting for all knowledge exchanges, firms across the regions appear to be generally engaging in knowledge exchanges about climate change within their own geographic sub-regions. However, paradoxically, firms in “elite” sub-regions appear to be demonstrating more of a cooperative posture via a greater level of external knowledge exchanges. The results also suggest that implementation rates differ for adaptive climate change innovations only (as opposed to mitigative innovations) to the apparent advantage of firms in elite sub-regions.Research limitations/implications– The study represents Australian wine regions and should not be taken as a general population sample. The impacts of climate change in other wine-producing regions around the world may vary, leading to different results than those found in this study.Practical implications– Wine producers face many challenges with respect to climate change. To respond effectively to this issue, the sharing of knowledge is important to innovate around mitigative and adaptive practices. This research suggests that greater stimulation of open knowledge exchanges is likely needed so that all producers can benefit from industry-wide learning.Originality/value– This paper provides insights to wine scholars, industry practitioners and peak industry bodies seeking to understand and enhance the wine industry’s response to climate change. The paper also points to areas of future research opportunity and provides policy recommendations.

Natural wine: do consumers know what it is, and how natural it really is?

With the awakening of consumers’ awareness of sustainable development issues and demand for terroir wines, natural wines provide opportunities for the future development of the wine industry. Microbiomes are integral to viticulture and winemaking, where various microorganisms can exert positive and negative effects on grape health and wine quality. Communities of microorganisms associated with the vineyard play an important role in soil productivity as well as disease resistance developed by the vine. Wine is a fermented natural product, and the vineyard serves as a key point of entry for quality-modulating microbiota, particularly in wine fermentations that are conducted without the addition of exogenous yeasts. Thus, the sources and persistence of wine-relevant microbiota in vineyards critically impact its quality. In this review, we first examined that mimicking natural ecological cultivation to improve microbial diversity can enhance vineyard ecological services and reduce external inputs; then we examined that grape berries naturally possess all the elements of winemaking, including the nutrients for microbial growth, driving forces for the microbiota succession, and the enzymatic system for biochemical reactions; finally, we examined food safety, stability, specific interventions, and sustainability of natural wine industry-scale practices.

Currently, the wine industry has gained great relevance worldwide. At the same time, the sustainability of the business activity has positioned itself as one of the main challenges to be achieved in the coming years. Due to the great impact that agricultural processes can have on the environment, vine and wine production is particularly susceptible to the application of new technologies and processes that improve its sustainability in the medium and long term, while allowing the improvement of product quality. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the academic literature in the field of wine industry sustainability, to determine the main contributions carried out, as well as the most prominent authors, universities, and countries in this field of study. The methodology used is bibliometric analysis, specifically the Bibliometrix® R package, in its version 4.1.1. The results reveal that research in the field of sustainability in the wine industry has increased considerably in the last three years by several leading researchers, mainly from universities located in wine-producing regions. It is concluded that research shows a trend towards collaboration among stakeholders, especially in terms of innovation, which is postulated as the main tool to improve the sustainability of the sector in the coming years.

Wine production and consumption in Italy have a long tradition strongly linked to conventional products. Because of these market dynamics, the Italian wine industry has strongly increased the production of organic wines, as well as that of biodynamic and natural wines. Based on a qualitative survey of 210 wine consumers, this study explores the motivations which move the interests of consumers for the consumption of natural wine. The aim of the study is to verify if and how sustainability inspires demand. Considering the scarcity of studies on “natural wines” this research aims to provide a cognitive framework capable of giving a social representation of natural wine from the consumers’ side, although not reaching a generalizable result.

Since about 2005 the interest in natural wines has been increasing in the world wine market and in Japan in particular. However, Bordeaux natural wines have been facing challenges on the market, partly due to supply chain problems. Our work focuses on understanding the role and interactions of major actors of the Bordeaux wine scene and of natural wine distribution in Japan. Our study has a double purpose: to model the natural wines supply chain model for Japan and identify the barriers and driving forces of natural wine companies in the Bordeaux region and their supply chain challenges in Japan. The research methodology employs a content analysis and critical incidences approach. A supply chain model from the Bordeaux natural wine supplier to the Japanese natural wine consumer is presented. Our findings show the strong heterogeneity in the Bordeaux natural wine production sector and considerable differences in supply chain solutions, which only partly depend on the core competencies of the actors. The practical implementation of these results is discussed.

Review: <i>Imperial Wine: How the British Empire Made Wine’s New World</i>, by Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre

Purpose In a highly competitive market, the price of wine is a variable controlled by suppliers to suggest a level of quality. An index of relative firm position in the market based on relative prices is calculated for a sample of wine producers. The purpose of the paper is to analyze some of the factors related to the characteristics of a firm and quality that may explain the price strategy of wine producers in a new and small wine region, i.e. Québec province in Canada. Design/methodology/approach Data on types of wines and prices are collected from a sample of 40 small wine producers in Québec, Canada for the selected years 2008, 2010 and 2015. Findings The authors demonstrate that a high price strategy is significantly related to the reputation of the vineyard rather than the age of the domain, the size or the number of wines produced. Research limitations/implications The analysis has been carried out based on a data set of only 40 firms for which the price-position index could be calculated. Unfortunately, only limited information is available on producers and production volumes. Practical implications This analysis is of particular relevance for small or new wine-producing regions, which lack an established reputation. Because wine quality and taste differ by geographic origin and variety, new wine-producing regions may have opportunities to define a wine’s image (or a winery image) and the producer must inform the market on quality of the wine by reflecting it on the final selling price. Originality/value Prior works on the analysis of the price-quality relationship give rise to various and sometimes contradictory results. This analysis is of particular relevance to explain the price strategy of small wine producers in a strongly competitive market where the price remains an obvious commercial argument to signal the quality of a wine.

The impact of Idaho’s wine and grape industry was assessed as an agribusiness and as a tourist industry. Idaho’s grape and wine industry is in its infancy, with wine sales of $15 million from 15 wineries and growers cultivating about 1,000 acres, primarily in southwestern Idaho’s Canyon County. Synthesized output multipliers for wine tourism were virtually identical to the agribusiness output multipliers (1.86 and 2.10 for Canyon County and the state of Idaho, respectively). The wine and grape industry’s agribusiness impact is $15 million in sales and 120 jobs in Idaho, and $23 million and 140 jobs for Canyon County. In contrast, tourism expenditures stimulate other businesses in addition to the agribusiness linkages of grape and wine production. Thus, only about three-fourths of the current wine production would be required to be sold to out-of-region tourists to equal the impact of the wine and grape industry as an agribusiness industry.

On Oenological Authenticity: Making Wine Real and Making Real Wine