Argentina's wine industry, built on the success of Malbec, now confronts market saturation and shifting consumer tastes, creating a strategic tension between its specialized identity and the need to diversify. This study explores this challenge by analyzing winery perspectives through data from a nationwide survey of 230 wineries, a targeted follow-up with 40 exporters, and in-depth interviews with key industry leaders. Findings suggest that wineries perceive the Malbec-led era of fast growth as over and are cautiously pursuing diversification, revealing a central strain: while operationally satisfied with Malbec, they are investing in change. They strongly favor lower-risk strategies like targeting new consumer markets and developing wine tourism over higher-risk ventures like new terroirs or grape varieties. Despite this caution, there is a notable interest in varietals like Cabernet Franc. A key challenge for the industry appears to be expanding its identity beyond Malbec without diluting its brand, and this paper provides empirical insight into the strategic priorities and perceived risks guiding this crucial transition.

The New Jersey wine industry is an emerging sector with potential. However, it faces challenges that minimize its growth and marketability. This study analyzes the barriers impacting New Jersey’s wine industry, which include persistent negative consumer perceptions, restrictive regulatory frameworks, limited distribution channels, a lack of cohesive regional branding, and digital transformation bottlenecks. Using a mixed-method approach, this research combines in-depth interviews with industry stakeholders, inductive emergent thematic analysis, sentiment analysis, and quantitative data to identify and analyze these issues. The findings illustrate that while stakeholders express frustration over regulatory and logistical constraints, there is optimism for the industry’s future, particularly in areas of quality improvement, sustainable practices, and regional identity-building. Addressing these challenges through strategies, such as quality assurance programs, further state support for extension services, regulatory reforms, collaborative marketing, and firm level digital transformation, can significantly strengthen New Jersey’s wine industry. This study also offers public and private policy recommendations that can support the industry in establishing a solid and competitive presence in the wine market and position New Jersey as a reputable wine-producing region, and applicable frameworks for other emerging wine regions.

Severe climate conditions and fungal diseases have significantly impacted global wine production, reaching its lowest levels in decades. While vineyards struggle with these challenges, the European Green Deal seeks to reduce pesticide use. Developing resilient grape varieties with strong quality standards is essential for the industry's future. This study examines how European producers perceive New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), innovative methods that enhance plant traits without adding foreign DNA, improving grape resistance to environmental and biological stresses while promoting more sustainable production. Employing qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews were conducted across six major wine-producing countries. Thematic analysis revealed a complex and diverse range of opinions. Growers recognized NGTs' potential to optimize resource management, enhance climate resilience, and reduce production costs, directly contributing to more sustainable practices. However, significant barriers were identified, including ethical concerns, consumer acceptance, influenced by misinformation and fear of new technologies, and legislative uncertainties, particularly the EU's regulatory framework. Furthermore, farmers' knowledge gaps and adherence to traditional methods posed internal barriers. The need for transparent communication was highlighted as a critical factor, as well as the importance of addressing these multiple challenges through stakeholder engagement and informed policymaking.

Despite simultaneous declines in global wine production and consumption, international wine trade remained stable in 2024, with export volumes rising by 0.8% and export value falling only slightly by 0.5%. This apparent resilience conceals significant variation across product categories, regions, and markets. Bulk wine exports increased notably, offsetting volume losses in bottled wine, largely driven by heightened production volatility and a growing need for intra-industry trade. At the same time, consumer preferences continued to shift toward white, sparkling, and low- and no-alcohol wines, as confirmed by both trade data and expert assessments. The three leading exporters—France, Italy, and Spain—displayed divergent developments, with Italy outperforming in both volume and value terms, largely due to its strong performance in sparkling wine exports. Italy is briefly presented as a best-practice case, warranting further research into the structural factors behind its long-term export success as a potential model for other wine-producing countries. On the import side, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany followed different trajectories, with the U.S. showing a tentative recovery in 2024, partly driven by anticipatory stockpiling amid fears of renewed tariffs. The escalation of U.S. tariff threats in early 2025 raised serious concerns about long-term trade stability and the role of the U.S. as a reliable export destination—developments that are likely to trigger structural shifts in global wine trade patterns. Industry experts continue to cite economic pressures, declining wine consumption, and increasingly restrictive alcohol policies as key challenges. While the 2024 trade performance may be viewed as a sign of resilience, special factors such as temporary stockpiling and shifting supply chains are expected to weigh on trade outcomes in 2025. These developments underscore the need for continuous monitoring, strategic adaptation, and deeper understanding of the structural transformations affecting global wine trade.

This study examines the "superstar effect" in the wine industry, focusing on whether inclusion in Wine Spectator's Top 100 List leads to sustained price premiums. Using data from Wine-Searcher and Wine Spectator, we analyze wines ranked number one from 2010 to 2021 and the top 10 wines from 2016. The findings reveal that being ranked number one results in an immediate 85% price premium compared to previous vintages. A random-effects GLS regression further demonstrates that the top 10 wines maintain elevated price premiums for up to five years. This research expands the literature on the superstar effect, traditionally explored in entertainment and sports, by illustrating how critical recognition influences long-term pricing in the wine industry. The results offer actionable insights for wine producers and marketers, highlighting how rankings drive consumer behavior and create sustained market advantages.

This study investigates the impact of organizational culture on innovative behavior in small and medium-sized wine enterprises (SMEs) located in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico. Using a non-experimental correlational design, data were collected through structured questionnaires distributed to 45 wine entrepreneurs and producers. The data were analyzed with SmartPLS 14 software to assess the reliability and validity of the proposed theoretical model. The findings indicate a significant relationship between a positive organizational culture and enhanced innovative behavior, highlighting the critical role of internal communication and employee commitment in promoting innovation. The study underscores the importance of a robust organizational culture as a catalyst for innovation in wine-producing SMEs.

In recent decades, the German wine market has undergone significant structural changes due to intensifying competition and shifting consumption patterns. Increased imports and declining exports have pressured German wine estates to adapt for survival. The study explores these long-term trends and structural changes in German wine estates, focusing on those marketing bottled wine. It aims to understand how these businesses have adapted to economic pressures in a highly competitive market from 1993 to 2020, using business panel data and regression analysis for 16 key performance indicators (KPIs). At first (until the financial crisis of 2008) estates benefitted from mechanisation and economies of scale, leading to a significant reduction in labour hours per hectare and moderate increases in wine prices, improving labour productivity and profitability. However, yields declined due to a shift towards lower-yield grape varieties in response to market demand. From 2009 onward, rising labour and material costs as well as stagnating yields started eroding profitability gains, leading to an overall stagnation of long-term profitability. When observing differences in developments between size groups, large wine estates experienced a considerably sharper increase in costs per ha than small to medium sized wine estates, from 2009 onward. Nonetheless, this could be counterbalanced by large wine estates also generating significantly higher productivity increases in the same time period, resulting in a significant increase in profitability for large wine estates from 2009 onward, while small to medium sized wine estates stagnated.

Over the past few decades, Italy’s wine industry has shifted from producing low-value, local wines to a modern sector that meets both domestic and international demand. Despite these achievements, the sector faces challenges such as rising production costs, climate change, and a need for enhanced sustainability, particularly affecting small and medium-sized enterprises . This paper investigates the key determinants of productivity across different farm sizes within the Italian wine sector, emphasizing the role of farm size in shaping financial performance. Using data from the Agricultural Accounting Information Network database (2008-2021), the study employs a random-effects regression model to assess the impact of various structural, management, and control variables on wine farm revenues. Findings highlight that large farms benefit more from mechanization, diversification, and the production of processed products, whereas the productivity of smaller farms is driven by organic farming, direct sales, and agritourism. Furthermore, ownership of land has a negative impact on performance across all farm sizes. EU subsidies consistently enhance productivity for all farm sizes, with a stronger effect for smaller farms. The study concludes that tailored management strategies and access to financial support are crucial for enhancing the economic performance and resilience of wine businesses in Italy, particularly small farms.

The wine industry faces distinctive supply chain challenges, including high product variety, export market fragmentation, and seasonal production, all of which contribute to demand uncertainty. Importantly, this uncertainty is not only externally driven but also amplified by tactical and operational decisions – such as labeling, bottling strategies, and product customization – that increase complexity. This study presents a product classification methodology based on demand behavior to improve decision-making in inventory management. Using a case study of three Chilean wineries located in the Central Valley, we compare the traditional ABC classification – commonly used in ERP systems – with a quantitative model that incorporates demand variability. The proposed approach enables segmenting products according to average demand and variability, offering clearer insights for setting differentiated service levels, inventory policies, and forecasting strategies. The findings show that the demand uncertainty-based classification provides more effective support for supply chain decision-making than conventional methods. The model has also demonstrated applicability beyond finished goods, such as in-process wine and critical inputs like corks and bottles. This research contributes empirical evidence to close the gap between theory and practice, providing a replicable tool for product segmentation in wine and other industries facing demand complexity.

As sustainability concerns increasingly influence agri-food systems, environmental labels have become an important tool for signalling producers’ ecological responsibility to consumers. However, the effectiveness of such labels depends on how they are perceived and valued in specific product contexts. This study investigates consumer preferences for four environmental labels in the wine sector: organic certification, carbon neutral, reduced water footprint, and reduced pesticide use. A discrete choice experiment conducted with 300 Italian wine consumers, combined with latent class analysis, revealed four distinct segments with heterogeneous responses to environmental labels. While one group rejected environmental labels altogether, others displayed selective interest based on the perceived relevance of the label to specific concerns such as health or resource conservation. These findings highlight the need for tailored communication strategies that take into account both consumers’ cultural associations with wine – such as tradition, authenticity, and artisanal value – and their individual priorities, including differing levels of engagement with various aspects of environmental sustainability. In a category as culturally embedded as wine, where tradition, identity, and quality perceptions play a central role, tailored messaging becomes especially crucial to ensure that environmental-labels are understood, trusted, and valued.