ABSTRACT The wine landscape is very sensitive to external influences and socioeconomic and environmental changes caused by climate change, requiring special management aimed at preserving both natural and cultural aspects of the landscape. This paper reviews the current situation in the academic work, examining 95 publications on the interaction between wine landscape and climate change, published in Scopus and in Web of Science. QUAL-QUANT methods were used for measuring the coverage of wine-landscape in spatial–temporal dimensions. The results were reviewed under the Theory – Context – Characteristics – Methodology (TCCM) framework. The review identified important gaps in existing research including the need for more cultural elements in landscape analysis and the need for more quantitative research across more broadly defined landscapes/regions to better assess likely economic impacts of climate change and to support the development of response strategies.

ABSTRACT With disruptive technologies being employed in the wine industry, the Metaverse – defined as an interactive, immersive environment that allows users to traverse between virtual and physical worlds, and enables them to interact with digital content and each other in a shared space, transcending the limitations of time, space, and physicality in a more realistic and engaging way – provides evidence of intriguing opportunities to curate more immersive virtual vineyard experiences for consumers. We offer a glimpse of how the Metaverse can revolutionize consumers’ wine tasting experiences. Drawing on extant literature on multisensory wine consumption and different technologies, we provide a comprehensive definition of the Metaverse and propose a VINEYARD framework for academics and practitioners to consider in navigating through the ‘metaversification’ of virtual vineyard experiences. Furthermore, we identify key benefits and potential challenges when incorporating the Metaverse into vineyard management and marketing. Finally, we propose several metrics for practitioners to assess the sustainable development of virtual vineyard experiences in the Metaverse.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the prolonged post-fermentative maceration during the winemaking of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in oak barrels and steel tanks and apply to this purpose a mathematical modelization to better and easily understand the dynamics and phenomena related to this process. The study focused on the time series of phenolic and volatile compounds in wines during the maceration with solid parts and residual components of the alcoholic fermentation, only for anthocyanins and non-anthocyanin flavonoids two mathematical models were proposed. The results showed that solid parts during the post-fermentative maceration phase provided a higher content of polyphenols and total flavonoids in oak barrels and steel tanks. The largest contents of polyphenols and flavonoids were observed in oak barrel trials. Among the anthocyanins in both trials, we have assisted in a decreasing trend in delphinidin-3 glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, petunidin-3-glucoside and peonidin-3-glucoside, with a more accentuated process for the first two molecules in a barrique trial, also acetylated anthocyanins showed a decreasing trend more intense in the barrique trial. Post-fermentative maceration improved the sensory characteristics in terms of intensity, complexity, and persistence at both olfactory and gustatory levels, especially in oak barrel vinification.

ABSTRACT Despite increasing interest in the category, there has been limited consumer-focused research to date around sustainable wines, especially in the Canadian context, despite the importance of consumer perceptions in driving wine purchase behaviour. In this mixed methods online survey of Canadian wine consumers (n = 725), we sought to determine how important sustainability-related cues are in purchase decisions, what beliefs and knowledge consumers possess around sustainable wines, and what are the characteristics of consumers with low and high sustainable wine involvement. Results show that sustainability-related cues are somewhat valued by consumers when making purchase decisions, but have low importance relative to the other cues examined. Environmental dimensions of sustainability have high saliency, in contrast with social and economic dimensions, and a significant minority of respondents report no or very limited knowledge of sustainable wines. Additionally, consumers with high involvement in sustainable wines tend to be younger, better educated, more involved in wine in general, and spend more per bottle than those with low involvement. Our findings support initiatives to develop global frameworks around sustainable wine and educate consumers on sustainable wine practises, as well as offer insights into marketing opportunities to promote this important product category.

ABSTRACT Geochemical fingerprints of grape samples have been defined for 10 cultivars grown in two sampling areas characterized by homogeneous pedological and climate systems in the province of Treviso (northeast Italy). The choice of lithologies was based on the fact that vineyards in Italy frequently grow in both sedimentary soils with various terrigenous carbonate contents and basic volcanic soils. The latter may have high concentrations of heavy metals that are essential for a balanced human diet but can be toxic or harmful if assimilated in excess. To identify possible geochemical tracers within the soil that can be passed to the grapes and possible bioaccumulation of soil-derived elements within the grapes, major and trace elements of the soils, sampled at depths of greater root development, were determined by X-ray fluorescence, and metal concentrations in grape juice were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. All samples were compared with samples collected at two other sites located in the Euganean Hills, in the southern part of the Veneto region, considering that the wines produced in these areas are exported all over the world.

ABSTRACT Member businesses focus on the production of grapes and must, whereas the cooperative entity focuses on wine-making and the marketing of the products. Member businesses can choose between two options. They can either deliver all their grapes to the cooperative (full delivery) or decide to spread their risk by supplying their grapes partially to various buyers besides the cooperative (partial delivery). Numerous wine cooperatives exclude partial delivery by a strict and unexceptional full delivery obligation. However, in practice, many cooperative members apply the partial delivery procedure. Suppose a full delivery obligation is in place; in that case, the cooperative members use various measures such as the legal division or splitting of the member companies to circumvent the full delivery obligation in practice. Even though partial delivery is actively pursued, the procedure is currently not investigated and researched. This paper aims to present the concept of partial delivery and to discuss challenges and opportunities for wine cooperatives if partial delivery is implemented officially.

ABSTRACT This study explores the physiological evolution of entrepreneurship in the Robola PDO wine sector in Cephalonia, Greece, utilizing the Stra.Tech.Man Scorecard as a diagnostic tool. Focusing on micro-firms producing and marketing the Robola PDO wine variety, the research provides insights into the executives’ self-assessments of their strategic, technological, and management adaptation efforts from 2017 to 2021. The findings indicate that these firms exhibit a strong strategic ambition to improve their competitiveness, but encounter obstacles in technology and networking operations, as well as limitations in developing their human resources and their overall management methodologies. Furthermore, the study reveals that the companies’ innovation potential was enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study highlights the potential for developing a sophisticated regional wine brand and underscores the role of innovative entrepreneurs and government support in fostering a competitive and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem.

ABSTRACT This paper provides new evidence on the validity of using expert ratings of wine as a measure of wine quality for predicting the effects of climate change on the wine industry. We used Bob Campbell’s ratings of New Zealand wines to look for a relationship between the ratings and climatic variables that predicts a plausible optimal growing-season temperature for the main wine varieties and wine regions in New Zealand. Such a relationship can be used to forecast the effects of climate change on wine quality to better understand when wineries need to adapt to a warming climate. We used both individual wine ratings and overall vintage ratings, averaged by region and variety from the individual ratings, to compare in a controlled setting their success in predicting plausible optimal temperatures. We find that using the vintage ratings produces substantially more precise and plausible findings than using the individual ratings. We conclude that there is great potential in using vintage data constructed from expert ratings for individual wines for climate change research.

ABSTRACT The Casablanca Valley, which is located in Chile’s central region and is one of the eleven Wine Capitals of the World, presents a most unusual climate among the global wine regions: cold summers (Csc according to the Koppen classification). In this study we explore the relationship between weather and wine quality in Casablanca and we conclude that this relationship is quite different from what has been reported in reference to other wine regions. Specifically, we find that: (a) the weather affects the quality of red wines much more than that of white wines; (b) both, winter season and growing season weather variables play an important role in determining wine quality; (c) humidity and solar radiation also matter; and (d) absolute maximum and minimum temperatures during the grapevine cycle are also important explanatory variables. This is in stark contrast with several previous studies where the average temperature during the growing season and rainfall before the harvest season were found to be the most relevant weather variables to account for wine quality.

ABSTRACT Expert wine reviewers have a niche skill set, with a particular lexicon, that facilitates their evaluation of wines. Novice consumers may find wine reviews intimidating and confusing. In this paper, we use a dataset of nearly 130,000 reviews from expert reviewers at Wine Enthusiast to explore the lexical dimension of wine reviews and determine to what extent reviewers systematically use language differently across various wine price points. Trends reveal that the information needed to make informed wine purchases are provided through the language of wine reviews. Our analysis shows that wine selection does not require a technical understanding of the wine-specific vocabulary of wine experts. We present a review of the literature on wine reviews and form four hypotheses under the theoretical framework of Kahneman’s two systems of thought—suggesting the linguistic properties of wine reviews reveal the price of wine. We examine how the lexical categories; emotional and logical linguistic content; social; and somatic experiences used in wine reviews relate to price. We then suggest the applicability of this analysis to other commodity domains in future research.