Sustainability and Organic Wine Production

Abstract

Recently, there has been considerable interest in organic wine as a result of the increased consumer's awareness regarding health and the environment. Consequently, the number of scientific studies on the quality aspects of organic and conventional wines is increasing, but the results are contradictory. The analysis of research studies on the comparison between organic and conventional wines showed that organic wine has comparable or better nutritional qualities than conventional wine, as most literature reports noted a similar or higher content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity for organic wine. Results on food safety and sensory quality show too much disagreement and are too few in number, respectively, to draw general conclusions on whether organic wine is of better quality than conventional wine. Further research comparing organic and conventional wine quality is strongly recommended. A general positive attitude to pay more for organic wine is observed in European and extra-European countries, mainly for health and environmental reasons but also because consumers are interested in helping producers who adopt these innovations. Moreover, a greater predisposition to pay a higher price for organic wine may be achieved by increasing consumer involvement in sustainability issues through a careful program of information dispersal. Indeed, organic wine has good market prospects, but information barriers are a huge challenge that the wine industry will face in the future.