tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/wineries-14155/articlesWineries – The Conversation2023-12-21T08:55:07Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2084912023-12-21T08:55:07Z2023-12-21T08:55:07ZNigeria’s plantain wine: a traditional drink with huge economic potential<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542808/original/file-20230815-25-o1drw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Plantain waste can be reduced in Nigeria and used in the production of wine. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/green-and-yellow-plantains-royalty-free-image/1167085854?phrase=Plantain&adppopup=true">Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Agadagidi, a wine made from plantain, is a popular drink at festive occasions in Nigeria. But it’s not always of a high quality. </p>
<p>It is usually produced in the <a href="https://library.faraafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Guidebook-Plantain-production-in-Nigeria-rev.pdf#page=9">southern part of the country</a> in limited quantities because it is difficult to store. Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Enugu, Rivers, Edo, Delta,
Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo states are known for plantain cultivation.</p>
<p><a href="https://office2.jmbfs.org/index.php/JMBFS/article/view/8258">Our study</a> examined ways to improve the production of agadagidi and ultimately create more jobs. </p>
<p>Agadagidi is traditionally produced from overripe plantain by fermenting the juice, known as must, for three days and filtering it thereafter. The juice has a cloudy appearance, is effervescent and has a sweet-sour taste.</p>
<p>Given that plantain is readily available in the country, and imported wines are expensive, we conducted <a href="https://office2.jmbfs.org/index.php/JMBFS/article/view/8258">research</a> to establish if it was possible to make better quality agadagidi. </p>
<p>In Nigeria the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227618302357">agricultural sector</a> employs about 70% of the labour force and contributes about 30% of the national GDP. Smallholder farmers account for almost 90% of the total food production. </p>
<p>But losses due to poor post-harvest practices can reach up to 50% for some fresh food produce. Half of the food that is produced for humans never gets consumed. The country grapples with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227618302357">food insecurity</a> partly due to bottlenecks such as high food losses along its food supply chains. Farmers also lose out on income.</p>
<p>Plantain production <a href="https://knoema.com/data/agriculture-indicators-production+plantains+nigeria">increased</a> from 994,000 tonnes in 1972 to 3.12 million tonnes in 2021. The average production increase is 2.75% which could be a boon to the economy if well managed. </p>
<p><a href="https://office2.jmbfs.org/index.php/JMBFS/article/view/8258">Our study</a> was carried out to optimise the production process to make it safe and of consistent quality. This would be beneficial in a number of ways: it would reduce reliance on imported wine, reduce waste and encourage the production of indigenous wineries, thereby creating jobs and boosting Nigeria’s economy. </p>
<h2>How we conducted our research</h2>
<p>One batch of agadagidi was produced using the traditional method. We also produced agadagidi using controlled fermentation and divided the liquid separated into six batches testing various scenarios using sodium metabisulphite and wine yeast. Some of the samples were pasteurised and some not. </p>
<p>All samples were fermented for three days and dispensed into sterile bottles. </p>
<p>Microbial count, pH and acidity were determined at a weekly intervals for a period of three weeks. </p>
<p>Microorganisms were identified to determine the safety of the products and the consumer acceptability test was also assessed.</p>
<h2>Our findings</h2>
<p>All the unpasteurised samples treated with sodium metabisulphite with or without the addition of wine yeast were acceptable in terms of microbial count, physicochemical properties and consumer acceptability.</p>
<p>Our method could be replicated on a large scale using the same materials we did. It’s also made easier with the abundant plantain in Nigeria. The country can generate more jobs for its teeming young population. Nigeria’s unemployment rate is expected to rise to <a href="https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2023/03/kpmg-global-economic-outlook-h1-2023-report.pdf#page=47">40.6% in 2023 as compared to 2022’s 37.7%</a>, and as high as 43.9% in 2024.</p>
<p>Our findings show that plantain waste can be reduced and used in production of wine. The quantity of imported wine consumed in Nigeria <a href="https://businessday.ng/business-economy/article/nigerias-wine-consumption-hits-record-high-in-2021/">increased</a> from 26.7 to 33.1 million litres from 2015 to 2021. In 2021, Nigeria <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/wine/reporter/nga#:%7E:text=Imports%20In%202021%2C%20Nigeria%20imported,and%20Italy%20(%246.14M).">spent US$116 million on wine imports</a>, becoming the 36th largest importer of wine in the world. </p>
<p>Optimisation of locally produced wine will reduce reliance on imported wine and boost the country’s economy, especially in these days of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/nigeria-central-bank-make-moves-impacting-fx-markets-days-2023-08-14/">scarce foreign exchange</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malomo Adekunbi Adetola receives funding from Carnegie and Dutch Government.</span></em></p>Increasing the quality of a traditional wine sourced from plantain in Nigeria offers a viable way of reducing waste and boosting food security.Malomo Adekunbi Adetola, Lecturer in Food Science and Technology, Obafemi Awolowo UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2129402023-12-11T10:16:12Z2023-12-11T10:16:12ZHow 1930s American scientists came to think about the impact of climate on wine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553527/original/file-20231012-21-jbnzzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C29%2C4912%2C3228&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Depending on the region, rising temperatures can have negative or positive effects on wine quality. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Kohler/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Europe and beyond, the notion of <a href="https://www.brgm.fr/en/news/article/good-land-wine-how-geology-can-influence-quality-wine"><em>terroir</em></a> dominates ideas about the origins of the taste and quality of wine. While there’s intense debate over the term, generally it refers to the specific place where grapes are grown. The concept is largely focused on soil, but also includes the layout of the land and the elements to which it is regularly exposed – sun, rain, wind, seasons, and more. And although climate is seen as being part of the equation, the land upon which grapes are grown is its foundation. As such thinking took root over centuries, it was eventually codified into Europe’s <a href="https://www.inao.gouv.fr/Les-signes-officiels-de-la-qualite-et-de-l-origine-SIQO/Appellation-d-origine-protegee-controlee-AOP-AOC"><em>appellation d’origine contrôlée</em></a> (AOC) system, meaning “registered designation of origin”.</p>
<p>While European immigrants have long grown grapes and made wine around the world, the traditional regions were an ocean away, literally. So what could be done to improve wine quality in these new vineyards and wineries? The situation was particularly dire in the United States after the Prohibition forced many of its winemakers out of business.</p>
<h2>A world away</h2>
<p>After the Prohibition repealed in 1933, two scientists, Albert “Wink” Winkler and Maynard Amerine, launched an effort to revitalise California’s wine industry. Winkler was more of the viticulturalist and Amerine the oenologist, but both shared a passion for grapes, wine, and believed that the state could produce wines that rivalled the best of Europe. Their journey led them to collect vine samples from Fresno in the south to Ukiah in the north and westward to the coast. They planted many of these vines in test vineyards to see how they fared in different climatic regions, in order to advise growers on the best grapes for their plot of land. But vines were not the only bounty they sought.</p>
<p>Winkler and Amerine also collected grapes from willing viticulturalists turning them into a library of more than 500 site-specific wines over a decade. By 1943, they had observed enough seasonal variation in the hundreds of small batches of wines that Winkler and Amerine made and tasted every year to recommend specific grape varieties for specific regions. By expanding the vineyards where they collected grapes, they could both measure and taste the difference between vineyards in regions across California.</p>
<p>Winkler came to an epiphany from their sojourns in California’s vineyards and by analysing the wines these fields produce. The research let him to conclude that climate and regional differences were the most important factors in selecting varietals to produce high-quality wines. He came to this conclusion counter-intuitively.</p>
<p>By thinking about Europe and the idea of a “vintage” versus a “non-vintage” year, he realised the only thing that changed in the vineyard (not the vines, not soil type, not soil quality, not soil drainage) was the weather and, in particular, a vintage year was warmer in places like Bordeaux and Burgundy. He applied this same logic to California as he tasted the same grape in different regions and found some varieties like Zinfandel produced better wines in cooler climates in northern and coastal California while others like Alicante bouchés, which produced sweet wines, fared better in warmer, arguably hot, climates inland and in southern California. This observation had global impact.</p>
<h2>Knowing what to grow</h2>
<p>With Winkler’s development of a heat-based index, he and Amerine advised would-be California wine makers – from Gallo to Mondavi – not just on the varieties they should plant (or pull out) but also which ones would produce the best wines in their particular locations. The <a href="https://winedataresearcher.com/why-the-winkler-index-matters-to-the-wine-world/">Winker Index</a> rapidly transformed not just California vineyards but vineyards across the world as viticulturalists and oenologists paid more attention to the climate. In New World regions, it allowed them to choose varieties that produced wines best suited to the climate, thus improving the overall quality of wine.</p>
<p>But their research had an even deeper impact on varietal selection. Although the Winkler Index measured the temperature across the growing season, it was the taste and aroma of the wines in their wine library that was at the heart of their conclusions. In measuring the <a href="https://oeno-one.eu/article/view/7399">acid/sugar ratio</a> among other compounds in their wines, Amerine and Winkler judged how climate was reflected in the wines they swirled and sipped and how their wines changed over time, especially in years when the weather deviated from the norm.</p>
<p>These early observations on heat and its influence on wine quality allow historians, wine makers, and climate researchers to conclude that not only is the climate warming, but how a warming climate is changing the taste of wine based not just on acid/sugar ratios – though they are – but how hotter, sunnier growing season are increasing sugar in grapes, the alcohol in wine and reducing acidity, throwing wines out of balance. A vineyard that may have consistently produced high-quality wines from the 1930s through the 1990s now produced inconsistent wine.</p>
<p>The opposite can also be true: A region like Bordeaux, which was historically plagued by erratic weather, sometimes losing entire vintages to hail, frost or cold summers, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-change-french-wine-taste-better">now had more consistent yields</a>, smoothing the difference between a vintage and a non-vintage year. Even inexpensive wines in Bordeaux benefited from warmer growing seasons because more grapes fully ripened.</p>
<p>Of course, as the climate warms, that impact has other negative consequences. Hotter weather reduces the acidity of wines making them flat, flabby, or turgid. An example of mitigating low acidity is Bordeaux’s experiment allowing new varieties to be blended into their iconic – and legislated – varieties of reds and whites to increase acidity and rebalance overripe wines.</p>
<h2>Where there’s fire there’s smoke</h2>
<p>An even more difficult and frightening consequence of a warming climate are wildfires. While fires do not always destroy vineyards (grapes are just spheres of water, after all), the smoke can contaminate wine made near wildfires, resulting in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2113327118">smoke-tainted wine</a> – it tastes something like burnt rubber, cigarette ash or other unpleasant flavours. Once smoke has wafted into the vineyard and engulfed ripening grapes, it is impossible to remove. Worse, winemakers cannot tell if the wine will be smoke tainted by tasting the grapes themselves, as fermentation also affects how foul a wine will taste.</p>
<p>Though scientists around the world are trying to find a solution, they still do not understand exactly what makes a wine taste smoke tainted or how to mitigate it. It’s become a growing concern given the rising number of fires in wine-growing regions, including <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/11/us/california-wildfires-wineries/index.html">California</a> in 2020, <a href="https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20210824-provence-wine-producers-weigh-up-losses-after-deadly-wildfires-in-france-ros%C3%A9-french-riviera">France</a> in 2021, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/wildfire-leaves-sense-total-destruction-spanish-winemaker-says-2022-07-21/">Spain</a> in 2022. The same year two wildfires burned more than <a href="https://www.icare.univ-lille.fr/wildfires-in-southwest-france-july-2022/">20,000 hectares of forest</a> in France’s Bordeaux region. Tests indicated that that year’s harvest <a href="https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20220831-bordeaux-wine-harvest-will-not-have-a-smoky-taste-after-summer-wildfires-winemakers-say">shouldn’t be affected</a>, but the coming years promise to be difficult for winemakers.</p>
<h2>Adapting to a changing world</h2>
<p>It is only because Winkler severed the link between wine and terroir that wine growers had the vision to plant and produce world-renowned wine made in places like <a href="https://visitcanberra.com.au/things-to-do/canberras-wine-region">Canberra</a>, Australia; <a href="https://www.winetourism.com/wine-region/mendoza/">Mendoza</a>, Argentina; <a href="https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-sussex">Sussex</a>, England; and <a href="https://www.wineningxia.com/">Ningxia</a>, China.</p>
<p>Given that climate change is already changing the weather in Europe’s wine-growing regions – the ones whose methods and very identity are most closely linked to traditional notions of <em>terroir</em> – research is also seeking to help wine makers adapt to a changing world. It’s a process that’s already taking place, not only in the <a href="https://www.terraview.co/gdd-and-winkler-index-update/">Winkler Index itself</a>, but even in the <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/france-changes-aoc-rules-allow-153919195.html">venerable AOC system</a>. <em>Plus ça change</em>…</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is the result of The Conversation’s collaboration with <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine">Horizon</a>, the EU research and innovation magazine. In February, the authors published an <a href="https://projects.research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/en/horizon-magazine/wine-connoisseurs-face-testing-times-climate-change-alters-flavours">interview with the magazine</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriella Maria Petrick a reçu des financements de EU Horizon 2020 MSCA project number 896298. </span></em></p>While the notion of terroir has long been the foundation of European wine, research in the 1930s in the US began to reveal the link between climate and wine.Gabriella Maria Petrick, Research Fellow Ruhr University Bochum, University of StavangerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054402023-07-18T21:11:35Z2023-07-18T21:11:35ZOur perception of wine has more to do with its commercial history than we think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525691/original/file-20230511-19-w9pz4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C2%2C1905%2C1276&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some of our cultural conceptions of wine, including its authenticity, stem from the commercial nature of the product. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Consumers tend to think of wine as a product of culture and authenticity. Because of this, they see it as distinct from other manufactured commercial goods. </p>
<p>As an agricultural product, we think about wine as linked to a place and sometimes to an individual producer. After that it is considered a historical product rooted in the traditions of a region. And finally, wine is treated as an aesthetic product, in a similar way to the arts, with its key consumers, terminology, prominent producers and specific media attention. </p>
<p>But is wine really distinctive?</p>
<p>In 2021, the <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/09/08/2089700/0/en/Global-Wine-Industry.html">value of the global wine market</a> was over $53 billion, with global production around 260 million hectolitres, the equivalent of 34 billion bottles. Of this, about half is exported and therefore consumed outside its place of origin. The <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/wine-producing-countries">main producing countries</a> by volume are Italy, France, Spain, the United States and Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523623/original/file-20230501-14-4s1z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523623/original/file-20230501-14-4s1z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523623/original/file-20230501-14-4s1z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523623/original/file-20230501-14-4s1z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523623/original/file-20230501-14-4s1z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523623/original/file-20230501-14-4s1z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523623/original/file-20230501-14-4s1z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vineyards in Cafayate, Argentina. The South American country has joined the top five wine-producing countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet wine has been a commercial product for 3,000 years. And paradoxically, many of the cultural ideas which shape how we perceive wine today actually stem from its history as a commercial product. </p>
<p>As an anthropologist and professor in the department of social and public communication at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), I see wine as a cultural object. That is to say, wine carries meanings that are socially constructed and through which both producers and consumers think about it in unconscious ways. </p>
<p>I carried out my first anthropological research fieldwork on wine in Calabria, in southern Italy, in 2000-2001, and have returned there three times. I conducted a second anthropological investigation in British Columbia, in the Okanagan Valley, in 2017-2018. I will present some of the results of this research later in <em>The Conversation</em>. </p>
<p>I am also a wine lover and have been running the website <a href="https://www.sommeliervirtuel.com">sommeliervirtuel.com</a> with my brother Mathieu for over 10 years. Through this activity we have become recognized as wine influencers in Quebec, and I have been able to deepen my knowledge of the wine market and its consumer culture. </p>
<p>In this first article, I demonstrate how some of our cultural conceptions of wine actually arose from the commercial nature of the product. </p>
<h2>The importance of place</h2>
<p>A central element of wine is that it is attached to place. We can talk about a Bordeaux, a Burgundy or a Chianti without having to add that we are talking about wine. Yet as far back as ancient Greece, and later in the Middle Ages, it was different elites that created a market for <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203013267/wine-vine-tim-unwin">wines from recognized, distant regions</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523621/original/file-20230501-344-oupm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523621/original/file-20230501-344-oupm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523621/original/file-20230501-344-oupm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523621/original/file-20230501-344-oupm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523621/original/file-20230501-344-oupm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523621/original/file-20230501-344-oupm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523621/original/file-20230501-344-oupm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tasting a Chianti, in the Chianti region of Tuscany. The name of the region is associated with its flagship product.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, the wine that was produced and consumed locally had no specific identity and <a href="https://www.persee.fr/doc/ahess_0395-2649_1996_num_51_6_410925_t1_1383_0000_000">was considered a common agricultural product among others</a>. </p>
<p>It was through trade, especially over long distances, that the place of origin of wines became important and significant.</p>
<h2>The utopia of terroir versus the realities of trade</h2>
<p>Trade also helps explain why wine production became concentrated in certain regions and not others. </p>
<p>Official speeches (guidebooks, wine books, laws) claim that this is because of the quality of a specific region’s terroir, according to the idea that wine production is concentrated in the places most suitable for quality production. In fact, <a href="http://delbussoediteur.ca/publications/le-vin-comme-performance-culturelle/">trade is what explains how vineyards came to be concentrated in certain regions, but not others</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnrseditions.fr/catalogue/histoire/histoire-de-la-vigne-et-du-vin-en-france/">French geographer and historian Roger Dion</a> has shown how wine production became concentrated in France because of the country’s vanguard position vis-à-vis the markets of northern Europe. He points to how the wine-producing regions were concentrated around rivers, which were essential for the transport of heavy cargoes before the arrival of the train.</p>
<p>So it was actually France’s <a href="https://www.persee.fr/doc/reae_0755-9208_1990_num_17_1_1247">geographical position</a> that explained the <a href="https://www.persee.fr/doc/anami_0003-4398_1989_num_101_187_7467_t1_0335_0000_2">development and historical renown of its wine regions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523619/original/file-20230501-20-g47ltu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523619/original/file-20230501-20-g47ltu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523619/original/file-20230501-20-g47ltu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523619/original/file-20230501-20-g47ltu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523619/original/file-20230501-20-g47ltu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523619/original/file-20230501-20-g47ltu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523619/original/file-20230501-20-g47ltu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vineyards in Saint-Émilion, France. Wine production would be concentrated in France because of the country’s vanguard position vis-à-vis the markets of northern Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historically, regions that specialized in wine production were able to do so because they had the possibility of selling their production in other markets. That’s because a <a href="http://delbussoediteur.ca/publications/le-vin-comme-performance-culturelle/">peasant family could not subsist on wine</a>. The utopic concept of terroir, however, has been used to conceal these origins, attributing <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3631680">the renown of wines to regions and nature, while, historically, their reputations were actually built through trade</a>.</p>
<h2>From agricultural to luxury product</h2>
<p>With the development of wine consumer markets in what were then non-producing countries, such as England, Northern Europe and America, a specific conception of wine emerged. </p>
<p>In these markets, wine was not considered an agricultural product. Wine was a luxury product, reserved for certain social groups. Even when wine spread throughout society, it remained a rare and occasional product. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523630/original/file-20230501-22-fr3cui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523630/original/file-20230501-22-fr3cui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523630/original/file-20230501-22-fr3cui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523630/original/file-20230501-22-fr3cui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523630/original/file-20230501-22-fr3cui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523630/original/file-20230501-22-fr3cui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523630/original/file-20230501-22-fr3cui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wine tasting in Worns, Germany. In the northern European and US markets, wine is still an exceptional product, to be drunk on special occasions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This view of wine remains the dominant one today, even in the wine-producing countries themselves, <a href="https://www.editions-larousse.fr/livre/histoire-sociale-et-culturelle-du-vin-9782035841766">where the habit of daily wine consumption has yielded to one of occasional consumption</a>. </p>
<h2>Bordeaux and the English market</h2>
<p>The case of the Bordeaux region is instructive and has played a key role in the development of several contemporary notions of wine.</p>
<p>The Bordeaux vineyard developed in response to demand from the English and Dutch markets, which, in turn, controlled the region and its trade starting in the 17<sup>th</sup> century. In this context, it was the English market that drove consumers and merchants to pay specific attention to vintages, as well as growths, and the <em>crus</em> of Bordeaux, that is to say the “Châteaux,” such as Ho Bryan (Haut-Brion) or Margose Wine (Margaux) whose first mentions are in English.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523631/original/file-20230501-14-ld7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523631/original/file-20230501-14-ld7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523631/original/file-20230501-14-ld7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523631/original/file-20230501-14-ld7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523631/original/file-20230501-14-ld7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523631/original/file-20230501-14-ld7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523631/original/file-20230501-14-ld7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Château and vineyard in Margaux, in the Bordeaux region. The Bordeaux vineyard developed in response to demand from the English and Dutch, who in turn controlled the region and its trade starting in the 17th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/bordeaux-wine-producer-profiles/bordeaux/1855-bordeaux-classification/">famous classification of Bordeaux wines of 1855, still in force today</a>, was created at the universal exhibition in Paris on the basis of wine prices that were established by the English market.</p>
<p>The emergence of new consumer markets, particularly in Asia, is now putting upward pressure on the wine market and driving up the prices of specific wines from the most sought-after areas or regions. At the same time, <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/geohist/2287?lang=en">China</a> has started to produce and export its own wine, increasing the already strong competition between <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/geocarrefour/13442">different wine-producing regions of the world</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523628/original/file-20230501-18-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523628/original/file-20230501-18-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523628/original/file-20230501-18-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523628/original/file-20230501-18-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523628/original/file-20230501-18-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523628/original/file-20230501-18-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523628/original/file-20230501-18-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A shelf full of wine bottles in a supermarket in Shanghai, China. The country has started producing and exporting wine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Asian markets, wine remains a prestige product, especially as a gift, for example in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/146735840000200405?journalCode=thrb">Japan</a>. If the conceptions of wine so far are mainly Western, perhaps the Asian markets will influence the way we think about wine in the medium or long term.</p>
<p>These are just a few examples of how the commercial nature of wine, through its long history, has influenced our perception of the product. Is wine perhaps hiding its true nature behind the rhetoric of its authenticity? Because objectively, wine is only fermented grape juice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205440/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent Fournier ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Wine has been a commercial product for 3,000 years. Paradoxically, many of the cultural ideas we have about wine today actually come from its commercial history.Vincent Fournier, Professeur au Département de communication sociale et publique, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1996702023-04-17T07:37:39Z2023-04-17T07:37:39ZA newly uncovered ancient Roman winery featured marble tiling, fountains of grape juice and an extreme sense of luxury<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509489/original/file-20230210-15-3v910q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C3630%2C3088&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roman mosaic illustrating a winemaking scene from the fourth century CE at Santa Costanza, Rome</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Dodd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent excavations at the <a href="https://www.parcoarcheologicoappiaantica.it/luoghi/villa-dei-quintili-e-santa-maria-nova/">Villa of the Quintilii</a> uncovered the remains of a unique winery just outside Rome. </p>
<p>The mid-third-century CE building located along the <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=via-appia-geo&highlight=quintilii">Via Appia Antica</a> portrays a sense of opulence and performance almost never found at an ancient production site.</p>
<p>This exciting complex illustrates how elite Romans fused utilitarian function with luxurious decoration and theatre to fashion their social and political status. </p>
<p>I was one of the specialist archaeologists to study this newly excavated site. The details of this discovery are outlined in our <a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.18">new article</a> in Antiquity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509473/original/file-20230210-28-3xlymv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of the excavated winery at the Villa of the Quintilii on the Via Appia Antica, Rome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">S. Castellani</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Villa of the Quintilii</h2>
<p>From names stamped on a lead water pipe, we know the 24 hectare ancient Roman villa complex was owned by the wealthy <a href="https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5487;jsessionid=08B03962E28578BC9834F82C7042559F">Quintilii brothers</a>, who served as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/consul-ancient-Roman-official">consuls</a> in 151 CE. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509478/original/file-20230210-30-299ivd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bust of Commodus in the Glyptothek, Munich.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Roman emperor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Commodus">Commodus</a> had the brothers killed in 182/3 CE. </p>
<p>He took possession of their properties, including this villa, initiating long-term imperial ownership. </p>
<p>The site has been long known for its decorative architecture, including coloured marble tiling, <a href="https://www.museionline.info/roma-musei-e-monumenti/antiquarium-villa-dei-quintili">high-quality statuary</a> recovered over the last 400 years, and a monumental bathing complex.</p>
<p>Less known is an enormous <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Circus.html">circus</a> for chariot racing built during the reign of Commodus. </p>
<p>From 2017-18, during an attempt to discover the starting gates of the circus, the first traces of a unique winery were revealed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unearthing-falerii-novis-secrets-in-the-hot-italian-summer-an-archaeologist-reports-from-the-dig-162527">Unearthing Falerii Novi's secrets in the hot Italian summer: an archaeologist reports from the dig</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A luxury Roman imperial winery</h2>
<p>This large complex was built on top of the circus starting gates, which dates it after the reign of Commodus. </p>
<p>The complex possesses features commonly found in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/719697">ancient Roman wineries</a>: a grape treading area, two wine presses, a vat to collect grape must (the juice of the grapes along with their skins, seeds and stems) and a cellar with large clay jars for storage and fermentation sunk into the ground. </p>
<p>However, the decoration and arrangement of these features is almost completely unparalleled in the ancient world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509485/original/file-20230210-26-lr3txz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial view of the excavated winery at the Villa of the Quintilii. Production areas are at the top (A–D), and the cellar (E) with adjacent dining rooms (F) in the lower half of the image.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by M.C.M s.r.l and adaptation in Dodd, Frontoni, Galli 2023</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nearly all the production areas are clad in marble veneer tiling. Even the treading area, normally coated in waterproof <em><a href="https://www.archaeoreporter.com/en/2021/01/03/the-roman-cocciopesto/">cocciopesto</a></em> plaster, is covered in red breccia marble. This luxurious material, combined with its impracticalities (it is very slippery when wet, unlike plaster), conveys the extreme sense of luxury. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509490/original/file-20230210-23-jhsr36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstructed ancient Roman wine press at the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Dodd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Two immense <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/a-pressing-matter-ancient-roman-food-technology">mechanical lever presses</a> sit either side of the treading area to press the already trodden grape pulp. </p>
<p>The size and scale of these presses working up and down in harmony would have contributed to the theatre of the production process.</p>
<p>The grape juice produced from treading and pressing flowed from these areas into a long rectangular vat, where an impression from a stamp named the short-reigning emperor <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Gordian_Emperors/">Gordian</a> (deposed 244 CE). This confirms a date of construction or renovation. </p>
<p>But it is here the real performance would have begun.</p>
<p>The liquid grape must poured like a striking fountain out of the vat and through a facade around one metre in height that closely resembles a Roman <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/nymphaeum"><em>nymphaeum</em></a> (a monumental decorated fountain). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509481/original/file-20230210-15-aranpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View from the excavated dining room over the cellar with its facade of niches and fountains and up to the raised production areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Dodd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While must flowed out of the three central niches, water flowed out of those on either end and was then channelled back underground through a system of lead pipes.</p>
<p>This niched facade was originally clad in a decorative veneer of brightly coloured white, black, grey and red marble. Some pieces remain attached and more were found loose in the excavated layers.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509482/original/file-20230210-28-6xb7by.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cellar with marble-lined distribution channels and eight buried clay jars reinstated in their original positions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Dodd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A system of thin open white marble channels conveyed the grape must from the facade into an open-air cellar area. </p>
<p>Here it was fed into 16 buried clay jars (<em>dolia defossa</em>) large enough for a person to fit inside. The remains of eight were uncovered during excavations.</p>
<p>Three rooms paved in opulent geometric marble tiling, like those found in other areas of the villa, were arranged around the cellar. </p>
<p>We might imagine the emperor and his retinue reclining, eating and watching the spectacle of production and tasting freshly pressed must.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509475/original/file-20230210-28-4swlsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Geometric coloured marble floor tiling (<em>opus sectile</em>) discovered in one of the dining rooms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">S. Castellani</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Theatrical vintage ritual in ancient Italy</h2>
<p>The only other example like this facility can be found at <a href="https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/53-2/fentress.pdf">Villa Magna</a>, 50 kilometres to the south-east near Anagni. </p>
<p>This similarly opulent marble-clad winery was in use just before the Villa of the Quintilii, from the early second to early third century CE, with an area for dining that enabled a view of the production spaces.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Aurelius-Roman-emperor">Marcus Aurelius</a>’ <a href="http://www.attalus.org/info/fronto.html">letters</a> to his tutor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Cornelius-Fronto">Fronto</a>, we are given a rare glimpse into the activities of Villa Magna around 140-145 CE. He describes the imperial party banqueting while watching and listening to the workers treading grapes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509488/original/file-20230210-25-8fvnpz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roman sarcophagus (ca. 290 CE) illustrating a vintage scene with cherubs harvesting grapes and treading on them in a basin to make wine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Villa Museum, Malibu. Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is likely this formed part of a vintage ritual, tied to the ceremonial opening of the harvest. Perhaps this ritual also occurred at the slightly later Villa of the Quintilii facility.</p>
<p>Lavish marble-clad spaces marked areas fit for the imperial party and the winery was the “theatre” for this sacred performance.</p>
<p>One tantalising question remains unanswered: was the Roman emperor’s spectacular, ritual winery moved in the early third century CE from Villa Magna to the Villa of the Quintilii?</p>
<p><hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pompeii-is-famous-for-its-ruins-and-bodies-but-what-about-its-wine-147011">Pompeii is famous for its ruins and bodies, but what about its wine?</a>
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</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emlyn Dodd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This exciting newly excavated complex illustrates how elite Romans fused utilitarian function with luxurious decoration and theatre to fashion their social and political status.Emlyn Dodd, Lecturer in Classical Studies, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London; Assistant Director of Archaeology, British School at Rome; Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow, Macquarie University, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1748792022-01-24T03:26:26Z2022-01-24T03:26:26ZNatural wines: how are they made and what’s the deal with sulfites? An expert explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440597/original/file-20220113-44941-781wf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C25%2C5599%2C3699&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I was first introduced to natural wines in Paris about 20 years ago. My initial tasting experience did little to convince me this approach to winemaking would survive. Many showed faults reflecting oxidation or yeast- or bacterial-derived odours that smelled “off”.</p>
<p>The natural winemaking strategy has matured dramatically since then and the wines are now making significant <a href="https://www.winemag.com/2020/02/12/best-australian-natural-wine">inroads</a> in Australia. In <a href="https://punchdrink.com/articles/the-best-natural-wine-bars-in-paris">Paris</a> and in <a href="https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/best-natural-wine-france">France</a> generally, natural wines have gone from strength to strength.</p>
<p>The natural wine movement in Australia is being driven by consumers from varied backgrounds who, <a href="https://www.theshout.com.au/news/natural-wine-winning-consumers-with-authenticity-and-truth/">according</a> to one winemaker, demand “transparency and truth around the winemaking process”. Authenticity of the final product is key.</p>
<p>But how are natural wines made, and what makes them “natural”? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-drives-our-wine-choice-taste-or-the-price-tag-35252">What drives our wine choice – taste, or the price tag?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Natural winemaking</h2>
<p>The overall goal in natural wine production is to have <a href="http://bellina-alimentari.com/what-is-natural-wine/">as little human intervention as possible</a> in the journey from the vineyard to the wine.</p>
<p>Grapes must be harvested manually from a vineyard managed by either organic practice or under biodynamic principles (such as those outlined <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1936/Organic_and_Biodynamic_Wines.pdf?1642743103">here</a>).</p>
<p>Once the grapes are crushed, fermentation is carried out by indigenous – sometimes called “wild” – yeasts on the skin of the grapes. In some styles, grape stalks may be included in the ferment.</p>
<p>These practices alone, however, are not unique to the natural winemaking process; they’re sometimes used in production of conventional wines, too. </p>
<p>But in conventional winemaking, a wide range of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-vegan-friendly-wine-vegan-and-hows-it-different-to-conventional-wine-174468">processing aids and additives</a> may be used.</p>
<p>And this is the point of difference: in natural winemaking, no additions are made.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person holds a bunch of red grapes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440802/original/file-20220113-27-ar1gi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Once the grapes are crushed, fermentation is carried out by indigenous - sometimes called ‘wild’ – yeasts on the skin of the grapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Processing aids and additives</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://bellina-alimentari.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AttachmentLineup11.13.jpg">image here</a> demonstrates this clearly. The list of processes and additives decreases markedly as one moves from conventional through organic, biodynamic to natural winemaking.</p>
<p>For natural wines, once the fermentation is finished, the wine is left enclosed for the waste grape material and dead yeast cells to settle before being decanted into clean vessels for bottling. </p>
<p>Some winemakers will use a simple cloth-type filtration to remove larger particles. High-tech filtration techniques, such as membrane or <a href="https://grapeworks.com.au/news/winemaking/filtration-methods-in-winemaking">cross-flow filtration</a>, are not allowed.</p>
<p>The resulting unfiltered wine in bottle will be cloudy. </p>
<p>For a conventionally made wine, this would be a definite marketing negative. But for natural wines, it is the norm.</p>
<h2>On the tricky question of sulfites</h2>
<p>A lot of wines contain a compound called sulfites, which can cause an <a href="https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/other-allergy/sulfite-sensitivity-faq">allergic reaction</a> in some people. In winemaking, they serve to reduce oxidation and limit bacterial growth.</p>
<p>The use of sulfites, also commonly called sulfur dioxide, in natural wines is a point of contention. There are many who refuse to use it, because they see it as an additive. Others argue a small addition to what is already present as a by-product of the fermentation can be beneficial.</p>
<p>Wine expert Isabelle Legeron – the first woman in France to have conferred upon her the prestigious title of Master of Wine – is a great <a href="https://www.rawwine.com/pages/isabelle-legeron">advocate for natural wines</a>. </p>
<p>In 2012, she established the <a href="https://www.rawwine.com/pages/our-story">RAW WINE</a> community to support low intervention winemakers. In her monthly wine <a href="https://www.rawwine.com/shop?menu_open=1&country=AUS">recommendations</a>, Legeron lists those with no added sulfites and those with sulfites <a href="https://www.rawwine.com/pages/charter-of-quality">up to 70 mg/litre</a>, somewhat higher than the more common upper limit of 30 mg/litre.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People pour wine into a glass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440599/original/file-20220113-13-1dei2p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In conventional winemaking, a wide range of processing aids and additives may be used. In natural winemaking, no additions are made.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In France, natural wines are now mainstream. Natural wine has, after many years of debate, been given formal recognition there under the designation “<a href="https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/natural-wine-defined">Vin Méthode Nature</a>”, a strictly defined term now accepted by key government <a href="https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/natural-wine-receives-formal-recognition-vin-methode-nature-435358/">agencies</a> and regulatory bodies.</p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://vinmethodenature.org/le-label/">12-point commitment charter</a> to which winemakers must adhere to obtain the Vin Méthode Nature endorsement. </p>
<p>There is even a sticker that can be affixed to the bottle, one version of which indicates sulfur dioxide has been added to the wine. </p>
<h2>The taste profile</h2>
<p>Natural wines are different in appearance and taste. Although my early experience to these wines was not always favourable, production methods have matured. While many remain cloudy, as they are unfiltered, the palate structure can show the length and depth that I chase when selecting wine.</p>
<p>In 2017, wine media outlet Decanter <a href="https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews-tastings/top-rated-natural-wine-368454">reviewed</a> 122 natural wines. The reviewers’ comments were overall positive, endorsing and reinforcing the place of natural wines in an expanding market.</p>
<p>Natural sparkling wines – commonly referred to Pétillant-Naturel or simply Pet Nat – are one of my favourites. Made by the <a href="https://www.winemag.com/2018/08/07/pet-nat-wine-guide/">ancestral method</a>, fermentation begins in an open tank and, at some point, it is transferred to bottle to finish.</p>
<p>The wine is amazingly refreshing, albeit cloudy and lightly sparkling (about half the pressure of champagne). There is no secondary fermentation and no additives – the yeast is indigenous to the grape. </p>
<p>This is pretty much grapes into wine with minimal human intervention.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/appearance-aroma-and-mouthfeel-all-you-need-to-know-to-give-wine-tasting-a-go-172500">Appearance, aroma and mouthfeel: all you need to know to give wine tasting a go</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Scollary does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The overall goal in natural wine production is to have as little human intervention as possible in the journey from the vineyard to the wine.Geoff Scollary, Adjunct Professor, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1744682022-01-16T18:56:20Z2022-01-16T18:56:20ZWhat makes a vegan-friendly wine vegan? And how’s it different to conventional wine?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439625/original/file-20220106-27-rtlydb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C7527%2C5002&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Consumer <a href="https://www.winemag.com/2021/05/12/vegan-wine-biodynamic-querciabella/">interest</a> in vegan wines is <a href="https://www.wine-business-international.com/wine/analysis/fine-time-be-vegan">growing</a>, with vegan-friendly wines showing up in many supermarkets and Google searches for “vegan wine” <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AU&q=vegan%20wine">soaring</a> in recent years.</p>
<p>But what makes a vegan-friendly wine vegan? And how’s it different to conventional winemaking techniques?</p>
<p>I’m an oenology and chemistry researcher; I’ve spent years studying wine and winemaking processes. To explain the difference between vegan and non-vegan wines, I first need to walk you through the basics of conventional winemaking. </p>
<p>So top up your glass and let’s begin.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Asian woman and Asian man drink a glass of red wine together." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439626/original/file-20220106-19-54k42a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In winemaking, the grape has a long and tortuous path from the vine to the bottle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-putting-a-spoon-in-an-open-bottle-of-champagne-doesnt-keep-it-bubbly-but-there-is-a-better-way-171823">No, putting a spoon in an open bottle of champagne doesn't keep it bubbly – but there is a better way</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How conventional wine is made</h2>
<p>In conventional winemaking, for both <a href="https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/how-is-red-wine-made/">red</a> and <a href="https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/how-is-white-wine-made/">white</a>, the grape has a long and tortuous path from the vine to the bottle. </p>
<p>Red wine fermentation is carried out with the skin on the grape, as this is where the molecules that contribute to colour are found.</p>
<p>Additions and manipulations can be extensive. Yeast is normally added in combination with diammonium phosphate, a source of nitrogen, to ensure a controlled and manageable fermentation.</p>
<p>Enzymes may be added, either to break down pectin (a fibre found in fruits) or to enhance flavour. Malo-lactic fermentation – where the grape’s malic acid is converted to lactic acid – is common in red wine and also used in some white wine styles. </p>
<p>Gross lees (waste yeast) can be removed by “racking” – which means moving wine from one vessel to another – while the smaller fine lees are removed by filtration. </p>
<h2>Finishing the wine prior to bottling</h2>
<p>Wines are routinely tasted prior to bottling. It’s often at this stage a decision is made the young wine may need adjustment to the palate structure.</p>
<p>For example, a wine may have an obvious drying effect in the mouth, known as astringency, or exhibit a slightly bitter aftertaste. This can happen when the amount of polyphenolic compounds – micronutrients that naturally occur in plants –are higher than preferred.</p>
<p>In red wine, polyphenolic compounds are commonly called tannins; these are macromolecules made up of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms. The molecules are much smaller in white wine and, in that context, are usually referred to simply as “phenolic compounds”.</p>
<p>Phenolic compounds interact with proteins. Think of putting milk into a cup of strong black tea to soften the taste and give a more rounded, less bitter taste.</p>
<p>Winemakers will add one of the <a href="https://www.wineaustralia.com/labelling/additives-and-processing-aids">permitted protein additives</a> after setting up a tasting trial to assess the right amount of protein to be added. This process is known in the business as “fining”.</p>
<h2>Now here’s the problem for vegans</h2>
<p>This is where things get problematic for vegans.</p>
<p>The commonly used proteins are gelatin sourced from cow or pig collagen, isinglass (from fish swim bladder), egg white or skim milk. </p>
<p>Each protein tends to have specific fining ability, and winemakers make decisions on which to use based on <a href="https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/frequently_asked_questions/fining_agents/">experience or advice</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A winemaker tests wine in a factory." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439627/original/file-20220106-27-1aefa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wines are routinely tasted prior to bottling. It’s often at this stage a decision is made the young wine may need adjustment to the palate structure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia has comprehensive rules regarding wine labelling, including the need to specify <a href="https://www.wineaustralia.com/labelling/domestic-labelling">allergens</a>.</p>
<p>This includes milk and eggs, but not the other animal-derived fining proteins. This can cause considerable uncertainty when selecting wines that are vegan-friendly.</p>
<p>Some wine labels now have a statement such as “this wine has been treated with fish product and traces may remain”.</p>
<p>Increasingly in Australia and especially in Europe, wines are now often labelled as “vegan-friendly” or “no animal products were used in the preparation of this wine”. </p>
<h2>What are the alternatives to animal proteins?</h2>
<p>Proteins derived from plants would appear to be an obvious alternative but, for now, most work on plant proteins is still in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24112186">research stage</a>. Only <a href="https://www.enartis.com/en-us/news-trends/plant-based-fining-agents-free-of-animal-proteins/">one from potatoes</a> is commercially available.</p>
<p>Gluten from cereals is effective in red wine, but presents obvious problems for those with coeliac disease or gluten allergies.</p>
<p>Grape seed extract is perhaps the most effective plant-based protein that has been trialled but it’s not commercially available. Obtaining regulatory approval across international markets is a significant barrier to the commercialisation of new products for use in wine.</p>
<p>Storing a wine on its fine lees (meaning the wine is aged in contact with its fine lees) after removal of the gross lees is one alternative to using animal proteins in winemaking. This can soften a wine and enhance the mouthfeel without the use of additives. </p>
<p>White wines can be stored on fine lees for nine months before bottling. Reds can take up to 18 months to obtain the desired mouthfeel. </p>
<p>Regular tasting during this ageing step is essential to ensure the wine is developing as desired. It is a somewhat expensive process as it ties up storage vessels and winery space.</p>
<h2>The taste test</h2>
<p>At a recent tasting of organic and biodynamic wines, some I presented were made by the conventional method, while others met the vegan-friendly criterion. The general comment after the tasting was: I couldn’t tell the difference.</p>
<p>Pairing vegan-friendly wines with food is not restricted to vegan-friendly food. In one classic example, a vegan-friendly sweet wine from the Loire Valley in France was also described as “excellent with foie gras”.</p>
<p>My advice is to explore with an open mind and enjoy the new experience.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cardboardeaux-bag-in-box-and-goon-why-australias-love-affair-with-boxed-wine-endures-171484">Cardboardeaux, bag-in-box, and goon: why Australia's love affair with boxed wine endures</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174468/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Scollary does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To explain the difference between vegan and non-vegan wines, I first need to walk you through the basics of conventional winemaking. So top up your glass and let’s begin.Geoff Scollary, Adjunct Professor, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1718232021-12-30T19:16:05Z2021-12-30T19:16:05ZNo, putting a spoon in an open bottle of champagne doesn’t keep it bubbly – but there is a better way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433846/original/file-20211125-25-1f9sj9i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=862%2C0%2C2706%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wes Mountain/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a recent tasting, I was presenting some sparkling wines from the Limoux region of France, a region that produced sparkling wines at least 100 years before wines from the Champagne region were well known. </p>
<p>Towards the end, I commented that if the bottle is not empty, seal it with a sparkling wine stopper and store it in the refrigerator. The response was: “Why bother to seal it? Just put a spoon in the neck.”</p>
<p>I was somewhat surprised. Although I had heard it suggested previously, I did not think anyone took the idea seriously. </p>
<p>The fact is, it’s a myth to say a spoon in an open bottle of sparkling wine keeps it bubbly. You’re better off buying a proper stopper.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A champagne stopper in a bottle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432293/original/file-20211116-19-4yk0mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If you need to store a partly-used bottle, go and buy a proper sparkling wine stopper.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vineyard-tourism-is-a-big-source-of-carbon-emissions-want-to-help-then-buy-more-wine-164600">Vineyard tourism is a big source of carbon emissions. Want to help? Then buy more wine</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Minimising contact between wine and oxygen</h2>
<p>From my years researching wine chemistry and wine oxidation, I know minimising contact between wine and oxygen is vital for stopping the onset of oxidative spoilage. Sealing the bottle is essential.</p>
<p>The carbon dioxide in sparkling wine is more soluble in wine at a lower temperature, so storing the wine in the refrigerator is also beneficial. In other words, you’ll retain more bubbles if you stick it in the fridge.</p>
<p>Some even claim the teaspoon must be <a href="https://www.thekitchn.com/can-a-silver-spoon-keep-champagne-bubbly-i-decided-to-find-out-200505">silver</a>, not stainless steel, although the basis for this seems highly speculative. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People clink champagne glasses together at a party." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432294/original/file-20211116-21-ohsx2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If you plan to keep your leftover sparkling wine, store it properly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bubble behaviour</h2>
<p>It is important to note some of the critical features of sparkling wine bubbles. </p>
<p>In his book <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/uncorked-gerard-liger-belair/book/9780691158723.html">Uncorked: The Science of Champagne</a>, champagne researcher <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gerard-liger-belair-141973">Gérard Liger-Belair</a> demonstrated the amount of carbon dioxide lost depends on the way the wine is poured into the glass.</p>
<p>Pouring into a tilted glass retains more carbon dioxide than pouring into a vertical glass. Using bubble imaging techniques, Liger-Belair was able to track the flow of the bubbles in a glass. </p>
<p>He separately showed the bubbles are in fact aerosols (a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air) containing aroma compounds that affect the taster’s impression. The release of bubbles even depends on the inside surface of the glass.</p>
<p>Bubble behaviour is therefore complex. Any study on them needs to be replicated to ensure one is measuring a real effect and a one-off.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person pours champagne into a tilted glass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434052/original/file-20211126-1794-1qv57en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The release of bubbles even depends on the inside surface of the glass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A key study on ‘the myth of the teaspoon’</h2>
<p>One such <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1877/Valade_et_al.pdf?1638229505">study</a> on champagne by Michel Valade and colleagues was published in the periodical Le Vigneron Champenois in 1994. </p>
<p>The work, titled <em>Le mythe de la petite cuillère</em> – the myth of the teaspoon – was designed to address the claim that a teaspoon, preferably a silver one, could (according to my translation):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>defy all the laws of physics and possess some legendary efficiency to protect the bubbles escaping from an open bottle.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These researchers used three strategies to assess the impact of bubble conservation on the wine: the change in pressure, the loss of weight and sensory analysis. </p>
<p>After opening, the wine was decanted, leaving 500 millilitres in one set and 250 millilitres in a second set.</p>
<p>The wines were then stored at 12°C with four methods to conserve the bubbles: open bottle, silver teaspoon, stainless steel teaspoon, cork stopper (which uses a hermetic seal) and crown seal (a metal lid with crimped edges, like you often see on a beer bottle). Each approach was performed in triplicate.</p>
<p>The researchers then analysed how pressure inside the bottle changed (measured in a unit called atmospheres; 1 atmosphere is about 101 kilopascals). The initial bottle pressure was 6 atmospheres, dropping after decanting to 4 atmospheres when there was 500 millilitres remaining. When only 250 millilitres remained, the pressure was just 2 atmospheres.</p>
<p>After 48 hours storage, the pressure in open bottles and those with a teaspoon inserted in the neck had dropped by a further 50%, indicating a significant loss of bubbles. </p>
<p>Clearly there was no teaspoon effect. Those sealed with a cork stopper or crown seal had a pressure drop of only 10%, demonstrating the significant advantage of using a proper closure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An open champagne bottle emits fizz and gas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432292/original/file-20211116-13-zomvf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The source of bubbles in sparkling wine is the carbon dioxide released during the secondary fermentation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These researchers also measured the change in the weight of bottles stored three different ways: fully open, tightly sealed or with an inserted teaspoon.</p>
<p>No decrease in weight was observed for the tightly sealed bottles. But for the fully open bottles and those with a teaspoon in the neck, the loss in weight was significant.</p>
<p>To finalise the evidence to dispel the myth of the teaspoon, the wines were subjected to sensory analysis by expert champagne tasters.</p>
<p>All wines showed some characteristics of oxidation, due to oxygen getting in during opening. However, those sealed with a hermetic seal were clearly more effervescent and livelier than those unsealed or with an inserted teaspoon.</p>
<p>Clearly, the teaspoon effect is a myth.</p>
<p>So, if you need to store a partly-used bottle, go and buy a proper sparkling wine stopper.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pass-the-shiraz-please-how-australias-wine-industry-can-adapt-to-climate-change-140024">Pass the shiraz, please: how Australia's wine industry can adapt to climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Scollary has received funding from Wine Australia.
I have discussed bubble behaviour with Gerard Liger-Belair at conferences and have written about his work for Chemistry in Australia</span></em></p>From my years researching wine chemistry and wine oxidation, I know making every attempt to minimise contact between wine and oxygen is vital. Sealing the bottle is essential.Geoff Scollary, Adjunct Professor, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1646002021-08-03T20:08:15Z2021-08-03T20:08:15ZVineyard tourism is a big source of carbon emissions. Want to help? Then buy more wine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414271/original/file-20210803-27-fuwomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C12%2C4205%2C2809&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a non-COVID year, Australia’s vineyards host more than eight million wine tourists. While these visitors benefit wine producers and regional communities, they also generate a substantial amount of greenhouse gases.</p>
<p>If fact, our recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2021.1903018?journalCode=rsus20">research</a> showed tourist visits to vineyards comprise more than one-third of the industry’s total carbon footprint. </p>
<p>Wine tourism – also called “cellar door” visits – involves visiting vineyards, wineries, wine festivals and events to taste, drink and buy wine. </p>
<p>The Australian wine industry has already been forced to adapt to the effects of climate change. If it fails to curb emissions associated with wine tourism, the industry is contributing to its own demise.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="tourists at wine tasting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414270/original/file-20210803-13-1h1k12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414270/original/file-20210803-13-1h1k12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414270/original/file-20210803-13-1h1k12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414270/original/file-20210803-13-1h1k12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414270/original/file-20210803-13-1h1k12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414270/original/file-20210803-13-1h1k12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414270/original/file-20210803-13-1h1k12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Wine tourism accounts for one-third the industry’s carbon footprint.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Temperature change and ‘terroir’</h2>
<p>In 2019, wine tourism contributed <a href="https://www.wineaustralia.com/getmedia/34d4f68c-c8e9-4625-a078-bdaf197c09ef/AgEconPlus-Gillespie-Economic-Contribution-Wine-Report-2019.pdf">A$9.3 billion</a> to the Australian economy – creating more jobs and economic output than any other part of the industry. It promotes exports and provides vital financial support for small winemakers and family farms that rely on cellar door sales to visitors. </p>
<p>When wine tourists aren’t in vineyards and tasting rooms, they often visit local restaurants, as well as cultural attractions such as museums, concerts and festivals.</p>
<p>Wine tourism gives travellers the chance to experience a region’s “terroir” – the particular geology, landscape, soil and climate that come together to make a region’s wine special.</p>
<p>Wine grapes however are particularly <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/22/7-industries-at-greatest-risk-from-climate-change.html">susceptible</a> to temperature changes. In fact, the wine industry has been <a href="https://winetitles.com.au/199176-21">described as</a> “the canary in the coal mine” for the way climate change will affect agriculture.</p>
<p>In Australia, winemakers have already been forced <a href="https://www.wineaustralia.com/growing-making/environment-and-climate">to adapt</a> to heatwaves, drought, increased fire risk and salinity.</p>
<p>Previous <a href="https://theconversation.com/pass-the-shiraz-please-how-australias-wine-industry-can-adapt-to-climate-change-140024">research</a> commissioned by Wine Australia has found global warming will bring many changes to the industry. For example, Australian winemakers may struggle to grow cool-climate varieties such as chardonnay and pinot noir.</p>
<p>Despite the industry’s vulnerability, the environmental sustainability of wine tourism is rarely addressed by either the industry or the academic literature. Our recent research sought to close this knowledge gap.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tourism-desperately-wants-a-return-to-the-old-normal-but-that-would-be-a-disaster-154182">Tourism desperately wants a return to the 'old normal' but that would be a disaster</a>
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<img alt="people clink wine glasses" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414272/original/file-20210803-17-zfclp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414272/original/file-20210803-17-zfclp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414272/original/file-20210803-17-zfclp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414272/original/file-20210803-17-zfclp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414272/original/file-20210803-17-zfclp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414272/original/file-20210803-17-zfclp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414272/original/file-20210803-17-zfclp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The wine industry is susceptible to climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Our findings</h2>
<p>Past research into the wine industry’s carbon footprint has examined factors such as the emissions created by shipping the wine in heavy <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652614001905">glass bottles</a>. </p>
<p>Our research examined wine tourism activities that create carbon emissions, such as those associated with transport, accommodation, food and shopping. We traced how much wine tourists spend on the journey and the energy required to produce those services. We then allocated a share of total emissions to cellar door visits. </p>
<p>We found Australian wine tourism generates 790,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emisisons each year – one-third of the industry’s total carbon footprint. This translates to an average 101 kilograms of carbon emissions per winery trip, per person.</p>
<p>Domestic overnight wine tourists contributed the majority of environmental impacts (82%). However, due to their higher spending at wineries, their carbon emissions were lower than that of travellers from overseas when measured per dollar of spending.</p>
<p>We estimate <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2021.1903018?journalCode=rsus20">one-quarter</a> of wine tourists in Australia come from overseas, and long-haul flights form around 75% of international wine tourism’s carbon footprint. </p>
<p>Because of factors such as shorter flights, visitors from countries nearer to Australia – such as New Zealand, Hong Kong, China and Singapore – produce 20-40% fewer emissions per dollar spent than visitors from the United States and the United Kingdom. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/major-airlines-say-theyre-acting-on-climate-change-our-research-reveals-how-little-theyve-achieved-127800">Major airlines say they're acting on climate change. Our research reveals how little they've achieved</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="woman holds grape in vineyard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414273/original/file-20210803-21-1t7lu6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414273/original/file-20210803-21-1t7lu6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414273/original/file-20210803-21-1t7lu6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414273/original/file-20210803-21-1t7lu6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414273/original/file-20210803-21-1t7lu6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414273/original/file-20210803-21-1t7lu6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414273/original/file-20210803-21-1t7lu6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Wine tourists from countries closer to Australia produce fewer emissions per dollar spent than those from the US or UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Stock up at the cellar door</h2>
<p>Given the emisisons associated with international wine tourism, Australian wineries should target visits by domestic tourists. This would benefit both the environment and regional economies starved of international visitors during the pandemic.</p>
<p>In terms of overseas travellers, the Australian wine industry should target short-haul markets such as China, Japan and Singapore. This would reduce the industry’s reliance on tourists travelling to Australia on emissions-intensive long-haul flights.</p>
<p>Many of us will be wine tourists at some point – perhaps for an afternoon, overnight or even on an overseas trip to a famous wine region. So what can you do about your carbon footprint?</p>
<p>Visit accredited wineries that commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. And while you’re there, buy more bottles than you might have otherwise.</p>
<p>The typical Australian wine tourist buys <a href="https://wineaustralia.com/getmedia/4e3bcf75-3e9c-4817-a901-a853aa103ce7/201501_Cellar-door-research-study-interim-report.pdf">three or four bottles</a> at the cellar door. Why not make it a half dozen or more? A trip in which you buy ten bottles is more environmentally friendly than ten trips where you buy one bottle each time. And join the wine club for direct shipping.</p>
<p>Our cellar door purchases can also boost the bottom lines of wineries and enable them to invest in environmental sustainability. Few virtuous acts taste as good.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pass-the-shiraz-please-how-australias-wine-industry-can-adapt-to-climate-change-140024">Pass the shiraz, please: how Australia's wine industry can adapt to climate change</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian wine industry has already been forced to adapt to the effects of climate change. It must reduce its carbon footprint – including emissions generated by wine tourists.Ya-Yen Sun, Senior Lecturer, The University of QueenslandDonald L. Drakeman, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1627932021-06-17T16:45:23Z2021-06-17T16:45:23ZHow Bordeaux winemakers are setting their prices after the pandemic<p>After a nightmare year for French vineyards, in which the pandemic saw revenues plunge and winemakers forced to send their unsold wine to distilleries, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/world/europe/france-alsace-wine-coronavirus.html">sometimes to be turned into hand sanitiser</a>, the sector is trying to bounce back.</p>
<p>In Bordeaux, the epicentre of the global fine wine market, the wine harvested during that difficult time has just been through its <em>en primeur</em> campaign, often known as “wine futures” in English.</p>
<p>The <em>en-primeur</em> system dates back to the 18th century, and was modernised in the 1970s to resemble what we know today. Similarly to futures on financial markets, it allows producers to sell their wine while it is still in the barrel. The wine is then finished, bottled and delivered to customers around two years later.</p>
<p>This campaign is run as a finely organised system. Every year, over a week in spring, wine experts will come to Bordeaux to taste the wines and publish their notes and scores. This is followed by a two-month period during which each chateau sells its wine to consumers via an intricate system of brokers, traders and merchants.</p>
<p>This well-oiled machine is nevertheless subject to much uncertainty, which goes beyond the current pandemic. That’s because <em>en-primeur</em> sale involves an unfinished vintage of uncertain quality released into an unknown future economy.</p>
<p>How do wine sellers put a value on this unfinished wine? And what is a fair price for a vintage like 2020? We built an economic model to simulate reasonable release prices for the current campaign.</p>
<h2>Previous campaigns</h2>
<p>In Bordeaux, demand and, therefore, prices depend mainly on quality and less on quantity. Following a price decline between 2011 and 2016, the Bordeaux market rebounded in 2016 due to a great 2015 vintage. This was followed by an even better 2016, for which prices increased substantially but not excessively.</p>
<p>In 2017, vineyards were hit by a <a href="https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/opinion/news-blogs-anson/bordeaux-wine-frost-2017-vintage-383633/">severe frost</a> which caused a 40% drop in the wine harvest. Lower quantities encouraged châteaux to maintain prices close to 2016 despite the quality. Poor sales thus unsurprisingly characterised the 2017 <em>en-primeur</em> campaign.</p>
<p>The 2018 vintage, sold as exceptional, saw significant increases, even though price levels were already very high. While the quality should have generated solid demand, this was not the case – the fault of the châteaux for being too greedy.</p>
<p>Last year, the pandemic and associated lockdowns almost led to the cancellation of the <em>en-primeur</em> campaign for the 2019 vintage. In the end, a postponed, shortened version took place. Perhaps surprisingly, and thanks to exceptional quality and reasonable prices, it was a success.</p>
<p>The pandemic forced the châteaux to make an effort on prices. Here lies the difficulty of this market: sellers had to lower prices to ensure a successful campaign while also being careful not to send too strong a signal to the market at the risk of making the many wines of 2017 and 2018 that were still available unsellable.</p>
<h2>Back to normal?</h2>
<p>The 2020 vintage benefits from more favourable external conditions than 2019, but it is hard to speak of normality yet. This year, tastings took place remotely with samples sent to experts around the world. Tasters and producers met on video calls.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, restaurants in France were completely closed between October 2020 and June 2021, and are only just getting back into business. Uncertainty about the economic recovery remains high.</p>
<p>Still, the situation has improved since last year, fine wine prices have remained solid, and the quality of the 2020 vintage looks excellent. There will be a few great wines that will be the market’s main focus when they are released. But we do not know how the market will react to this unique succession of three excellent vintages in a row. This is unprecedented and raises the question of the market’s capacity to absorb such a considerable volume of high-quality wine so quickly.</p>
<h2>How to determine a fair price</h2>
<p>In a forthcoming study, we proposed a model to estimate the fair price of 69 prestigious Bordeaux wines at the time of their release. The approach considered is based on the principle that prices on the primary markets (<em>en-primeur</em>) and secondary markets (bottles from past vintages) cannot be substantially different.</p>
<p>The model includes variables measuring the economic situation, the quality of the vintage and of the wine concerned, and its volatility (some wines have stable prices whereas others fluctuate strongly).</p>
<p>Below we use this model to estimate the fair prices of these wines for the 2020 vintage and compare them to those already released in the <em>en-primeur</em> market before June 7. The model allows us to explain around 80% of the price variations of these wines.</p>
<p>The model suggests that a price stabilisation relative to the 2019 vintage would be reasonable. And considering the exceptional circumstances surrounding the release of the 2019 vintage, a slight increase (in the order of 5% to 10%) in prices over 2020 compared to 2019 would seem logical.</p>
<p>This table shows the fair release prices – according to our model – and contrasts them with the actual prices for wines, both in euros. All but one of the wines were released at prices above what the model predicts. But the differences are often reasonable.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing Bordeaux wine prices predicted by economic models, and those set by châteaux" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406520/original/file-20210615-19-1p5y7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, Philippe Masset</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<p>Yet some wines seem very expensive compared to our model’s prediction, including Château La Mondotte from the famous Saint-Emilion region and Léoville-Barton and Lagrange from Saint-Julien. Some wines that had drastically lowered their prices last year have not increased much this year. This is the case of Malartic-Lagravière in Pessac-Léognan, which, after a drop of more than 20% last year, is content with a 9% increase this year.</p>
<p>At this stage, most of the price increases for the 2020 vintage remain moderate, which is consistent with the model. It suggests that the most significant price increases relative to the 2019 vintage should not exceed 10%, except for a few wines such as rare Pomerols and some of the first growths.</p>
<p>Of the wines that have already finished the <em>en-primeur</em> campaigns, some have increased their prices beyond the suggested threshold. Early market signs suggest that the increases are excessive and have reduced demand for these wines.</p>
<p>With the influx of great vintages in Bordeaux and elsewhere in Europe, it would be wise for those chateaux yet to release their prices not to be overly greedy and maintain attractive prices to ensure a successful campaign. This would be the best way to bring Bordeaux bouncing back after the pandemic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>We built an economic model to predict the prices of the 2020 vintage in France’s most prestigious wine region – here’s what we found.Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, Associate Professor of Finance, École hôtelière de Lausanne, Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale (HES-SO)Philippe Masset, Professeur associé, Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale (HES-SO)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1553932021-04-06T16:57:00Z2021-04-06T16:57:00ZWomen empowerment and peer support in the wine industry: community and resilience<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391138/original/file-20210323-2323-1me0vxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C96%2C4608%2C3111&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lismore Estate, Greyton, South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether they are winemakers, winery owners, cellar managers or sommeliers, women entrepreneurs are increasingly entering the wine industry, evolving in this traditionally masculine world. This trend is noticeable in both the old world and new world wine-producing countries. </p>
<p>Over the last three years, we conducted <a href="https://www.forbes.fr/femmes-at-forbes/les-femmes-entrepreneures-dans-le-monde-du-vin-entre-adaptation-et-creativite/">several studies</a> and <a href="https://www.em-strasbourg.com/fr/actualites/les-femmes-entrepreneurs-dans-le-monde-du-vin">conferences</a> in South Africa and France that provided a range of observations and analysis.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390592/original/file-20210319-15-jg5blh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390592/original/file-20210319-15-jg5blh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390592/original/file-20210319-15-jg5blh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390592/original/file-20210319-15-jg5blh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390592/original/file-20210319-15-jg5blh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390592/original/file-20210319-15-jg5blh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390592/original/file-20210319-15-jg5blh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Irène de Fleuriot Waller of La Bri Estate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>In South Africa’s Cape region, we discovered the importance given by women in the wine industry to promoting the social and economic development and integration of less-educated women. One example is Irène de Fleuriot Waller, from <a href="https://www.labri.co.za/">La Bri Estate</a> in Franshhoek, who employs a team of women in her boutique. </p>
<p>Samantha O'Keefe, owner of <a href="https://www.lismore.co.za/">Lismore Estate</a> in Greyton, always hires women for specific times and tasks during the harvests. In so doing, they contribute to the economic integration and empowerment of women in South Africa. Another example is Hanneli Smit, founder of <a href="https://vinlab.com/">VinLab</a>, who employs and manages a woman-only team. For her, this choice is simpler.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390594/original/file-20210319-17-xr0qqy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390594/original/file-20210319-17-xr0qqy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390594/original/file-20210319-17-xr0qqy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390594/original/file-20210319-17-xr0qqy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390594/original/file-20210319-17-xr0qqy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390594/original/file-20210319-17-xr0qqy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390594/original/file-20210319-17-xr0qqy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Samantha O'Keefe - Lismore Estate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a 2016 study on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319342707_An_understanding_of_peer_support_in_an_effectual_entrepreneurial_process_case_of_French_wine-entrepreneurs">entrepreneurs in the French wine industry</a>, we found that collaboration and peer support plays an important role. Those interviewed collaborate and partner with multiple stakeholders, enhancing the development of their business. In particular, they built links with those who share a common identity as well as similar practices and/or geographical proximity. Peer support is based on sharing experiences, practices, common and complementary knowledge.</p>
<p>Working with other wine entrepreneurs allows them to generate ideas that they would not have had otherwise. More specifically, women in the wine industry rely on shared communities such as <a href="http://www.divinesdalsace.com/">DiVINes d’Alsace</a>. Céline Metz of <a href="http://hubertmetz.com/the-estate/">Hubert Metz Estate</a> says: “Collaborations and exchanges allow us to gain agility and reactivity”. These communities favour mutual assistance, creating synergies. These “entrepreneurial collaborations” often transform themselves into long-term bonds that benefits all, as highlighted Christina Augarde from Château Peyrelongue: “Entrepreneurship is a collective job”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390652/original/file-20210319-13-1iwdcol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390652/original/file-20210319-13-1iwdcol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390652/original/file-20210319-13-1iwdcol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390652/original/file-20210319-13-1iwdcol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390652/original/file-20210319-13-1iwdcol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390652/original/file-20210319-13-1iwdcol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390652/original/file-20210319-13-1iwdcol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ronell Wiid, Bartinney.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Uncertainty as a driver of adaptation</h2>
<p>With diverse backgrounds, women wine entrepreneurs create their projects based on their personal identity and personality. They build on their assets and rely on skills acquired during their studies and/or previous professional achievements, thus opening themselves to the field of possibilities. </p>
<p>Uncertainty is inherent to wine business but it is considered by women wine entrepreneurs, both in France and in South Africa, as a springboard for their entrepreneurial project development. Nature is sometimes unpredictable but Nadia Barnard, winemaker at the <a href="https://www.waterkloofwines.co.za/wines/">Waterkloof Estate</a> in Somerset West focuses on simple aspects: being present, and tasting the wine. </p>
<p>As Carla Pauw, founder of <a href="https://saltarewines.co.za/">Saltare Wines</a>, says: “You have only one chance in a year to make the wine and it takes time. Control what you can”. </p>
<p>Uncertainty can be uncomfortable, but as points out Christina Augarde of <a href="https://en.chateaupeyrelongue.fr/">Château Peyrelongue</a> in Saint Emilion: “It should not be seen as an obstacle in itself, but a driving force for adaptation”. This allows women wine entrepreneurs to unlearn habits and be able to evolve toward new ways of working and thinking.</p>
<h2>Work-life balance: international similarities</h2>
<p>Work-life balance can be difficult in the wine industry since personal and professional space can be intermingled – wine entrepreneurs often live on their estates, after all. The overall objective for those interviewed, in both France and South Africa, is to find some kind of balance – even if this balance does not mean the same for all women. </p>
<p>Those interviewed said that they often struggle to find time for themselves, between their professional responsibilities and personal time. This is what is shared by Ntsiki Biyela, founder of <a href="https://www.aslinawines.com/">Aslina Wines</a>: “It is a necessity to take time for ourselves, even if it’s not simple”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390595/original/file-20210319-13-ut4f13.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390595/original/file-20210319-13-ut4f13.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390595/original/file-20210319-13-ut4f13.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390595/original/file-20210319-13-ut4f13.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390595/original/file-20210319-13-ut4f13.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390595/original/file-20210319-13-ut4f13.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390595/original/file-20210319-13-ut4f13.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ntsiki Biyela of Aslina Wines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some women we met, wine is a family story: Jocelyn Hogan Wilson started <a href="https://hoganwines.co.za/">Hogan Wines</a> with her father and took a sabbatical year when she had her second child. Says Nina-Mari Bruwer: “The more you do, the more you get done”, meaning that, as a working mother of two and co-owner of a winery, you always have something to take care of. Her father owned a cellar and her husband is the sixth generation of Mont Blois winery in Robertson. </p>
<h2>Resilience, creativity and innovation</h2>
<p>Women wine entrepreneurs are also able to assess what they are willing to lose when facing difficult choices. Says Ntsiki Biyela: “It is necessary not to focus on the ‘what ifs’ that don’t make you go forward”. By making sense and transforming one’s environment, it makes it possible to be an actor of one’s future. “Opportunities are like a wheel, you have to be ready to take them”, said VinLab’s Hanneli Smit. By learning how to recognise and seize opportunities, the entrepreneurs interviewed reduced uncertainty, enhanced their creativity and built their resilience, allowing them to pursue their entrepreneurial projects more efficiently.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390650/original/file-20210319-15-olad33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390650/original/file-20210319-15-olad33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390650/original/file-20210319-15-olad33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390650/original/file-20210319-15-olad33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390650/original/file-20210319-15-olad33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390650/original/file-20210319-15-olad33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390650/original/file-20210319-15-olad33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carla Pauw of Saltare Wines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ronell Wiid, from <a href="https://www.bartinney.co.za/">Bartinney Wines</a>, goes even further: “Creativity is a way to deal with uncertainty”. </p>
<p>The Covid-19 pandemic has encouraged wineries to rethink their business models. Céline Metz has integrated digital marketing innovations in the Hubert Metz Estate’s wine tourism by creating a virtual wine-tasting experience. When customers buy six bottles, they can attend an online tasting session with Céline explaining the different wines. In so doing, she says she was able to “change lemon into lemonade”, leveraging events outside of her control. For women wine entrepreneurs, action and creativity are ways of dealing with uncertainty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juliane Santoni holds a Ph.D in Management Sciences, Entrepreneurship. She is a researcher, psychotherapist and the founder of the programme Entrepreneurial Mindset Evolution Mentorship® designed to provide strategic and psychological support for entrepreneurs. She founded an incubator in 2013 and led research studies in France, Australia and South Africa. She gives lectures and conferences on entrepreneurship, change, entrepreneurs' psychology and created several actions to develop women's entrepreneurship.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Coralie Haller is an Associate-Professor at EM Strasbourg Business School, University of Strasbourg. She teaches in different Wine and Tourism program in France and Australia. Her research projects have been published in academic and professional Journals.
She has founded and is heading the Corporate Chair in Wine and Tourism. She has co-founded InvinoTECH(r). She is member of the national Federation of Women in Tourisme and Alsace Association of Women in Wine. </span></em></p>Whether they are winemakers, winery owners, cellar managers or sommeliers, women entrepreneurs are evolving in the wine industry - a traditional men’s world.Juliane Santoni, Chercheuse associée, spécialisée en Entrepreneuriat et Innovation, Burgundy School of Business Coralie Haller, Enseignant-Chercheur, EM Strasbourg, Université de StrasbourgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1470112020-11-04T19:23:07Z2020-11-04T19:23:07ZPompeii is famous for its ruins and bodies, but what about its wine?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360186/original/file-20200928-16-cdgs5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4594%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vines in the Foro Boario vineyard and the amphitheatre, Pompeii</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Emlyn Dodd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pompeii is famed for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20407286">plaster-cast bodies</a>, ruins, frescoes and the rare snapshot it provides of a rather typical ancient Roman city. But less famous is its evidence of viticulture.</p>
<p>Wild grapevines probably existed across peninsular Italy since prehistory, but it is likely the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Etruscan">Etruscans</a> and colonising Greeks promoted wine-making with domesticated grapes as early as 1000 BCE. </p>
<p>Pompeii, preserved after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, sits within <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Campania-region-Italy">Campania</a> on fertile volcanic soil with a temperate Mediterranean climate and reliable sources of water. </p>
<p>Pliny the Elder, living nearby Pompeii in 77 CE <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D9">wrote</a> of the “vine-growing hills and noble wine of Campania” and the poet Martial <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/vesuvius.html">described</a> vats dripping with grapes, and the “ridges Bacchus loved more than the hills of Nysa”.</p>
<p>The Greeks even referred to Campania as <em>Oenotria</em> – “the land of vines”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360191/original/file-20200928-16-1tn2f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fresco found in Pompeii, painted c 55-79 CE, depicting Bacchus covered in grapes and Vesuvius with trellised vines in background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Naples Archaeological Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A famous wine region</h2>
<p>Over 150 Roman farms have been discovered in the Vesuvian region, and many engaged in viticulture. Some of the most famous ancient wines came from this region, including the honey-sweet and expensive <em><a href="https://www.winespectator.com/articles/the-cult-wine-of-121-bc-44663">Falernian</a></em> wine. </p>
<p><em>Falernian</em> was said to ignite when a flame was applied, suggesting an alcohol content of at least 40% – significantly higher than the 11% you could expect to buy from the bottle shop today.</p>
<p>While the <em>Falernian</em> was believed to be white, most ancient wines were red due to the less laborious production process. </p>
<p><a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/wine.html">A wide variety</a> of wines could be found on the Roman wine market, flavoured with sea water, resin, spices and herbs like lavender and thyme, or even fermented in a smoke-filled room to impart flavour. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Green vines in front of ruins" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360190/original/file-20200928-18-124pta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vineyards are still planted in Pompeii today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is even possible evidence for early counterfeit wine. Archaeologists have identified imitation ceramic transport jars <a href="https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/54542679/FULL_TEXT.PDF">produced elsewhere</a> and stamped with fake Pompeian merchant stamps. </p>
<h2>Agriculture among an ancient city</h2>
<p>Within Pompeii’s city walls, vineyards hid behind taverns and inns as families and bar-keepers grew grapes on a smaller scale for their own tables and wine. </p>
<p>When vines were covered by the volcanic eruption and later decomposed, they left cavities in the debris. By filling these cavities with plaster, archaeologists were able to reveal vineyards over entire city blocks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old photograph, a man leans over a hole in the dirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360198/original/file-20200928-22-6tfyr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A large cavity formed by roots discovered in 1966.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R2/2%2005%2005%20p2.htm">The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Excavations have revealed carbonised grape seeds and even whole preserved grapes caramelised from the volcanic eruption – their high sugar content gives them a glassy appearance easily spotted amongst the soil.</p>
<p>Gardens were everywhere in Pompeii. The archaeologist <a href="https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=326514&p=2193250">Wilhelmina Jashemski</a> noticed at least one in each house and, in some larger elite residences, up to three or four. Many included vines to grow grapes for fruit and wine, but also to provide shade over <em><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Triclinium.html">triclinia</a></em> dining areas. </p>
<p>If you visit the modern town surrounding Pompeii today, you will notice not much has changed in 2,000 years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/walking-talking-and-showing-off-a-history-of-roman-gardens-138902">Walking, talking and showing off – a history of Roman gardens</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The ‘Foro Boario’ vineyard</h2>
<p>Opposite Pompeii’s amphitheatre is the <em><a href="http://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R2/2%2005%2005%20p2.htm">Foro Boario</a></em>. Misnamed because archaeologists originally thought the site was a cattle market, excavations in the 1960s revealed it was once actually an extensive vineyard.</p>
<p>Over 2,000 vines were found, with almost the exact spacing between each vine as recommended by the ancient agricultural writers Pliny and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucius-Junius-Moderatus-Columella">Columella</a>. Each vine was attached to a stake and 58 fruit trees were also planted in the vineyard.</p>
<p>Local workers at the time of excavation even commented that the four depressions found around root cavities were identical to the holes holding water in their own vineyards.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A red ute and five people working in a shallow ditch outside an amphitheatre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361789/original/file-20201006-14-4t5651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excavations in 1966 revealed the area in front of the amphitheatre was once a vineyard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R2/2%2005%2005%20p4.htm">The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the back of the vineyard was found a small two-room structure housing a lever wine press and ten <em><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah06100">dolia</a></em> – large ceramic fermentation jars buried into the ground to keep temperatures consistently cool.</p>
<p>There are also numerous <em>triclinia</em> for eating and drinking scattered among the vineyard, suggesting the owner did a thriving business opposite the amphitheatre, with gladiatorial patrons coming to relax, eat and drink before and after spectacles. </p>
<h2>Resurrecting ancient wine</h2>
<p>That such large and valuable pieces of land within the city walls were dedicated to wine-making gives insight to the profitable nature and high esteem viticulture held in Roman communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Oil painting of people feasting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361791/original/file-20201006-16-1oijsjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Roman Feast depicted by Roberto Bompiani in the late 19th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, many of these vineyards have been replanted as they were at the time of the eruption, with relatives of ancient grape varieties like the <em>Piedirosso</em>: a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/susangordon/2018/01/04/italy-by-the-wine-glass-piedirosso-from-campania/#72c85c3e1d36">fruity and floral grape</a> with light herb and spiced flavours, perhaps related to Pliny’s ancient <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=14:chapter=4&highlight=columbina#note-link62">Columbina</a> variety. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wine-and-climate-change-8-000-years-of-adaptation-67028">Wine and climate change: 8,000 years of adaptation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 1996, the local Campanian winemaker, <a href="https://www.italiantalks.com/italian-experience/mastroberardino-masters-the-ancient-wines-of-pompeii/">Mastroberardino</a>, cultivated and processed these grapes using Roman techniques and created the <em><a href="https://mastroberardino.com/villa-dei-misteri/">Villa dei Misteri</a></em> wine: ruby red in colour with a complex taste, including hints of vanilla, cinnamon and notes of spice and cherry. </p>
<p>It can be aged for 30 years or more – just like the 60-year-old <em>Falernian</em> drunk by Julius Caesar at his <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/vintage.html">celebration banquet in 60 BC</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147011/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emlyn Dodd receives funding from the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens, Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and Environment (Macquarie University), and Australian Academy of the Humanities. </span></em></p>Pompeii was so famous in the ancient world for its wine other regions made counterfeit wine, sold in imitation ceramic jars.Emlyn Dodd, Greece Fellow, Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens; Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and Environment, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1400242020-06-15T20:04:19Z2020-06-15T20:04:19ZPass the shiraz, please: how Australia’s wine industry can adapt to climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341779/original/file-20200615-65912-n10m8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3804%2C2616&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victor Fraile/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Australians enjoy a glass of homegrown wine, and <a href="https://www.wineaustralia.com/news/media-releases/export-report-march-2019#:%7E:text=The%20total%20value%20of%20Australian,the%20highest%20level%20since%202009.">A$2.78 billion worth is exported</a> each year. But hotter, drier conditions under climate change means there are big changes ahead for our wine producers. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://climatefutures.org.au/">climate scientists</a> and science communicators, we’ve been working closely with the wine industry to understand the changing conditions for producing quality wine in Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-dug-up-australian-weather-records-back-to-1838-and-found-snow-is-falling-less-often-139300">We dug up Australian weather records back to 1838 and found snow is falling less often</a>
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</p>
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<p>We created a world-first atlas to help secure Australia’s wine future. Released today, <a href="https://eprints.utas.edu.au/32250/">Australia’s Wine Future: A Climate Atlas</a> shows that all 71 wine regions in Australia must adapt to hotter conditions.</p>
<p>Cool wine regions such as Tasmania, for example, will become warmer. This means growers in that state now producing pinot noir and chardonnay may have to transition to varieties suited to warmer conditions, such as shiraz.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341739/original/file-20200615-153862-1a1d03o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341739/original/file-20200615-153862-1a1d03o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341739/original/file-20200615-153862-1a1d03o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341739/original/file-20200615-153862-1a1d03o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341739/original/file-20200615-153862-1a1d03o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341739/original/file-20200615-153862-1a1d03o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341739/original/file-20200615-153862-1a1d03o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian wine regions will become hotter under climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hotter, drier conditions</h2>
<p>Our research, commissioned by Wine Australia, is the culmination of four years of work. We used <a href="https://confluence.csiro.au/display/CCAM/C">CSIRO’s regional climate model</a> to give very localised information on heat and cold extremes, temperature, rainfall and evaporation over the next 80 years.</p>
<p>The research assumed a <a href="https://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/climate-campus/modelling-and-projections/projecting-future-climate/greenhouse-gas-scenarios/">high carbon emissions scenario</a> to 2100, in line with Earth’s current trajectory.</p>
<p>From 2020, the changes projected by the climate models are more influenced by climate change than natural variability.</p>
<p>Temperatures across all wine regions of Australia will increase by about 3°C by 2100. Aridity, which takes into account rainfall and evaporation, is also projected to increase in most Australian wine regions. Less frost and more intense heatwaves are expected in many areas. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-el-nino-hit-this-banana-prawn-fishery-hard-heres-what-we-can-learn-from-their-experience-139852">An El Niño hit this banana prawn fishery hard. Here’s what we can learn from their experience</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By 2100, growing conditions on Tasmania’s east coast, for example, will look like those currently found in the Coonawarra region of South Australia – a hotter and drier region where very different wines are produced.</p>
<p>That means it may get harder to grow cool-climate styles of varieties such as chardonnay and pinot noir. </p>
<p>Some regions will experience more change than others. For example, the Alpine Valleys region on the western slopes of the Victorian Alps, and Pemberton in southwest Western Australia, will both become much drier and hotter, influencing the varietals that are most successfully grown.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341767/original/file-20200615-65925-qd2751.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341767/original/file-20200615-65925-qd2751.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341767/original/file-20200615-65925-qd2751.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341767/original/file-20200615-65925-qd2751.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341767/original/file-20200615-65925-qd2751.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341767/original/file-20200615-65925-qd2751.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341767/original/file-20200615-65925-qd2751.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map showing current average growing season temperature across Australia’s 71 wine regions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other regions, such as the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, will not dry out as much. But a combination of humidity and higher temperatures will expose vineyard workers in those regions to heat risk on 40-60 days a year – most of summer – by 2100. That figure is currently about 10 days a year, up from 5 days historically.</p>
<p>Grape vines are very adaptable and can be grown in a variety of conditions, such as arid parts of southern Europe. So while adaptations will be needed, our projections indicate all of Australia’s current wine regions will be suitable for producing wine out to 2100.</p>
<h2>Lessons for change</h2>
<p>Australia’s natural climate variability means wine growers are already adept at responding to change. And there is much scope to adapt to future climate change.</p>
<p>In some areas, this will mean planting vines at higher altitudes, or on south facing slopes, to avoid excessive heat. In future, many wine regions will also shift to growing different grape varieties. Viticultural practices may change, such as training vines so leaves shade grapes from heat. Growers may increase mulching to retain soil moisture, and areas that currently practice dryland farming may need to start irrigating.</p>
<p>The atlas enables climate information and adaptation decisions to be shared across regions. Growers can look to their peers in regions currently experiencing the conditions they will see in future, both in Australia and overseas, to learn how wines are produced there. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341759/original/file-20200615-65921-1a8bpx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341759/original/file-20200615-65921-1a8bpx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341759/original/file-20200615-65921-1a8bpx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341759/original/file-20200615-65921-1a8bpx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341759/original/file-20200615-65921-1a8bpx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341759/original/file-20200615-65921-1a8bpx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341759/original/file-20200615-65921-1a8bpx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If our wine industry adapts to climate change, Australians can continue to enjoy homegrown wine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Gourley/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Industries need not die on the vine</h2>
<p><a href="https://climatefutures.org.au/technical-reports/impacts-agriculture-technical-report/">Agriculture</a> industries such as wine growing are not the only ones that need fine-scale climate information to manage their climate risk. Forestry, <a href="https://climatefutures.org.au/technical-reports/water-catchments-technical-report/">water management</a>, electricity generation, insurance, <a href="https://climatefutures.org.au/technical-reports/potential-impact-climate-change-victorian-alpine-resorts/">tourism</a>, <a href="https://climatefutures.org.au/technical-reports/assessment-viability-prescribed-burning-management-tool-changing-climate/">emergency management</a> authorities and Defence also need such climate modelling, specific to their operations, to better prepare for the future.</p>
<p>The world has already heated 1°C above the pre-industrial average. Global temperatures will continue to rise for decades, even if <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-paris-climate-agreement-at-a-glance-50465?gclid=CjwKCAjw5vz2BRAtEiwAbcVIL3_qtXTtCQzOjGKIVl-KjXN4xNoYsmA9uZS50sRMPhi1rjhLOTRtmxoCN1oQAvD_BwE">goals under the Paris climate agreement</a> are met. </p>
<p>If Earth’s temperature rise is kept below 1.5°C or even 2°C this century, many of the changes projected in the atlas could be minimised, or avoided altogether.</p>
<p>Australia’s wine industry contributes <a href="https://wbmonline.com.au/wine-sector-worth-a-whopping-45-5-billion-to-the-australian-economy/#:%7E:text=Australia's%20grapegrowers%2C%20winemakers%20and%20wine,AgEconPlus%20released%20by%20Wine%20Australia.">A$45 billion to our economy</a> and supports about 163,000 jobs. Decisions taken now on climate resilience will dictate the future of this critical sector.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/just-how-hot-will-it-get-this-century-latest-climate-models-suggest-it-could-be-worse-than-we-thought-137281">Just how hot will it get this century? Latest climate models suggest it could be worse than we thought</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140024/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Australia's Wine Future: A Climate Atlas is the culmination of a four-year research project led by the Climate Futures research group at the University of Tasmania. The project was conducted in partnership with CSIRO, the South Australian Research and Development Initiative (SARDI) and the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA). It was funded by Wine Australia. Rebecca Harris also receives funding from the Bushfire Natural Hazard CRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tomas Remenyi is currently funded by Wine Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dean Rollins is currently funded by Wine Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Bindoff receives funding from Wine Australia, the ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate Extremes, the Natural Environment Science Program through the Earth Systems Science and Climate Change Hub and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabi Mocatta, Nick Earl-Jones, and Peter Love do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>All of Australia’s 71 wine regions will become warmer this century. That means big changes for the industry. Tasmania, for example, may become better known for shiraz than pinot noir.Gabi Mocatta, Research Fellow in Climate Change Communication, Climate Futures Programme, University of TasmaniaRebecca Harris, Senior lecturer, Manager, Climate Futures Program, University of TasmaniaTomas Remenyi, Climate Research Fellow, Climate Futures Programme, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/983472018-06-26T09:15:53Z2018-06-26T09:15:53ZNow wine lovers need to know about geology – or do they?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224945/original/file-20180626-112607-1vufzh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From vineyard to glass</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cropped-hands-couple-toasting-wineglasses-vineyard-637055692?src=-pe8_Ba22jiqoYpaAdVmxw-2-44">Pedr0Gar/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/tranquilidad-no-necesitamos-saber-de-geologia-para-disfrutar-de-un-buen-vino-99696">Leer en español</a></em>.</p>
<p>“Soil, not grapes, is the latest must-know when choosing a wine,” Bloomberg has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-25/soil-not-grapes-is-the-latest-must-know-when-picking-a-wine">proclaimed</a>. Meanwhile, wine writer Alice Feiring <a href="http://www.wwnorton.co.uk/books/9781581573848-the-dirty-guide-to-wine">has published a book</a> which helps drinkers choose their tipple by “looking at the source: the ground in which it grows”. And there are now restaurants with wine lists organised not by grape, wine style or country of origin, but <a href="http://huskrestaurant.com/about/wine/">by vineyard geology</a>.</p>
<p>The idea that a vineyard’s ground is important for wine took hold in the Middle Ages when, <a href="https://winescholarguild.org/french-wine-society-chronicle/issue-six-february-2014/researcher-sheds-light-on-true-role-of-monks-in-burgundy.html">legend has it</a>, Burgundian monks tasted the soils to find which would give the best tasting wine. After all, the vines were obviously taking up water from the soil and so with it – presumably – everything else that they needed to grow.</p>
<p>But, as I discuss <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/vineyards-rocks-and-soils-9780190863289?cc=gb&lang=en&">in my new book</a>, the enthusiasm for the pre-eminence of geology is something new. Science long ago discovered photosynthesis, and showed that grapevines are made not of soil but, in a way, of sunshine, air and water. Essentially, grapevines use sunlight to extract carbon dioxide from the air and combine it with water from the ground to make all the various carbohydrate compounds that make the vine. Flavour precursors then develop in the ripening grapes and fermentation converts them into the hundreds of aromatic compounds that determine what a wine tastes like. </p>
<p>On the other hand, none of the kinds of assertions mentioned above indicate how it is that a particular rock brings something to the wine in your glass, and our present scientific understanding makes it difficult to see how this might happen. The fact is that the claims are largely based on anecdote: the scientific justification is slender. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224389/original/file-20180622-26552-xynhfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224389/original/file-20180622-26552-xynhfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224389/original/file-20180622-26552-xynhfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224389/original/file-20180622-26552-xynhfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224389/original/file-20180622-26552-xynhfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224389/original/file-20180622-26552-xynhfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224389/original/file-20180622-26552-xynhfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Earthy tones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wine-bottle-vine-embrace-hearth-black-1045994365?src=vkplTfY6JfkkpeoA3ICJ3w-1-7">Ricardo Matias/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s not to say the ground isn’t relevant. It governs how roots obtain water, in a pattern that is pivotal to how grapes swell and ripen. We know of 14 elements that are essential for the vine to grow, and almost all of them originate in the ground. Some may make it through to the finished wine, in minuscule amounts that can’t be <em>tasted</em>, though in some cases they can <em>influence</em> how <a href="https://www.winesandvines.com/features/article/132047/Role-of-trace-metals-in-wine-reduction">we perceive flavours</a>.</p>
<p>But there are other factors at play, that are invisible and hence overlooked. Take for example the land at the Fault Line vineyard at Abacela, in the Umpqua Valley, Oregon, which shows marked variations in soil types over small areas, and corresponding changes in the wines that were assumed to reflect these geological variations. However, in 2011, the owners started to collect data from 23 sites, every 15 minutes for five years. The <a href="https://www.linfield.edu/assets/files/Wine-Studies/GregJones/Jones_Jones_Abacela.pdf">results showed</a> marked spatial variations in the intensity of solar radiation and that temperatures during the ripening period varied by nearly 5°C – all within this single vineyard. In fact, differences in the soil weren’t high on the list of factors that influenced grape ripening.</p>
<p>There has been excitement <a href="http://mbio.asm.org/content/6/2/e02527-14.full">in scientific circles</a> in recent years about the possible importance of microbiology in the vineyard, because new technologies have revealed distinct fungal and bacterial communities <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5328833/">at different sites</a>. What effect this has for wine taste is at present unclear, but the kingdom of fungi includes organisms like the mould Botrytis that is responsible for the <a href="https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/what-the-heck-is-noble-rot-and-is-it-really-a-good-thing/">famous noble rot infection</a> (which turns grapes into partial raisins) of sweet wines like Sauternes. And yeasts too – both those that guide alcoholic fermentation and those like <a href="https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/frequently_asked_questions/brettanomyces-faq/">Brettanomyces</a> that can affect the <a href="http://www.sommjournal.com/Publications/SOMM/2014/June-July-2014/On-the-Track-of-BRETT.aspx#.WzH_OqdKiUk">flavour</a> of wine. But again, perhaps because all this is effectively invisible and it’s all technical stuff, such things are avoided in most wine writings.</p>
<p>Vineyard soil, on the other hand, is right there, palpable and familiar. But the truth is that most vineyards are routinely gouged, fertilised and irrigated. So with this amount of artificial manipulation is this new preoccupation with the natural geology justified?</p>
<p>Of course, it is perfectly possible that science is missing something, and that with continuing research we will learn of some new phenomenon. But with our present scientific understanding of grapevine physiology, it doesn’t seem enough just to make grand assertions without offering some basis. Saying, for instance, that an <a href="https://www.gobelsburg.at/en/wines/schloss-gobelsburg/riesling-gaisberg">Austrian Reisling wine</a> has “complexity because of the slaty para-gneiss, amphibolite and mica soils” may sound impressive, but surely some indication is needed on how this works? </p>
<p>It is however, likely that such pronouncements will continue, maybe even expand. People like the idea of a direct link between the wine in their glass and a particular vineyard soil, especially if it’s clothed with fine sounding terms. It sounds romantic, it makes readable journalism – and it’s good for marketing. And, apparently, that trumps the science.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Maltman is the author of "Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover's Guide to Geology", Oxford University Press 2018. ISBN 9780190863289, and academic articles on this subject, but has no commercial affiliations.</span></em></p>Wine drinkers are taking notes from the land now too, but it may not be entirely useful.Alex Maltman, Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/971502018-05-25T10:47:04Z2018-05-25T10:47:04ZA brief history of American winemaking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220390/original/file-20180524-51127-rzigou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A cellar worker steams American oak wine barrels before their use at Silver Oak Cellars in Oakville, Calif.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Eric Risberg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The American love affair with wine dates back to the earlier European settlers in the 16th century, when they began making wine with a native grape known as muscadine.</p>
<p>Today <a href="https://lizthachmw.com">every state produces wine</a>, though almost half of the more than 9,700 wineries are based in California. </p>
<p>While I don’t own a winery, I do tend to a small hobby vineyard and make my own garagiste wine. I also <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=L1ZjJnAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">study the wine business</a>. In honor of National Wine Day, here’s a primer on the <a href="https://www.cognizantcommunication.com/miranda-press/best-practices-in-global-wine-tourism">history of the U.S. wine industry</a>. </p>
<h2>Settlers on the vine</h2>
<p>When Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon arrived in what is now Florida in 1513, he was followed a half century later by Spanish and French Huguenot settlers, who began making <a href="https://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/southern-plant-muscadines">muscadine</a> wine.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67766/original/image-20141219-31573-1g2q913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67766/original/image-20141219-31573-1g2q913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67766/original/image-20141219-31573-1g2q913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67766/original/image-20141219-31573-1g2q913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67766/original/image-20141219-31573-1g2q913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67766/original/image-20141219-31573-1g2q913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67766/original/image-20141219-31573-1g2q913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An early American wine label.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Efforts to plant the great wines of Europe – known as <em>Vitis vinifera</em> or classic grapes – failed because their rootstock couldn’t withstand attacks from pests like <a href="http://wine.about.com/od/vineyardvocab/g/Phylloxera.htm">phylloxera</a>, which thrive in wet climates. </p>
<p>An interesting historical footnote is that Thomas Jefferson <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/American-Vintage/">attempted</a> to establish a winery and plant <em>Vitis vinifera</em> vineyards in Virginia in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He was, like the others, unsuccessful due to attacks of black rot and phylloxera. </p>
<p>But that didn’t stop wineries from popping up all over the East Coast and Midwest, including in Wisconsin, Ohio and New Jersey. Because of the threat of phylloxera, they used grapes that are native to the U.S. such as Concord and Niagara or hybrids like Catawba and Marechal Foch, as they still do today. </p>
<p>Brotherhood Winery in New York, for example, established in 1839 and the oldest continually operated winery in the U.S., continues to use some native American grapes as well as the classic <em>Vitis vinfera</em>, especially Riesling.</p>
<p>So it wasn’t until Spanish Missionaries discovered the dry climate of New Mexico in 1629 with its sandy soils that the first <em>Vitis vinifera</em> vineyards were planted in what is now the United States. They planted <a href="http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-924-mission">Mission grapes</a> brought over from Spain. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220386/original/file-20180524-51130-161r6gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220386/original/file-20180524-51130-161r6gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220386/original/file-20180524-51130-161r6gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220386/original/file-20180524-51130-161r6gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220386/original/file-20180524-51130-161r6gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220386/original/file-20180524-51130-161r6gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220386/original/file-20180524-51130-161r6gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Americans love their wine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Images for American Express</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wine comes to California</h2>
<p>Wine didn’t come to California until 1769, when the Spanish started a mission in San Diego, with accompanying vineyards. As they settled further north, they established 20 more missions, concluding with one in Sonoma in 1823. Napa Valley began growing grapes in the 1830s. </p>
<p>Today, of course, due to its dry and sunny climate, which is perfect for grape growing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-california-winemakers-be-worried-about-chinas-tariffs-94607">California produces</a> more than <a href="http://www.wineinstitute.org/files/CA%20Wines%20Stat%20Profile%202013.pdf">90 percent</a> of U.S. wine. </p>
<p>In 2016, the U.S. <a href="https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/statistics/article83">produced</a> 3 billion liters of wine, making it the fourth-largest in the world after Italy, France and Spain. At same time, Americans <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/wine-globalization/united-states/F91DB4F30BC37145AC9B92F37C2AA5D7">drink the most</a> of any country – some 3.59 billion liters in 2016, or about 11.1 liters per person. </p>
<p>Jefferson, a <a href="https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/wine">passionate wine connoisseur</a>, would be proud.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Thach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wine came to the US in the 16th century but didn’t make it to California – the leader in American winemaking – until the 19th century.Liz Thach, Professor of Management and Wine Business, Sonoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/946042018-04-17T10:44:41Z2018-04-17T10:44:41ZHow China’s winemakers succeeded (without stealing)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214829/original/file-20180413-566-14t5na1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More Chinese wines are finding their way into the liquor aisle. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Joint ventures between Western and Chinese companies are <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21740410-heart-disagreement-chinas-industrial-policy-americas-gripes">in the news</a> over accusations – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/business/china-trump-trade-intellectual-property.html">including those of President Donald Trump</a> – that China uses them to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/business/china-trump-trade-intellectual-property.html">steal</a> intellectual property from foreign competitors in industries like cars and technology. </p>
<p>Less well known, however, are the joint ventures between French and Chinese winemakers, which offer a notable counterpoint to this narrative of international rivalry – or foreign exploitation, depending on your perspective. </p>
<p>Unlike for cars and electronics, there are no secret technologies in the making of wine. The <a href="https://wine.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Who_Invented_Wine">millennia-old fermented drink</a> is primarily a product of the land where the grapes are grown. What differentiates the best from the rest is not proprietary technology but experience in combining agriculture, science and art.</p>
<p>During research visits to China’s major <a href="https://www.decanterchina.com/en/regions/china/">wine regions</a> – from beach resorts in Shandong and Ningxia’s rocky and arid landscapes to the lush mountains of Yunnan – we encountered a blend of local and foreign winemakers, farmers, wine scientists and local government officials, all committed to establishing local wines on the world stage. </p>
<p>Winemaking succeeds on the back of such international collaboration. And in our experience, it’s helping Chinese wine producers overcome their biggest obstacles to success. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214823/original/file-20180413-570-1qxtq5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214823/original/file-20180413-570-1qxtq5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214823/original/file-20180413-570-1qxtq5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214823/original/file-20180413-570-1qxtq5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214823/original/file-20180413-570-1qxtq5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214823/original/file-20180413-570-1qxtq5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214823/original/file-20180413-570-1qxtq5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Entrance of the 2014 International Wine Exposition in Yanqing, where hundreds of foreign and local wineries came to make their pitch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cynthia Howson and Pierre Ly</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No secret technology to steal</h2>
<p>China is currently the <a href="http://www.oiv.int/public/medias/5479/oiv-en-bilan-2017.pdf">sixth-largest wine producer</a>, bottling 11.4 million hectoliters in 2016, just behind Australia’s 13 million. China is fifth in terms of consumption. </p>
<p><iframe id="0UFPC" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0UFPC/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>A few years ago, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinese-vintners-are-winning-renown-as-wine-industry-soars-34474">we explained</a> in The Conversation, China’s wine industry was focused on overcoming the rising cost of labor, dealing with difficult climates and improving grape quality.</p>
<p>Now, the biggest obstacles Chinese vintners have to overcome are the country’s image problem and growing competition from foreign wine. And that’s where the foreign ventures have proven so valuable.</p>
<p>China has long had a reputation for <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamelaambler/2017/07/27/china-is-facing-an-epidemic-of-counterfeit-and-contraband-wine/#7f6af3f35843">counterfeiting and food safety scandals</a>. At the same time, the wine industry has become less protected from foreign competition after <a href="http://www.decanter.com/wine-news/exporting-wine-to-china-countries-384383/">bilateral trade deals</a> with countries such as Chile and Australia eliminated some tariffs. And although there are still such barriers in place with Europe (as well as the U.S.), Chinese wine lovers still <a href="http://www.decanter.com/wine-news/exporting-wine-to-china-countries-384383/">drink a ton of French wine</a>, despite the higher prices.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214821/original/file-20180413-570-vgr0ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214821/original/file-20180413-570-vgr0ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214821/original/file-20180413-570-vgr0ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214821/original/file-20180413-570-vgr0ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214821/original/file-20180413-570-vgr0ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214821/original/file-20180413-570-vgr0ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214821/original/file-20180413-570-vgr0ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The authors visit Guanlan Vineyard with owner Yanzhi Zhang, a Beijing wine importer and Bordeaux-trained winemaker who is building two wineries in Ningxia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cynthia Howson and Pierre Ly</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That has meant Chinese makers of premium wines have had to raise their game to compete with skilled foreign competitors. And perhaps ironically, some of those foreign rivals have been only too happy to share knowledge and skills. </p>
<p>Unlike for cars, making good wine doesn’t require proprietary technology. Any serious student can learn the techniques, whether they are traditional or cutting edge, by reading, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3kQWGBy7PQ">going to school</a> or finding a mentor. Becoming a good winemaker requires experimenting with a range of tried and true methods, both in the vineyard and the cellar. There is no secret recipe, only hard work and problem solving.</p>
<p>Such collaborative partnerships have been essential to helping China wine producers overcome the image problem and better compete.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214822/original/file-20180413-587-1f97o1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214822/original/file-20180413-587-1f97o1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214822/original/file-20180413-587-1f97o1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214822/original/file-20180413-587-1f97o1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214822/original/file-20180413-587-1f97o1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214822/original/file-20180413-587-1f97o1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214822/original/file-20180413-587-1f97o1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chandon China’s winery sits in the shadow of Helan Mountain in Ningxia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cynthia Howson and Pierre Ly</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Enter the French</h2>
<p>It might surprise readers that French Cognac producer Remy Martin was one of the first Western companies to form a joint venture in China, in this case with the city of Tianjin in 1980 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/11/business/dynasty-without-tradition.html">to set up a winery</a>. </p>
<p>The French brought winemaking skills and, in exchange, got a foot in the door into a promising market for imported Cognac. The result, Dynasty Winery, is now <a href="http://www.agr.gc.ca/resources/prod/Internet-Internet/MISB-DGSIM/ATS-SEA/PDF/6799-eng.pdf">one of the largest</a> Chinese wine producers.</p>
<p>Remy and other Western companies brought not only skills but also their brand name. Chinese wine enthusiasts – vulnerable to the same stereotypes Westerners have – might question how good a wine from an unknown domestic company might be. But if is made by a famous French wine group, whose wines they enjoy, they might give it a chance.</p>
<p>While Dynasty is a mass market brand, other more recent French-Chinese partnerships have focused on developing premium wines. One involved LVMH and a state-owned enterprise in Ningxia, a poor province often hailed as China’s <a href="https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/chinas-most-promising-wine-province">most promising</a> wine region. In 2013, the French luxury conglomerate launched <a href="https://www.lvmh.com/houses/wines-spirits/chandon-china/">Chandon China</a>, the latest offspring in the global <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/4d28842e-8829-11e3-8afa-00144feab7de">Chandon family</a> of sparkling wine. </p>
<p>Unlike in other sectors, such as clothing or electronics, Western winemakers are not in China to take advantage of low costs. Chinese wine is <a href="http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1879773/legacy-peak-helps-lead-charge-chinese-wineries">expensive to make</a>, due to the rising cost of <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/17/news/economy/china-cheap-labor-productivity/index.html">labor</a>, and, in some regions, the need to bury the vines to protect them from cold winters and dig them out every spring. </p>
<p>Moreover, you can’t outsource the production of wine to another country. Champagne can only be made in the Champagne region of France. Napa Valley wine can only be made in the Napa Valley. If a wine is made in China, it becomes Chinese wine. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214595/original/file-20180412-540-1sjq0ll.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214595/original/file-20180412-540-1sjq0ll.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214595/original/file-20180412-540-1sjq0ll.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214595/original/file-20180412-540-1sjq0ll.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214595/original/file-20180412-540-1sjq0ll.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214595/original/file-20180412-540-1sjq0ll.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214595/original/file-20180412-540-1sjq0ll.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wines from Treaty Port Vineyards, which occupies this Scottish-style castle in Moulangou village, Shandong, are available in the U.K. from The Real Wine Company.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cynthia Howson and Pierre Ly</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Soaring wine quality</h2>
<p>The result, for Chinese winemakers, has been soaring quality. </p>
<p>Not long ago, really good Chinese wines were <a href="http://www.grapewallofchina.com/2014/07/30/triple-a-formula-for-china-wine-appetizing-affordable-available/">very hard to find</a>. Mass market wine brands, like Changyu, Great Wall or Dynasty, were ubiquitous in supermarkets and convenience stores around the country. But most award-winning boutique wineries you read about in the media were <a href="http://www.grapewallofchina.com/2014/07/30/triple-a-formula-for-china-wine-appetizing-affordable-available/">too small</a> or lacked marketing skills and deals with distributors that could put their wines in front of consumers.</p>
<p>Today the best boutique Chinese wines are far more available in major cities because the major distributors have begun to <a href="http://www.grapewallofchina.com/2015/07/14/summergate-kanaan-sign-distribution-deal/">include</a> more Chinese producers in their porfolios of primarily imported wines. This has made the best Chinese wines available in local shops frequented by wine enthusiasts, like <a href="https://www.pudaowines.com/eng/buy-wines-spirits/?special_4=1">Pudao Wines</a> in Beijing and Shanghai, and on a few restaurant wine lists. </p>
<p>At a hotel restaurant in Guangzhou’s main airport in 2016, for example, we were able to order an glass of Pretty Pony, an <a href="http://awards.decanter.com/dawa/2016/Wine/288659?name=Kanaan%20winery-Pretty%20Pony-2014">award winning</a> Ningxia red by Kanaan winery – something we couldn’t have done just a year earlier.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214826/original/file-20180413-46652-lgu5zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214826/original/file-20180413-46652-lgu5zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214826/original/file-20180413-46652-lgu5zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214826/original/file-20180413-46652-lgu5zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214826/original/file-20180413-46652-lgu5zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214826/original/file-20180413-46652-lgu5zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214826/original/file-20180413-46652-lgu5zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the authors orders a glass of Kanaan’s Pretty Pony red during a layover at Guangzhou airport.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cynthia Howson and Pierre Ly</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Next stop: exports</h2>
<p>So how easy is it to pick up a bottle of Pretty Pony at your local supermarket if you don’t live in China? </p>
<p>Although exports of Chinese wine are still quite low, at just <a href="http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?q=wine&d=ComTrade&f=_l1Code%3A23%3BcmdCode%3A220410">US$1.2 million</a> in 2016 compared with $15 million for Argentina and $3.2 billion for France, a growing number of supermarkets and wine shops in Europe and the U.S. are stocking some of the best Chinese wines, from <a href="http://www.totalwine.com/wine/red-wine/cabernet-sauvignon/ao-yun-cabernet-china/p/162576750?s=1401&igrules=true">Seattle</a> and <a href="https://www.danmurphys.com.au/dm/search/dm_search_results_gallery.jsp?search=Kanaan&link=PDP-RangeLink">Melbourne</a> to <a href="https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295163107">London</a> and <a href="https://soysuper.com/marca/changyu#products">Madrid</a>. </p>
<p>While it’s unlikely Chinese winemakers will be threatening their French peers anytime soon, they are now decidedly on the world’s wine map.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the US celebrates Wine Day, China’s young winemakers are a reminder of the power and value of cameraderie and cooperation in this age-old industry.Cynthia Howson, Lecturer, University of WashingtonPierre Ly, Associate Professor, University of Puget SoundLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/946072018-04-11T10:50:12Z2018-04-11T10:50:12ZShould California winemakers be worried about China’s tariffs?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214179/original/file-20180410-543-1eenfm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some Napa and Sonoma Valley wineries are worried about the China tariffs. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Eric Risberg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>California’s vintners and grape growers are among the latest potential victims in the escalating trade spat between the U.S. and China. </p>
<p>Responding to U.S. plans to impose import duties on goods from China, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/world/asia/china-tariffs-united-states.html">reciprocated</a> by introducing new tariffs on 128 U.S. products, including an additional 15 percent import tariff on wine. </p>
<p>Wine producers in California are concerned about the immediate and longer-term implications of this new tariff, on top of those already in place. <a href="http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_cb943f44-395d-11e8-9d3b-5b199814232a.html">Reports have already begun to circulate</a> about orders being canceled, redirected or renegotiated as a result. </p>
<p>How worried should U.S. winemakers be? </p>
<h2>The US wine industry</h2>
<p>The U.S. is a major player in the global wine industry both in terms of consumption and production. </p>
<p>Americans <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/wine-globalization/united-states/F91DB4F30BC37145AC9B92F37C2AA5D7">consumed 3.59 billion liters of wine</a> in 2016, or about 11.1 liters per person. About a third of that was imported. </p>
<p>In terms of production, the U.S. <a href="http://www.wineinstitute.org/files/World_Wine_Production_by_Country_2015.pdf">ranks fourth</a> after Italy, France and Spain – <a href="https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/statistics/article83">making more than 3 billion liters</a> in 2016. California produced about 85 percent of that, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/jwe.2015.29">while the rest</a> comes from a variety of states, including Washington, Oregon and New York. </p>
<p>While the vast majority of U.S. wine is consumed domestically, about 10 percent is shipped overseas. In 2017, the U.S. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/wine-globalization/united-states/F91DB4F30BC37145AC9B92F37C2AA5D7">exported 380 million liters</a> of wine worth US$1.46 billion. Canada was the top destination, importing 28 percent of the total, followed by the U.K. with 15 percent, Hong Kong at 8 percent and Japan with 6 percent. </p>
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<h2>China’s small share</h2>
<p>China, for its part, imports quite a bit of wine. Very little, however, comes from the U.S.</p>
<p>China imported some $2.37 billion worth of wine in 2016, most of which came from the European Union. Only <a href="https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/usa/show/2204/2016/">$76 million</a>, or 2.2 percent, was American.</p>
<p><iframe id="sAd9I" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sAd9I/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>That puts China sixth among top destinations for U.S. wine exports, with a share of about 5 percent. </p>
<p>These <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/pubs/working_papers/WP0517.pdf">figures underestimate</a> the true value somewhat because perhaps half of Hong Kong’s imports are then shipped or smuggled to China. Even allowing for these adjustments, Chinese consumption of U.S. wine makes up less than 1 percent of the total value of American production. </p>
<p>It’s clear that at the moment China is not all that important to most California wine producers. Why then are U.S. wine producers anxious about new tariffs disrupting trade to this relatively minor market? </p>
<p>It’s all about the future. Although per capita consumption of wine in China remains very low, China is the world’s fastest-growing wine market and is expected to soon become the second largest, after the U.S. </p>
<p>From 2000 to 2016, <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/pubs/working_papers/WP0517.pdf">Chinese wine consumption soared</a> from 219 million liters in 2000 to 1.24 billion liters in 2016. <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/pubs/working_papers/WP0517.pdf">Some observers estimate</a> growth was even higher. Much of that consumption was imported – especially in the premium wine segment. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/wine-globalization/asia-and-other-emerging-regions/85F1403DA98F8B4BB57F837734D91589">Economists who have studied these markets</a> project further significant growth in China’s demand for wine, including premium wine imports. </p>
<p>This would make getting pushed out of China especially troubling at a time when global per-capita wine consumption has been declining, especially in Europe. </p>
<p><iframe id="WKNFE" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/WKNFE/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Already at a disadvantage</h2>
<p>Even without the new tax, U.S. exporters were facing a tilted playing field that would have constrained the potential for increasing California’s market share. </p>
<p>Without the new tariffs, China already collected a tariff of 14 percent on most U.S. wine – though it can reach as high as 20 percent in some categories. In contrast, <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/pubs/working_papers/WP0517.pdf">wine from some countries</a>, such as Chile, Georgia, New Zealand and, starting next year, Australia, enter China duty-free. </p>
<p>With the new tariff in effect, most American wines will incur duties of 29 percent. </p>
<p>Hong Kong, however, does offer a back door to U.S. wine. The China-governed island phased out its own steep tariffs on wine imports a decade ago. This has created an incentive for smuggling. </p>
<h2>A market lost?</h2>
<p>So what does all this mean? </p>
<p>Given the small share of total U.S. wine currently going to China, the new tariff would not likely have a material effect on the American wine industry, whether in terms of domestic prices or producer bottom lines. Still, it will be disruptive for particular businesses especially in the near term. </p>
<p>The real concern for American wine producers is that high tariffs applied today may make U.S. wine too expensive and cause them to miss out as hundreds of millions of Chinese middle-income consumers increase their wine consumption over the next decade.</p>
<p>More broadly, if the trade spat escalates to a trade war, serious damage will be done to all of U.S. agriculture, including grape and wine producers. Even more troubling, if the loss of trade causes broader damage to the U.S. economy, it could even affect demand for California wine in its most important market: the United States.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian M. Alston receives grant funding from USDA, CDFA, and other government agencies, and occasionally from industry, to support his work on wine economics. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel A. Sumner receives grant funding through the University of California
from U.S. Department of Agriculture the California Department of Food and
Agriculture, other government agencies and occasionally from industry sources,
to support his work on economics of wine and other agricultural products.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olena Sambucci receives funding from USDA, CDFA, and other government agencies, and occasionally from industry, to support her work on wine economics.</span></em></p>While the proposed tariffs would have little effect on US wine sales in the short term, their long-term impact could be much more problematic.Julian M. Alston, Director of the Robert Mondavi Institute Center for Wine Economics, University of California, DavisDaniel Sumner, Frank H. Buck, Jr, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, DavisOlena Sambucci, Postdoctoral Scholar in Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/781822017-05-23T06:38:28Z2017-05-23T06:38:28ZThe global market for wine: China leads the emergence of a new world order<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170505/original/file-20170523-8869-g30eui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vinyards in the Sancerre wine-growing region of France.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_curb/26522012754/in/photolist-oudGjB-oRKbkk-oSmG6q-oRbNJJ-oLsxjT-oTjTY9-88n7V6-2DT66-7VdZ6o-5xrcNH-2DT65-2DTRS-8qhA2q-2DR58-2E2Dyk-2DT64-73Zf8N-3cZyfM-tSLoMP-7VaxZv-d8648N-oYt9Fk-oWJiTk-74QZ1n-5qZkcL-3ky8EK-axazgb-ozGNig-NGEhv1-NZ3p1s-NZ3rdy-PamugK-NGEoaN-5WUMv2-49fpm6-265nZ3-2E77Ym-ePP4U-sQHKL-2A5ZZz-5dpKkD-7nthMw-7zFe1v-jHtV3-tuZ9g6-x8Fqj8-uqBVfW-GpEfnY-5qZjxq">Peter/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><strong>The latest piece in our ongoing series <a href="https://theconversation.com/global/topics/globalisation-under-pressure-38722">Globalisation Under Pressure</a>, first published by The Conversation France, looks at wine consumption around the world and how it moves from the local to the global.</strong></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Recent figures in the <a href="http://bit.ly/2pkx221">annual report</a> of the International Organisation of Wine and Vine (OIV) confirm that the world wine industry is undergoing considerable change. Long-dominant European nations are finding being challenged by the emergence of countries, such as China, both as producers and consumers.</p>
<p>Globally, demand has risen slightly, to 242 million hectolitres (mhl) down from its peak of 250mhl in 2008, but up from the low of 240mhl in 2014. And there are signs of long-term growth. </p>
<p>Per-capita consumption is stable or slightly falling among the French, Spanish and Portuguese – once upon a time daily wine drinkers. But what’s more than filled up the gap is the global market, with occasional consumers around the world drinking wine one to three times per week.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/miroslav-vajdic/25693179902/in/photolist-F9qgfo-8Eo1MR-nm4Fxx-amuXYD-fcNVAE-34duRY-bn2otx-5aYsgo-9h4H2P-9A4qEn-6soTFS-2oyJLL-9YeNeR-ovKYk-MuEcF-5aYmgq-8DkSqo-bNLcHz-7kvES-8DkS1Q-757ME-2Dw8GE-8DkR67-exSk4p-8YHTGy-9YStyb-8YERF2-mfLoW-6xKaka-9YPzEi-5JeU76-34AsmH-34AtzP-34F1A1-5aYsBQ-8DhNge-8ErgKU-8DkQWb-moNM5-5aUbri-8FcQVC-nYaDoP-mfL7n-gc7TSz-8DhKgH-6LcJMJ-8DhM7K-q3Qo8v-34ArGB-34EYs9">Miroslav Vajdic/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another encouraging sign for the industry is that wine is finding new customers in countries with large populations. <a href="http://online.sfsu.edu/cholette/public_research/mhscrc_JGMktg_rev041607.pdf">In the early 1990s</a>, the US market was ranked sixth in the world, but by 2016 it had climbed to the number one spot (31.8mhl). It was followed by France (27mhl), Italy (22.5mhl) and Germany (20.2mhl). </p>
<p>A substantial market has already been established in Brazil in spite of negative 2017 economic trends, and there are great expectations for India.</p>
<p>With these new markets often being driven by emerging local production, the number of wine-producing countries is also increasing. The example of Australia is most familiar, but few know the experience of countries such as Canada. </p>
<p>Consumption <a href="http://www.foodincanada.com/exporting-and-importing/world-wine-consumption-rise-study-130647/">in Canada has been rising steadily for some years</a>. And the government is making efforts to stimulate national production with the hope of being able to export Canadian wine. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/23/first-bottles-ethiopian-wine-castel">Local production is also emerging in Ethiopia</a>, where the highlands are well-suited to grape cultivation and there is a substantial non-Muslim population (<a href="https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/256235.pdf">approximately 66% out of a total of 100 million</a>).</p>
<h2>China on the rise</h2>
<p>But it’s China that’s <a href="http://bit.ly/2oIQbqv">leading the industry shake-up</a>, by virtue both of its size and determination. Wine enjoys great symbolic value there, linked to the fact that it’s a product of the land and has strong historical roots. It also functions as a “high class” social marker. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/whos-driving-world-wine-consumption-1422461583">Either way, China is now the sixth leading consumer of wine in the world</a> (17.3mhl), just behind Germany. And with a population of <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/china-population/">1.4 billion</a> in 2017, the potential for the Chinese market is considerable.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Great Wall wine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kentaroiemoto/15234346464/in/photolist-pdd1rW-asChnJ-bA2nm4-dRsLkh-bn7sUj-6N8r1t-bn7sEj-q7QUh5-hPxNRE-bA2jdF-g6enRx-5PuU5h-bjDf6e-bvtFeB-5o6RSo-bvsH88-bn7vaY-eiuufM-g6dwU6-bA2jna-4HMRFK-bA2jEi-bA2jRk-g6cnL7-g6dRPQ-bvsEHH-g6cjiC-9Kp8Wv-6e9fbi-g6coqU-bn7sQu-5Zo92Z-bA2jFM-9JinXg-4k2BDX-4Ns5KN-5TVoLC-9UzFLT-bNLd7e-WF82F-r2ydYG-5nxrG6-8S8Wh7-34vXPp-3QFQpZ-34vXBp-7BQv8f-q7QSyW-34AvLY-b6ZDXR">Kentaro Iemoto/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With a new market and a government working to build the foundations for a national wine industry, China has now the second-largest area under cultivation in the world, 847kha up 17% over 2015. In fact, it was in 2015 that the country overtook France (now with 785kha) and it’s now second only to Spain (975kha). </p>
<p>China is expected to overtake Spain in the next five years. Vines are grown in <a href="https://www.decanterchina.com/en/regions/china/">dozens of provinces</a>, including Shandong, Hebei, and Tianjin, as well as the autonomous regions of
Xinjiang, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia.</p>
<p>Whatever the country, where there is local production consumers tend to favour it. As they become more familiar with wine, they begin to try those from other countries, and this represents <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6898/full/nature01018.html">an important growth lever for international trade</a>. That’s why 40% of the wines produced globally <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlsson/2015/02/16/france-is-the-biggest-wine-producer-in-2014-but-less-wine-is-made-and-drunk-in-europe/#533cd65854c4">are currently exported</a>, compared to just 20% in the early 1990s.</p>
<p>Although how we consume wine is shaped to a large extent by cultural context, knowledge of the world of wine and techniques for analysing its sensory qualities, trends set by certain internationally known experts also play a part. </p>
<p>Countries with newer wine industries must therefore introduce their wines to other nations while steadily building recognition and a kind of wine-making pedigree. This too has the effect of stimulating international trade. </p>
<h2>France continues to lead by value</h2>
<p>For the French wine industry, while the landscape has shifted the foundations remain solid. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-france-biggest-wine-producer-20141023-story.html">France continues</a> to challenge Spain and Italy for the title of the world’s number-one producer by volume, and it continues to lead the world in terms of value. </p>
<p><a href="http://thekeyreport.com.au/figures-figures-and-more-figures/">France produced 43.5mhl of wine</a> in 2016 compared to 50.9mhl for Italy, but the value of France’s exports was €8.2 billion compared to Italy’s €2.6 billion. That’s over three times more, and 28.5% of the total value of the global wine market.</p>
<p>The figures confirm that French wines are perceived and purchased as high added-value products, and France continues to excel at capitalising on the quality of its wines. While Spain is the leading exporter by volume, the price of Spanish per unit remains low on international markets, with a total value of just €2.6 billion. </p>
<p>One immediately thinks of champagnes, revered and undisputed as the sparkling wine par excellence, as well as great bordeaux and burgundies, and more recently, the Provence rosés. </p>
<p>French wines are also exported to more countries than wines of any other nationality and, generally speaking, any new importer starts by “listing” French wines before looking at any other foreign producers. This is a reflection of what the French industry has been able to convey to wine lovers the world over in terms of image, quality and diversity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cheers!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yakobusan/3162940696/in/photolist-5PuU5h-bjDf6e-bvtFeB-5o6RSo-bvsH88-bn7vaY-eiuufM-g6dwU6-bA2jna-4HMRFK-bA2jEi-bA2jRk-g6cnL7-g6dRPQ-bvsEHH-g6cjiC-9Kp8Wv-6e9fbi-g6coqU-bn7sQu-5Zo92Z-bA2jFM-9JinXg-4k2BDX-4Ns5KN-5TVoLC-9UzFLT-bNLd7e-WF82F-r2ydYG-5nxrG6-8S8Wh7-34vXPp-3QFQpZ-34vXBp-7BQv8f-q7QSyW-34AvLY-b6ZDXR-4NnTMz-8ifuiH-79yHGH-g6bZar-bHmMF-6sunyE-3mJXA-9jV14p-bvswYT-dc8zRQ-g4NFjY">Jakob Montrasio/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Thinking strategically</h2>
<p>In the coming years, as wine-producing countries continue to seek to maintain and expand their domestic and international market shares, they’ll also need to adapt to ongoing <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomaspellechia/2016/06/20/climate-change-from-a-global-wine-industry-perspective/#666ea692116b">climate change</a>. </p>
<p>Brazilian production dropped 55% between 2015 and 2016, for instance, because of a strong <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-el-nino-and-la-nina-27719">El Niño</a>, while production also fell in drought-stricken South Africa. To deal with this, an increasingly strategic approach is being developed, including <a href="https://kedge.edu/l-ecole/expertises/wine-and-spirits">specialised research schools</a>. </p>
<p>At all levels around the world, stakeholders are engaging with governments and decision-makers to increase the industry’s competitiveness and better tackle new international challenges.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The 2017 edition of the <a href="http://www.vinexpobordeaux.com/en/">Vinexpo wine and spirits trade show</a> takes place June 18-21 in Bordeaux, France.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacques-Olivier Pesme does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest figures on the world wine market confirm that the industry is undergoing considerable change, with European countries finding their positions and strategies challenged by the new world..Jacques-Olivier Pesme, Director of the Wine & Spirits Academy, Kedge Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/767202017-05-15T19:06:52Z2017-05-15T19:06:52ZThe global market for wine: China leads the emergence of a new world order<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167749/original/file-20170503-21627-1ew0unc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1138%2C623&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vinyards in the Sancerre wine-growing region of France.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_curb/26522012754/in/photolist-oudGjB-oRKbkk-oSmG6q-oRbNJJ-oLsxjT-oTjTY9-88n7V6-2DT66-7VdZ6o-5xrcNH-2DT65-2DTRS-8qhA2q-2DR58-2E2Dyk-2DT64-73Zf8N-3cZyfM-tSLoMP-7VaxZv-d8648N-oYt9Fk-oWJiTk-74QZ1n-5qZkcL-3ky8EK-axazgb-ozGNig-NGEhv1-NZ3p1s-NZ3rdy-PamugK-NGEoaN-5WUMv2-49fpm6-265nZ3-2E77Ym-ePP4U-sQHKL-2A5ZZz-5dpKkD-7nthMw-7zFe1v-jHtV3-tuZ9g6-x8Fqj8-uqBVfW-GpEfnY-5qZjxq">Peter/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent figures in the <a href="http://bit.ly/2pkx221">annual report</a> of the International Organisation of Wine and Vine (OIV) confirm that the world wine industry is undergoing considerable change. In particular, long-dominant European nations are finding their positions strategies challenged by the emergence of countries such as China, both as producers and consumers.</p>
<p>Globally, demand has risen slightly, to 242 million hectolitres (mhl), down from its peak of 250mhl in 2008 but up from the low of 240mhl in 2014, and there are signs of long-term growth. Yet per-capita consumption is stable or slightly falling among the French, Spanish and Portuguese – once upon a time daily wine-drinkers. What has more than filled up the gap is the global market, with occasional consumers around the world drinking wine one to three times per week.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167750/original/file-20170503-21649-1rl14o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/miroslav-vajdic/25693179902/in/photolist-F9qgfo-8Eo1MR-nm4Fxx-amuXYD-fcNVAE-34duRY-bn2otx-5aYsgo-9h4H2P-9A4qEn-6soTFS-2oyJLL-9YeNeR-ovKYk-MuEcF-5aYmgq-8DkSqo-bNLcHz-7kvES-8DkS1Q-757ME-2Dw8GE-8DkR67-exSk4p-8YHTGy-9YStyb-8YERF2-mfLoW-6xKaka-9YPzEi-5JeU76-34AsmH-34AtzP-34F1A1-5aYsBQ-8DhNge-8ErgKU-8DkQWb-moNM5-5aUbri-8FcQVC-nYaDoP-mfL7n-gc7TSz-8DhKgH-6LcJMJ-8DhM7K-q3Qo8v-34ArGB-34EYs9">Miroslav Vajdic/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another encouraging sign for the industry: Wine is finding new customers in countries with large populations. <a href="http://online.sfsu.edu/cholette/public_research/mhscrc_JGMktg_rev041607.pdf">In the early 1990s</a> the US market was ranked sixth in the world, but by 2016 it had climbed to the number-one spot, at 31.8mhl, followed by France (27mhl), Italy (22.5mhl) and Germany (20.2mhl). A substantial market has already been established in Brazil, in spite of the negative economic trends in 2017, and there are great expectations in India, still to be confirmed…</p>
<p>With these new markets, often being driven by emerging local production, the number of wine-producing countries is also increasing. The example of Australia is most familiar, but fewer with the experience of countries such as Canada. In fact, consumption <a href="http://www.foodincanada.com/exporting-and-importing/world-wine-consumption-rise-study-130647/">in Canada has been rising steadily for some years</a>. The government is making efforts to stimulate national production and hopes to be able to export Canadian wine. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/23/first-bottles-ethiopian-wine-castel">Local production is even emerging in Ethiopia</a>, where the highlands are well-suited to grape cultivation and there is a substantial non-Muslim population (<a href="https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/256235.pdf">approximately 66% out of a total of 100 million</a>).</p>
<h2>China on the rise</h2>
<p>China is <a href="http://bit.ly/2oIQbqv">leading the industry shake-up</a>, by virtue both of its size and determination. Wine enjoys great symbolic value there, linked to the fact it’s a product of the land and has strong historical ties, yet it also functions as a “high class” social marker. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/whos-driving-world-wine-consumption-1422461583">Either way, China is now the sixth leading consumer of wine in the world</a>, 17.3mhl, just behind Germany, and with a 2017 population of <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/china-population/">1.4 billion</a>, the potential is considerable.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167752/original/file-20170503-21608-1eol1mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Great Wall wine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kentaroiemoto/15234346464/in/photolist-pdd1rW-asChnJ-bA2nm4-dRsLkh-bn7sUj-6N8r1t-bn7sEj-q7QUh5-hPxNRE-bA2jdF-g6enRx-5PuU5h-bjDf6e-bvtFeB-5o6RSo-bvsH88-bn7vaY-eiuufM-g6dwU6-bA2jna-4HMRFK-bA2jEi-bA2jRk-g6cnL7-g6dRPQ-bvsEHH-g6cjiC-9Kp8Wv-6e9fbi-g6coqU-bn7sQu-5Zo92Z-bA2jFM-9JinXg-4k2BDX-4Ns5KN-5TVoLC-9UzFLT-bNLd7e-WF82F-r2ydYG-5nxrG6-8S8Wh7-34vXPp-3QFQpZ-34vXBp-7BQv8f-q7QSyW-34AvLY-b6ZDXR">Kentaro Iemoto/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With a new market and a government working to build the foundations for a national wine industry, China has now the second largest area under cultivation in the world, 847kha (thousands of hectares), up 17% over 2015. In 2015 the country overtook France (now with 785kha) and now second only to Spain (975kha). China is expected to overtake Spain in the next five years. Vines are grown in <a href="https://www.decanterchina.com/en/regions/china/">dozens of provinces</a>, including Shandong, Hebei, and Tianjin, as well as the autonomous regions of
Xinjiang, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia.</p>
<p>Whatever the country, where there is local production consumers tend to favour it. As they become more familiar with wine, they begin to try those from other countries, and this represents <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6898/full/nature01018.html">an important growth lever for international trade</a>. That’s why 40% of the wines produced globally <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlsson/2015/02/16/france-is-the-biggest-wine-producer-in-2014-but-less-wine-is-made-and-drunk-in-europe/#533cd65854c4">are currently exported</a>, compared to just 20% in the early 1990s.</p>
<p>Although how we consume wine is shaped to a large extent by cultural context, knowledge of the world of wine, the techniques for analysing its sensory qualities, and trends set by certain internationally known experts also play a part. Countries with newer wine industries must therefore introduce their wines to other countries while steadily building recognition and a kind of wine-making pedigree. This too has the effect of stimulating international trade. </p>
<h2>France continues to lead by value</h2>
<p>For the French wine industry, while the landscape has shifted the foundations remain solid. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-france-biggest-wine-producer-20141023-story.html">France continues</a> to challenge Spain and Italy for the title of the world’s number-one producer by volume, and it continues to lead the world in terms of value, as it long has. <a href="http://thekeyreport.com.au/figures-figures-and-more-figures/">France produced 43.5mhl of wine </a>in 2016 compared to 50.9mhl for Italy (15% less) yet the value of France’s exports was 8.2 billion euros compared to 2.6 billion for Italy – over three times more, and 28.5% of the total value of the global wine market.</p>
<p>The figures confirm that French wines are perceived and purchased as high added-value products, and France continues to excel at capitalising on the quality of its wines. While Spain is the leading exporter by volume, the price of Spanish per unit remain low on the international markets, with a total value of just 2.6 billion euros. </p>
<p>One immediately thinks of Champagnes, revered and undisputed as the sparkling-wine par excellence, as well as the great Bordeaux and Burgundies, and more recently, the Provence rosés. French wines are also exported to more countries than wines of any other nationality and generally speaking, any new importer starts by “listing” French wines before looking at any other foreign producers. This is a reflection of what the French industry has been able to convey to wine lovers the world over in terms of image, quality and diversity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167751/original/file-20170503-21635-15hhvyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cheers!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yakobusan/3162940696/in/photolist-5PuU5h-bjDf6e-bvtFeB-5o6RSo-bvsH88-bn7vaY-eiuufM-g6dwU6-bA2jna-4HMRFK-bA2jEi-bA2jRk-g6cnL7-g6dRPQ-bvsEHH-g6cjiC-9Kp8Wv-6e9fbi-g6coqU-bn7sQu-5Zo92Z-bA2jFM-9JinXg-4k2BDX-4Ns5KN-5TVoLC-9UzFLT-bNLd7e-WF82F-r2ydYG-5nxrG6-8S8Wh7-34vXPp-3QFQpZ-34vXBp-7BQv8f-q7QSyW-34AvLY-b6ZDXR-4NnTMz-8ifuiH-79yHGH-g6bZar-bHmMF-6sunyE-3mJXA-9jV14p-bvswYT-dc8zRQ-g4NFjY">Jakob Montrasio/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Thinking strategically</h2>
<p>In the coming years, as wine-producing countries continue to seek to maintain and expand their domestic and international market shares, they’ll also need to adapt to ongoing <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomaspellechia/2016/06/20/climate-change-from-a-global-wine-industry-perspective/#666ea692116b">climate change</a>. For example, Brazilian production dropped 55% between 2015 and 2016 because of a strong <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-el-nino-and-la-nina-27719">El Niño</a>, while production fell in drought-stricken South Africa. An increasingly strategic approach is being developed, including <a href="https://kedge.edu/l-ecole/expertises/wine-and-spirits">specialized research schools</a>. At all levels around the world, stakeholders are engaging with governments and decision-makers to increase the industry’s competitiveness and better tackle these new international challenges.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The 2017 edition of the <a href="http://www.vinexpobordeaux.com/en/">Vinexpo wine and spirits trade show</a> takes place June 18-21 in Bordeaux, France.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacques-Olivier Pesme ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The latest figures on the world wine market confirm that the industry is undergoing considerable change, with European countries finding their positions and strategies challenged by the US and China.Jacques-Olivier Pesme, Director of the Wine & Spirits Academy, Kedge Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/670282016-10-18T06:45:53Z2016-10-18T06:45:53ZWine and climate change: 8,000 years of adaptation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141657/original/image-20161013-3944-6yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wine has been adapting since the Little Ice Age.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Coiron%2C_Ard%C3%A8che%2C_feuille_de_vigne_fossile_du_Plioc%C3%A8ne_vitis_previnifera_sap..jpg">JPS68/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>These days it is almost impossible to say anything moderately optimistic about climate change. </p>
<p>But geographers, archaeologists, historians, agronomists and biologist can show some positive effects, because they allow for the immense creativity and resilience of human societies, and of living things in general, as demonstrated throughout the ages and across the great variety of different habitats on the planet. One of those positive effects could be the evolution of wine.</p>
<h2>Continual advancements in wine-making</h2>
<p>Wine-making is a branch of agriculture that arose from whim rather than necessity, as an expression of cultural identity. It has shown itself capable of adapting to the various climatic changes that have occurred in the last 8,000 years, since <em>Vitis vinifera</em> was first domesticated and disseminated. As a result, its methods – and the quality of the wine produced – never ceased to improve. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/la-fabrique-de-l-histoire/les-grandes-crises-climatiques-34-le-petit-age-glaciaire">Little Ice Age</a> (from the 15th to 19th century) is a good example of this phenomenon. Northern Europeans had learned to grown vines under sunny skies. But the falling temperatures of the Little Ice Age forced them to abandon what had become an increasingly uncertain crop, and look to the south to satisfy the requirements of Christian worship, via Holy Communion, and the emerging taste for good wine, which had become an essential part of life in more refined circles. </p>
<p>This is why we now have beautiful vineyards on the Atlantic (<a href="http://www.visit-saintes.com/things-to-do/cognac-pineau/">Saintonge</a>, where wine is distilled to make cognac; Bordeaux in France; Alto Douro and Madeira in Portugal; Jerez and Constanti in Spain) and the Mediterranean in Spain, Sicily and Cyprus.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140754/original/image-20161006-32734-supwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cork oak being stripped from its bark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AIAPH_Saca_del_corcho.jpg">Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shipping delicate wines by means of long sea journeys also sparked ingenuity. This is how the Dutch invented the sulfur stick that was burned to sterilise the barrels. The English began fortifying wines with spirits in order to stabilising wines containing a great deal of residual sugar post-fermentation and, along with the Flemish, invented thick <a href="http://avis-vin.lefigaro.fr/connaitre-deguster/o28482-la-bouteille-de-vin-trois-siecles-de-bons-et-loyaux-services">black wine bottles</a> made in coal-fired furnaces. These were useful for portioning out the contents of a barrel and could prolong the ageing process – as long as they were capped with a <a href="http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/bouchon-liege-cette-invention-sans-laquelle-vins-francais-auraient-jamais-ete-aussi-bons-jean-robert-pitte-915253.html">cork</a> made of a natural material discovered by the English in Portugal.</p>
<p>In the remaining northernmost vineyards, the cold prevented the grapes from ripening properly. The resulting wines were often terribly sour. In addition, the final stages of fermentation were hindered by the arrival of the first cold front and would not resume until the following spring. </p>
<p>These two problems eventually led to invention of the bubbles in Champagne, by adding sugar from the Caribbean to the very young wine and keeping it in tightly corked bottles, causing second fermentation and heavy carbonation.</p>
<h2>Roasted grapes</h2>
<p>The opposite phenomenon has now been occurring for some time. Rising temperatures – interspersed with climatic anomalies such as the late frosts that occurred across Europe last spring, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/french-wine-production-to-fall-10-this-year-after-fierce-spring-weather">devastating many vineyards</a> – are having troubling effects.</p>
<p>At the other extreme, varieties of grapes with very thin skin are roasting in the sun in hot weather. Until now, the leaves of these vines were thinned so as to let in more sunlight. Grapes are <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/fig_tab/nclimate2960_ft.html">ripening too early</a> overall, and the harvest must be carried out quickly so as to maintain some level of acidity and eschew heavy, flat-tasting wines with a high level of alcohol and a short shelf-life.</p>
<p>This trend is not only visible in southern regions but also far north, in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212977414000222">France’s Alsace region</a>, for example. And during very hot summers, water scarcity can be so severe that many grapes dry on the vine before ripening.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/25Y74v8aTIY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A closer look at grape varieties (France 3 Burgundy, 2014).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The emergence of new methods</h2>
<p>New methods must be developed, and this is very much an ongoing process. To begin with, vineyards with too much sun exposure (such as those in southern plains and slopes facing south) should be discarded in favour of higher ground (for example, the upper areas in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California, the mountains of Cévennes and Priorat in France and the Golan Heights or the Judean Hills in Israel); or areas facing north (Ventoux, Lubéron, Alpilles, Corbières in France). Eventually, this could also apply to regions further north (France’s Valais, Condrieu, the northern part of Côtes-du-Rhône, Beaujolais, and even Burgundy).</p>
<p>Newly planted vines will have to be irrigated to ensure their survival, but cautiously and just for a few years, for deeper rooting.</p>
<p>Soils will need to be carefully selected to reflect changing circumstances. Total or partial ground cover could prove to be an effective means of preventing excess evaporation in certain kinds of soils.</p>
<p>The way we train vines – pruning and trimming in particular – should be adapted so that ripening occurs at regular intervals. And we should not be so dogmatic about vine varieties.</p>
<h2>Northern bound</h2>
<p>Moving vines further north could produce benefits. Pilot plantations of Marsanne and Syrah grapes in Beaujolais show promise which, once confirmed, should lead us to reconsider the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/iprenforcement/docs/observatory/gi-designations_en.pdf">current legislation on protected designation of origin</a>. Making red wine out of Pinot-Noir grapes in Champagne would probably result in some very good wines, as it already has in Oregon, southern Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140757/original/image-20161006-32723-1rwuogh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140757/original/image-20161006-32723-1rwuogh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140757/original/image-20161006-32723-1rwuogh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140757/original/image-20161006-32723-1rwuogh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140757/original/image-20161006-32723-1rwuogh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140757/original/image-20161006-32723-1rwuogh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140757/original/image-20161006-32723-1rwuogh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vineyard in Hokkaido, in northern Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/14degrees/14975911220">Robert Thomson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traditionally, <a href="http://www.persee.fr/doc/geo_0003-4010_1983_num_92_510_20178">the Japanese Island of Hokkaido</a>, with its Siberian-like winters, only produced mediocre hybrid varieties of wine. Today, forward-thinking winemakers are producing very fine wines using white grape varieties from the Rhine region. England is once again being covered with vineyards, producing great wines.</p>
<p>One fact is particularly telling: Queen Elizabeth had 16,000 vines of Pinot-Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay planted in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8492607/Royal-family-to-produce-its-own-wine-from-Windsor-Great-Park-grapes.html">Windsor Great Park</a> to produce her own sparkling wine. Champagne, which up until now hasbeen used for royal toasts, had better watch out.</p>
<p>The bottom line is, nothing is lost, and no tragedy will befall good wine growers and wine lovers should climate change continue. </p>
<p>It will be quite a while before Greenland becomes a wine-growing region. In the meantime, we won’t be short of a drink. It’s also worth noting that we now produce more good local wines across all latitudes than ever before in the history of winemaking.</p>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en/">Fast for Word</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67028/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean-Robert Pitte does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wine lovers can rest assured. Wine will adapt to climate change.Jean-Robert Pitte, Professeur émérite en géographie, ancien président de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, Sorbonne UniversitéLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/643942016-09-08T20:45:00Z2016-09-08T20:45:00ZMaking wine takes a lot of energy. How South Africa’s vintners can cut back<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136747/original/image-20160906-6088-1vycign.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa is one of the top ten wine producing countries in the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wine production consumes large amounts of energy and generates a sizeable quantity of greenhouse gases. A looming <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/public%20comments/CarbonTaxBill2015/Carbon%20Tax%20Bill%20final%20for%20release%20for%20comment.pdf">carbon tax</a> and greater consumer awareness about reduced energy use has led to a growing interest in the energy performance of South Africa’s wine industry. </p>
<p>The agriculture and industry sectors combined account for nearly 50% of the country’s <a href="http://www.energy.gov.za/files/media/explained/2009%20Digest%20PDF%20version.pdf">energy consumption</a>. It takes approximately <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652613002084">2,618 GJ</a> of energy to process one tonne of grapes into the finished product. This equates to over 700,000 kWh of electricity to process a tonne of grapes. That’s the consumption of 60 middle class homes per year. In 2015 just more than 1.5 million tonnes of grapes were crushed to produce around <a href="http://www.sawis.co.za/info/download/Book_2016_engels_final.pdf">1 billion litres of wine</a>. </p>
<p>South Africa is one of the <a href="http://www.topwinesa.com/?p=3200">top ten wine producing countries in the world</a>. Of the 1 billion litres of wine produced annually, nearly <a href="http://www.sawis.co.za/info/download/Book_2016_engels_final.pdf">half is exported</a>. Around 95% of the wine is produced in the Western Cape province.</p>
<p>There is now widespread acceptance that energy use in the industry needs to be reduced. Typically, this can be achieved in two ways: behavioural change, and technical interventions. </p>
<h2>Greater energy efficiency</h2>
<p>A number of factors are driving the industry to look at greater energy efficiencies. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The rising cost of energy. This is expected to remain well above inflation in the foreseeable future with significant implications for the sector’s profitability. </p></li>
<li><p>The risk of high carbon footprint products in a competitive export market. The industry is now subject to the <a href="http://www.wineinstitute.org/ghgprotocol">GreenHouse Gas Accounting Protocol</a> of the <a href="http://www.oiv.int/">International Organisation of Vine and Wine</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Concerns about the impact of climate change on the local industry given the close correlation between vintage quality and annual weather conditions.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The challenge is that farmers often don’t have enough time to focus on energy efficiencies. They are also constrained by limited finances.</p>
<p>Farmers also tend to focus only on improving technical interventions. There’s usually only one person responsible for energy in the winery. This means that knowledge is not easily accessible to the rest of the team.</p>
<p>We identified the need to develop an appropriate <a href="http://www.sawislibrary.co.za/dbtextimages/BrentA.pdf">guideline</a> to implement an energy management system. This was based on best practice from wine producing regions such as California and Australia. We tailored these for the South African context. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136864/original/image-20160907-25237-47z6la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New wine technologies can help drive down energy consumption.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The benefit of the energy management system is that it is designed to focus on sustainability in a few different ways, including saving money and placing an emphasis on a continuous improvement cycle. </p>
<h2>The energy management system</h2>
<p>The system builds on the energy management standard of the <a href="http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management-standards/iso50001.htm">International Organisation for Standardisation</a>. It’s been adapted for wineries. Using case studies from <a href="http://www.sawislibrary.co.za/dbtextimages/BrentA.pdf">South African wineries</a>, it identifies typical energy saving opportunities. But energy efficiency and cost cutting initiatives can be expensive. So a systematic approach is needed.</p>
<p>Winemakers or operations manager must have a written energy efficiency plan listing the ways in which energy consumption can be reduced. The plan should include an energy consumption reduction strategy, training of staff to improve energy consumption and monitoring programmes. A dedicated energy and carbon management system has worked well at the <a href="http://backsberg.co.za">Backsberg Estate Cellars</a>, which has won international awards for its efforts.</p>
<p>The plan would document how, when, and where energy use will be monitored. It would also track how these results can be used to improve energy efficiency. Energy consumption data should then be collected and monitored to enable analyses of the winery’s energy usage. Real time data will allow the winemaker or operations manager to identify peak demands and high energy usage processes that could be targeted for energy reduction.</p>
<p>Energy efficiency should also be made a high priority when purchasing new equipment. There are new technologies that can help drive down consumption. </p>
<p>At the same time, existing equipment should be optimised through regular servicing and repairs. In particular, refrigeration and cooling systems provide an opportunity for cost reduction and energy efficiency. </p>
<p>Space lighting is another example of low hanging fruit. Existing light bulbs can be replaced with more energy efficient ones. </p>
<p>Overall, there should be programmes in place for all the energy consuming equipment on any wine farm. Energy reduction and cost cutting won’t happen all at once. But a combination of interventions can result in breakthrough improvements. This has been demonstrated by several wineries in South Africa.</p>
<p>The guidelines aim to address the industry’s key concerns. These include reducing dependency on costly energy services, becoming carbon neutral in terms of product offering, and addressing climate change concerns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Brent, through Stellenbosch University, received funding from Winetech to undertake the work which is the basis for this article. </span></em></p>It takes a lot of electricity to produce wine. If the industry wants to remain sustainable, it must place more emphasis on reducing energy use.Alan Brent, Professor of Engineering Management and Sustainable Systems, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/539602016-02-08T02:39:45Z2016-02-08T02:39:45ZWine exports are climbing, so why is the industry battling to survive?<p>This month brought good news from <a href="https://wineaustralia.com/en/News%20and%20Events/australian-wine-exports-jump-14-per-cent.aspx">Wine Australia</a> with the value of exports rocketing by 14% to $2.1 billion in 2015. These figures represent the best result since 2007. However, a different picture of the wine industry emerges from submissions made to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee Inquiry, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Australian_wine_industry">due to report on 12 February 2016</a>. Change is clearly needed but given the wide gap in views is the industry’s future sustainable?</p>
<h2>Economic sustainability</h2>
<p>The Senate submissions suggest all is not as it seems. The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia have stated 70% of wine production in Australia may be uneconomic. Pernod Ricard Winemakers, the third largest producer, say that in 2014, 84% of Australian wine grapes were produced at a loss. Economic sustainability still appears a critical issue for the wine industry moving forward.</p>
<p>The Government Senate inquiry certainly recognises this, with an economic focus making up the majority of its <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Australian_wine_industry/Terms_of_Reference">terms of reference</a>. Submissions reveal a litany of woes - both in market and government policy - such as the problem of being a price-taker in a competitive marketplace and the need for industry tax reform.</p>
<p>There are the expected claims of local groups seeking to gain relative economic advantage. For example, Wine Tasmania <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=a0b94d5e-518a-4307-bb5f-00d0df7a01b2&subId=351907">favours</a> financial encouragement and marketing of cool climate wines and small business (it has no large producers).</p>
<p>In contrast Riverland Wine, with 25% of the national annual grape crush in a warm climate setting, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=1c6eda71-b0dc-4d4f-87af-841f0a5a230d&subId=352017">suggests</a> the need for a collaborative approach if the industry is to overcome problems arising over the last decade. Competition and cooperation are needed to bring a common perspective for industry survival. </p>
<p>This currently is in the hands of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority which is criticised (submission <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=2b016e7f-81bf-43ab-8149-626195559ea4&subId=350980">#4</a>) for looking after large wineries at the expense of small producers (<a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=48d88bb1-3675-4370-a9c6-6b9a5f5c6350&subId=352351">#26</a>, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=f971561b-ec88-4d38-803c-5d0b352e8590&subId=352610">#27</a>, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=15426282-089a-43c8-b65c-5399a9041d8b&subId=353093">#34</a>).</p>
<p>While the recent drop in the Australian dollar may help, if the industry is to remain viable in the long-term, two other sustainability issues must be addressed. </p>
<h2>Environmental sustainability</h2>
<p>The Senate Inquiry’s specific terms of reference is noticeably silent on environmental issues affecting the wine industry. Yet several submissions raise the environment as critical to the industry’s future.</p>
<p>One wine industry consultant <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=b2cb28ca-3835-4e1e-b023-b5bc20a4968e&subId=351277">pinpoints</a> environmental sustainability as of prospective concern.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The ongoing climatic evolution along with growing market demand for product traceability, ethical production and environmental awareness will become increasingly important and the industry’s response to these issues and demands will differentiate it and provide opportunity to charge the premium it deserves.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=15426282-089a-43c8-b65c-5399a9041d8b&subId=353093">Another submission</a> from individual winegrowers claimed small businesses are ignored by the professional wine associations and also are not the focus of state organisations, despite their contribution to environmental sustainability. The submission also claimed that the views of small business are under-represented, with about 35% of the innovative small wineries appearing “totally invisible” to the industry.</p>
<p>Certainly the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia sees the importance of leveraging off the Australian wine industry’s environmental credentials when major international buyers, including the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Marks & Spencer and the Nordic monopolies, are introducing environmental benchmarks into their purchasing criteria for premium brands.</p>
<p>Environmental sustainability in the context of extreme weather events, changing season lengths and water shortages may well stymie the short-term economic gains about which Wine Australia is currently in awe.</p>
<h2>Social sustainability</h2>
<p>Social aspects of the wine industry, and in particular those associated with small wineries, are sometimes overlooked, yet made clear though numerous submissions. Not only does the industry generate employment, it encourages tourism trading on foodie and “locavore” cultures, and supports regional communities that would suffer extreme hardship should small producers find themselves unable to continue with their activities. In contrast, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=7ab07b30-6b3c-4a77-b1d1-427ae7a34b3e&subId=352343">only one submission</a> needs to be read to understand the sheer personal desperation owners of some small wineries feel.</p>
<h2>Integrating the economic, social and environmental for success</h2>
<p>At a time when agility and innovation of business is being encouraged by the Australian government it is important to ask why smaller producers are ignored. <a href="http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/%7E/media/corporate/allfiles/document/professional-resources/business/small-business-survey-2015-australia-media-release.pdf?la=en">Evidence from CPA Australia</a> and <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=15426282-089a-43c8-b65c-5399a9041d8b&subId=353093">this submission</a> indicates it is not the case in Asia, where social media and direct to consumer e-commerce technologies are the norm. Also new markets are being developed by small business such as tapping the wine for the tourism and hospitality industry in restaurants and bars. </p>
<p>However, in Australia small wine business are reporting cutbacks. As one vineyard owner in Griffith, NSW <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=59ef9600-4d07-4a64-a3e8-4f2ec8049f70&subId=351904">reports</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We’ve slowed machinery replacement considerably and have ceased repairs on soil moisture monitoring… We are using more of the cheaper chemicals to control weeds and disease, which we don’t like doing as some are more dangerous than their more expensive alternatives. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainable wine production are inextricably intertwined. Wine associations and government at all levels must do more to support the needs of all producers and be mindful of innovations leading to changes in consumption patterns if the industry is to become sustainable in the long-term. </p>
<p>With a Senate Inquiry about to report and potentially provide an outdated report, how and when will government, industry associations and the wine businesses themselves become more agile?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Burritt is a Fellow of CPA Australia and a Member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Christ has previously received funding from the Australian Grape and Wine Authority via a PhD Scholarship. She is also employed as a sessional staff member by the University of South Australia.</span></em></p>The wine industry had a bumper export year last year - but it hides a terrible secret.Roger Burritt, Professor of Accounting and Sustainability, Macquarie UniversityKatherine Christ, Researcher in Accounting and Sustainability, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/453612015-07-29T20:05:28Z2015-07-29T20:05:28ZMessage in a bottle: the wine industry gives farmers a taste of what to expect from climate change<p>Wine, as we have <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/climate-change-hitting-where-it-hurts-your-wine-20150726-gikmuc.html">seen once again this week</a>, seems to be a handy way to galvanise concerns about the future ill-effects of climate change. It’s perhaps telling that the prospect of losing a favourite tipple attracts media coverage so readily, when the bigger issue is surely about securing food for the billions who rely on subsistence farming. </p>
<p>Those concerns aside, viticulture delivers important messages about a changing climate, for several reasons. High-quality wine is extraordinarily sensitive to the vagaries of the weather. Grape growers and wine producers (vignerons) are observant and responsive to any impacts on their product, especially when it comes to signs that a particular grape variety or vineyard is not performing. </p>
<p>One example is in South Australia, where high-quality wine producers are using their expertise to adapt as the state’s climatic conditions change. </p>
<h2>Change is in the wind</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, my colleagues and I have studied changes in the McLaren Vale wine region, south of Adelaide. This region’s wines regularly win international awards, particularly for shiraz, which dominates varietal selection. Like other farmers, vignerons here are noticing more extreme heat and humid weather in summer, and less rain, stronger storms and milder temperatures in winter. </p>
<p>But unlike some other crops, viticulture has an enormous range of adaptation options and the capacity to apply them – and in the McLaren Vale change is underway. </p>
<p>The region’s growers have banded together to organise a <a href="http://mclarenvale.info/association/water-management/">recycled water scheme</a> to secure their irrigation resources. This has largely eliminated the risk of groundwater depletion, for the near future at least. </p>
<p>They have also worked together with governments to strengthen planning policy and protect rural land from the expansion of Adelaide’s southern suburbs. As a result, the rural land here is as secure as anywhere similarly close to a major Australian city. This is crucial because the McLaren Vale is a unique patch of land with complex geology, set between the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and the moderating climatic influences of the St Vincent Gulf. </p>
<p>Growers have strong networks, from the formal <a href="http://mclarenvale.info/">McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism Association</a> through to the <a href="http://www.willungafarmersmarket.com.au/">Willunga farmers’ market</a> and the <a href="http://www.fowb.net/">Friends of Willunga Basin</a>. The region’s wine is defined by a globally recognised <a href="http://www.wineaustralia.com/en/Production%20and%20Exporting/Register%20of%20Protected%20GIs%20and%20Other%20Terms/Geographical%20Indications.aspx">Geographical Indication mark</a>. That is being strengthened with the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880912003830">mapping of the region’s unique soils</a> and wine consumers’ increasing knowledge of the terroir of the McLaren Vale.</p>
<h2>The sour taste of Australian climate policy</h2>
<p>In effect, the whole socio-ecological system of the McLaren Vale is being <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-011-9453-4">made more resilient</a>. Even before individual producers make choices about what grape varieties to use, or about techniques such as mulching, pruning, harvesting and blending, they know they have strengthened their production system enormously by working together to secure their natural resources. Vignerons have also worked together to market their products in ways that <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10708-012-9464-8">reflect the uniqueness of their place</a>. </p>
<p>Yes, growers are also looking to the warmer southern parts of Europe for varieties that might better fit their future climate and have <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880912003830">experimented with them</a> on their fields and in their wineries. </p>
<p>Yes, they are developing new ways of farming using methods that conserve water and maximise the quality of the soils. And yes, they are spreading the risk by diversifying into other regions and industries, especially tourism. </p>
<p>But there is a bigger message than risks to wine quality that needs to get through to the people making decisions about our ecological futures. Wine quality is only an indicator of future risk and we are only in the early stages of a massive ecological shift that will require a <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-010-9487-1">different type of thinking</a> about our environment. </p>
<p>While some of the most resourced, educated, informed and organised farmers in Australia are adjusting successfully in the short term, they are also looking to the future and noting that adaptation will <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-014-9541-x">meet new thresholds in the longer term</a>. </p>
<p>Everyone needs to work to minimise the rate of climate change. We can learn from early adapters such as the vignerons of the McLaren Vale, but it is not going to be easy to adapt, because bit by bit climate change will change everything. </p>
<p>The heatwaves that are burning the grapes of the McLaren Vale will get worse and make summers less comfortable for everyone. Dry summers will <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622815001563">add to the bushfire risk</a> on the periphery of our cities, just as they limit the complexity of flavours in our wines. The storms that strip leaves or cause mildew outbreaks in the McLaren Vale will also damage houses across southern Australia. </p>
<p>Yet, at the moment, Australia is <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-in-the-spotlight-at-climate-talks-for-all-the-wrong-reasons-42882">acting like a pariah state</a> on climate change – it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/visualising-australias-carbon-emissions-23816">up there with the worst performers</a> on per capita greenhouse emissions and has a history of using <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-hit-its-kyoto-target-but-it-was-more-a-three-inch-putt-than-a-hole-in-one-44731">accounting tricks</a> to make its efforts seem more palatable. </p>
<p>It is not good enough to aim low on this issue, because we are going to lose things we value – not just our favourite wines, but the very security of the places where we live and grow our food. That is the real message in the bottle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Douglas Bardsley receives funding from the Federal and South Australian Governments to support his climate change research.</span></em></p>The wine industry is sensitive to climate change, but grape growers also have the funding and knowledge to put themselves at the forefront of climate adaptation. Other farmers should watch with interest.Douglas Bardsley, Senior Lecturer, Geography, Environment and Population, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/357132014-12-31T08:44:06Z2014-12-31T08:44:06ZJust drink it: why wine investing usually isn’t worth it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68005/original/image-20141223-32204-1pfxa2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Save or consume? Research suggests wine makes a poor financial investment. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Investing in fine wines has become increasingly popular over the past few decades as many in the viticulture industry have promoted fermented grapes as a way to boost returns and diversify a portfolio. The rapid rise in public interest has been accompanied by a growing body of <a href="http://www.wine-economics.org/journal">economic literature</a>. The <a href="http://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Vol.7-No.1-2012-Wine-Economics.pdf">evidence</a> suggests it may not be wise to buy wine as investment instead of for drinking. Investing in common stocks yield higher returns in the long run – and is less risky. </p>
<p>As you might expect, the wine trade considers its product the ultimate asset. Industry insiders have argued that wine generates above-average returns, helps to diversify an investor’s portfolio (thus lowering its risk) and – if all fails – the owner can still drink it. </p>
<p>Zachy’s, a major New York wine retailer and wine auction house, for example, claims that auction prices of top Bordeaux wines have <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-77084553/the-rate-of-return-on-investment-in-wine">increased 25% to 50% annually</a> in the past few years. And back in 1998, Peter Meltzer of the Wine Spectator, the world’s largest wine magazine, wrote that the wine market <a href="http://www.wine-economics.org/workingpapers/AAWE_WP85.pdf">outpaced the Dow Jones Industrial Average</a> throughout the 1990s. </p>
<p>A would-be investor should know that the majority of wines are not “investment-grade” – a financial term signifying relatively low risk – and will not benefit from being stored for more than two or three years. Experienced wine investors concentrate on only the finest growths from Bordeaux and Burgundy and selected wines from California. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68006/original/image-20141223-32225-1906hhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It may be worth letting a bottle get dusty to improve the taste, but not your ROI – return on investment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wine: barely better than Treasurys</h2>
<p>Even among fine wines, the data on investing aren’t favorable. One of the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1832044">first economic analyses</a> that looked at the rate of return for storing wine over a period of time was <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1833337">conducted in the late 1970s</a> by William Krasker. Drawing on 137 observations of red Bordeaux and California Cabernet Sauvignon from 1973 to 1977, he found that the return for holding such wine was not much better than that of risk-free US Treasury bills – which typically offer the lowest yields in the market. </p>
<p>To explain some of that difference it’s worth noting that stocks often yield dividends, while wine only offers capital appreciation. In addition, investing in wine incurs storage and other costs. </p>
<p>Elizabeth Jaeger of the University of Virginia, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1832044?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">appeared to counter</a> that poor performance with her own study, published in 1981. She reported that a wine portfolio similar to Krasker’s outperformed Treasury bills by 16.6%. This large difference, however, mainly comes down to sampling different periods of time (1969-1977 in Jaeger’s study) and her use of substantially lower annual storage costs than Krasker’s $16.60 a case. </p>
<h2>The ‘Bordeaux equation’</h2>
<p>In a seminal study that focused on a single year, Princeton economist Orley Ashenfelter developed the “Bordeaux equation,” which <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/23/garden/wine-talk-847190.html">enabled him</a> to predict the quality of a wine vintage based on winter rainfall and growing-season temperatures in the famous French wine region of that name. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.wine-economics.org/workingpapers/AAWE_WP04.pdf">He found</a> that the real return on holding a range of Bordeaux wines in 1991 was 2.4%, a pittance compared with a 30% gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A similar study by Gregory Jones and me in 2001 on Bordeaux wines for specific chateaux were <a href="http://digilander.libero.it/vergalli/pdf/53.pdf">significantly below</a> those for common stock. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1093/ei/39.3.337/abstract">Another study</a> from that year, this one by Benjamin Burton and Joyce Jacobsen, analyzed the semi-annual returns from storing Bordeaux wines from 1986 to 1996, focusing on repeat sales of the same wine and comparing them with various financial assets.</p>
<p>They discovered that a portfolio of first growths – a designation considered among the best – returned 6.8% over the period, barely better than the 5.8% gain on Treasury bills but about half that of the Dow Jones benchmark index. Even a portfolio of <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/The-Complete-Wine-Investor-Collecting/dp/076151676X">William Sokolin’s first investment-grade wine</a>s didn’t do much better, returning an average of 9.4% at auction. And that’s before including sales commissions, insurance and storage costs, which would make them even worse. </p>
<p>Not only does wine generally perform worse than equities, it’s also riskier. The standard deviation – a measure of variation when analyzing a variety of data points – of a wine portfolio consisting of grand cru selections is more than twice as high as that of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Portfolios focused on first growths or the 1961 vintage exhibit an even larger degree of variability between the highs and the lows. </p>
<h2>Wine as a hedge</h2>
<p>While wine may not be a great investment on its own, it can work as a sort of hedge, or way to diversify a portfolio of assets and provide some protection during market downturns. Researchers <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FSherrill_Shaffer%2Fpublication%2F228574900_Bordeaux_wine_as_a_financial_investment%2Flinks%2F02e7e51d34cb73d6b0000000&ei=85iZVKTKFpSKsQT11oK4Dw&usg=AFQjCNEBsMcgh2zBKdpTtycwcTQGMJxSvg&sig2=aLnPjfRc-q-cm00TPlxLQg&bvm=bv.82001339,d.cWc">analyzed</a> Bordeaux auction prices before the financial crisis hit in 2008 and <a href="http://www.wineecoreports.com/upload/internet/MASSET_HENDERSON_WEISSKOPF_Wine-as-Alternative-Asset-Class.pdf">found</a> that the changes in the two assets, wine and equities, bore little or no correlation to one another and moved independently, suggesting wine would be a good way to hedge or offset stock market risks. </p>
<p>In fact, Philippe Masset and Jean-Philippe Weisskopf of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne <a href="http://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/AAWE_WP57.pdf">studied the profitability</a> of wine investments during the financial crisis, finding that adding them to a portfolio boosted returns – as well as risk. The study didn’t clarify whether this recent positive outlook on wine is a permanent phenomenon or was merely due to a bubble in prices, <a href="http://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/AAWE_WP32.pdf">as suggested</a> by NYU economist Boyan Jovanovic.</p>
<p>The latter explanation, though, has proven to be more accurate. Since June 2011, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has jumped more than 50%, while fine wine prices have slumped more than 40%, according to the <a href="https://www.liv-ex.com/home.do">London International Vintners Exchange Fine Wine 50 Index</a>. </p>
<p>So this New Year’s might be a good time to dust off that Bordeaux you’ve been holding onto and enjoy it with your loved ones. Don’t buy another one in order to make money on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karl Storchmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Investing in fine wines has become increasingly popular over the past few decades as many in the viticulture industry have promoted fermented grapes as a way to boost returns and diversify a portfolio…Karl Storchmann, Clinical Professor of Economics, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/351352014-12-30T13:00:03Z2014-12-30T13:00:03ZCorks seal a wine’s fate: aging under natural vs synthetic closures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67872/original/image-20141221-31560-ogavyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Put a cork in it? Or maybe you prefer a screwcap?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/clubvino/3490073657/">clubvino</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most foods are best as fresh as possible. I remember picking peaches at my grandfather’s ranch in Northern California and eating them on the spot. What a taste! But the exceptions to this rule are the many wines that actually need some aging to taste their best. Winemakers know this, and work to control the aging process including decisions they make about how to bottle up their product.</p>
<h2>Aging and oxygen</h2>
<p>One aspect of aging has to do with the reaction of fruit acids with the alcohol. This process reduces sourness in the wine, but it’s really only important for very tart wines, the ones coming from cold climates.</p>
<p>The complex oxidation process is the second aspect of aging. When oxygen interacts with a wine, it produces many changes – ultimately yielding an oxidized wine that has a nutty aroma. This is a desired taste for sherry styles, but quickly compromises the aromas in fresh white wines.</p>
<p>However the oxidation process provides benefits along the way to that unwanted endpoint. Many wines develop undesirable aromas under anaerobic – no oxygen – conditions; a small amount of oxygen will eliminate those trace thiol compounds responsible for the aroma of rotten eggs or burnt rubbber. Oxidation products also react with the red anthocyanin molecules from the grapes to create stable pigments in red wine. </p>
<p>The way a bottle is sealed will directly affect how much oxygen passes into the wine each year. That will directly affect the aging trajectory and determine when that wine will be at its “best.”</p>
<h2>Stick a cork in it?</h2>
<p>Glass is a hermetic material, meaning zero oxygen can pass through it. But all wine bottle closures admit at least a smidgen of oxygen. The actual amount is the key to a closure’s performance. A typical cork will let in about <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf903846h">one milligram of oxygen per year</a>. This sounds like a tiny bit, but after two or three years, the cumulative amount can be enough to break down the sulfites that winemakers add to protect the wine from oxidation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67874/original/image-20141221-31545-1iap4bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bark from these trees is stripped periodically to make corks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alcalaina/4189599715">Alcalaina</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are three major closure options available: natural cork and technical cork, its low budget brother made of cork particles, the screw cap and synthetic corks. Natural cork closures appeared about 250 years ago, displacing the oiled rags and wooden plugs that had previously been used to seal bottles. It created the possibility of aging wine. Until 20 years ago natural corks were pretty much the only option for quality wine. It’s produced from the bark of the tree, and harvested every seven years throughout the life of a cork oak tree, <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_suber">Quercus suber</a></em>. The cork cylinder is cut from the outside to the inside of the bark. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bqF3SGFigdY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The cork is harvested manually from the bark of the cork oak tree.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A small fraction of corks, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-0238.2005.tb00290.x">1-2% today</a>, end up tainting the wine with a moldy smelling substance, trichloroanisole. This TCA is created via a series of chemical reactions in the bottle: chlorine from the environment reacts with the natural lignin molecules in the woody cork to make trichlorophenol, which is in turn methylated by mold. TCA has one of the most potent aromas in the world – some people can smell as little as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-0238.2005.tb00290.x">2 parts per trillion in wine</a>. So, in every eight cases of wine, one or two bottles will smell like wet cardboard or simply not taste their best. This is why restaurants let you taste the wine before pouring – to let you judge if the wine is tainted. A 1% failure rate seems high in today’s world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67877/original/image-20141221-31554-1vp3lbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Looks like a cork, but these don’t grow on trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dolmansaxlil/4566063277">Sharon Drummond</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Plastic fantastic?</h2>
<p>Synthetic corks are made from polyethylene, the same stuff as milk bottles and plastic pipes. After years of research and development, these corks now perform nearly the same as the natural version with three exceptions: they have no taint, they let in a bit more oxygen and they are very consistent in oxygen transmission.</p>
<p>Their consistency is a major selling point to winemakers because the wine will have a predictable taste at various points in time. In fact, winemakers can tweak the oxidation rate of their wine by choosing from a range of synthetic corks with <a href="http://nomacorc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/7270.NOMACORC-SellSheets-Select-Combo-2012-EN-PRINT.pdf">different rates</a> of known oxygen transmission.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67876/original/image-20141221-31560-1uvk89w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Easy off, but tricky to put on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/416860104">emdot</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Screwcaps are actually two parts: the metal cap and the liner inside the top of the cap that seals to the lip of the bottle. The liner is the critical part that controls the amount of oxygen getting into the wine. Back when screwcaps were only used on jug wine, there were just two types of liners available. But today multiple companies are jumping in to offer their take on what rate of oxygen transmission is best, as well as to replace the tin used in one of the traditional liners. The standard liners admit either a bit more or a bit less oxygen than good natural corks. Screwcaps, being manufactured, are also very consistent.</p>
<h2>Is there an optimum wine closure?</h2>
<p>Performance of the manufactured closures, made with 21st century technology, is excellent. Generally they approximate our expectations, based on over two centuries of experience aging with natural cork closures. </p>
<p>For the regular wine you might purchase for dinner this weekend or to keep for a year or two, any of these closures are perfectly good, while the manufactured closures avoid taint. In fact, your choice is more a matter of preference for opening the bottle. Do you want the convenience of twisting off the cap, or do you want the ceremony of removing the cork?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67913/original/image-20141222-31545-1tr222r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Final goal achieved – a perfectly-aged glass of wine, ready to imbibe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/djwtwo/8025375298">Dennis Wilkinson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For long aging however, the only closure with an adequately long track record is natural cork. So to be safe, that is the closure to choose. Once we have solid long-term evaluations of synthetics and screw caps, it will be possible to judge their suitability for extended aging, such as more than ten years. </p>
<p>Over centuries, winemakers have consistently taken advantage of new technology to improve their product, from oak barrels to bottles to modern crushing and pressing equipment and micro-oxygenation. While manufactured closures have some key advantages, it is proving difficult to displace natural cork due to its centuries-old tradition, albeit with a few problems, and its connection to the natural environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Waterhouse received funding from the Plumpjack Wine Group to study closures. About 5 years ago he received research support from Nomacorc. </span></em></p>Most foods are best as fresh as possible. I remember picking peaches at my grandfather’s ranch in Northern California and eating them on the spot. What a taste! But the exceptions to this rule are the…Andrew Waterhouse, Professor of Enology, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/350842014-12-29T14:45:47Z2014-12-29T14:45:47ZLost in the wine aisle? Winemakers want to know which labels will catch your eye<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67719/original/image-20141218-31025-powvjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alsatian wines in a supermarket</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsatian_wines_in_a_supermarket.jpg">francois</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most wine purchasers are dazed and confused as they wander the aisles of their local wine shop. There are thousands of wine brands and dozens of types of wines lining the shelves. </p>
<p>Obviously wineries want purchasers to pick their bottle. So they’ve done a lot of research into what makes a buyer choose a particular wine – and it turns out the labels have at least something to do with it, at least for <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6163338/The_Importance_of_the_Information_on_the_Back_Label_of_a_Wine_Bottle_on_the_Purchase_Decision">71% of US wine consumers</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s on the front</h2>
<p>Interestingly, wine drinkers claim they don’t find “has an animal on it” to be a very desirable advantage for a wine label. But five of the nine <a href="http://www.embassyconferences.co.za/media/Presentation%20Gender%20and%20Wine%20Labels.pdf">top-selling wines in 2005</a> in the US sported animals on their labels. And wine drinkers in <a href="http://purl.umn.edu/162281">our survey</a> rated as second-most attractive a label with an animal – Yellow Tail, with its vibrant picture of a wallaby. </p>
<p>The label that achieved the highest rating for attractiveness was Twin Fin, with its colorful picture of a classic convertible with a surfboard near the beach. The top two labels delivered on the characteristics wine drinkers say they like: eye-catching, unique, stylish, creative, clever and colorful. </p>
<p>In an effort to attract the youngest wine drinkers – the millennials – wineries have upped the colorful, wacky and creative design elements on their labels. Interestingly, in a cross-generational <a href="http://purl.umn.edu/162281">survey</a> of the importance of attractiveness, millennials and baby boomers both rated a wine label’s appearance more important to them than generation Xers did. For the most part, wine drinkers of all ages agreed which labels were most attractive. So it’s not only the millennials who are attracted to colorful and creative labels.</p>
<p>Although generations may agree on what label features reel them in, there are some differences between male and female preferences. My research group <a href="http://www.embassyconferences.co.za/media/Presentation%20Gender%20and%20Wine%20Labels.pdf">asked</a> men and women to rate nine wine label logo features:</p>
<ul>
<li>has an animal on it</li>
<li>bold</li>
<li>eye-catching</li>
<li>simple</li>
<li>ornate</li>
<li>creative</li>
<li>classic</li>
<li>intriguing</li>
<li>colorful</li>
</ul>
<p>Women preferred more creative, eye-catching, colorful and ornate wine labels than men did. Similarly, women rated plain, less colorful logos lower in attractiveness than men did. Wineries have used this kind of data to create wines targeted specifically to female drinkers. Some of those include Middle Sister, Cupcake, Girls Night Out and Mommy Juice. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67859/original/image-20141219-31539-2qp48i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What info on the back label would tempt you?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jayeb333/4311274926">Jason Eberle</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s on the back</h2>
<p>How important is the information on the back label of wine bottles to consumers? Almost half of the wine drinkers <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6163338/The_Importance_of_the_Information_on_the_Back_Label_of_a_Wine_Bottle_on_the_Purchase_Decision">surveyed</a> – 49% – said the words on the back label are at least somewhat important to their purchase decision. Further, 55% said they read a wine bottle’s back label at least somewhat often. But what’s the most desirable kind of info to print back there? </p>
<p>Wineries asked consumers if they wanted:</p>
<ul>
<li>descriptions of flavors and aromas</li>
<li>interesting information about the winery</li>
<li>explanations of food pairings</li>
<li>history of the winery</li>
<li>a story about the wine</li>
<li>growing region features</li>
<li>climate of the vineyard</li>
<li>winery website</li>
<li>a story about the wine maker</li>
<li>the winery location</li>
<li>humorous information</li>
<li>wine-making practices</li>
<li>vineyard’s soil</li>
<li>romantic story</li>
</ul>
<p>Consumers indicated that a description of flavors and aromas of the wine on the back label is the most important information. They simply want to know what to expect from the wine. That’s more valuable to consumers than information about the winery, food pairings, history of the winery or history of the wine. </p>
<p>To go one step further, we had consumers evaluate four specific back label concepts for a new wine. They looked at four themes for the back label: flavors and aromas, award-winning wines, growing region climate and a romantic story about the winery. As before, it was the flavor and aroma description that consumers said would probably increase their likelihood to purchase the wine. Awards and climate information may increase purchase. The romantic story did not increase purchase interest.</p>
<p>Wine has evolved over the past decade from a drink that exclusively was paired with food, to one that is now a beverage for all occasions – dining, socializing, relaxing and celebrating. When wine was simply an accompaniment for food, labels could be dull and descriptive. But now their enhanced logos, images and romantic stories reflect these new uses.</p>
<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s holiday series on wine. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/wine-2014">Click here</a> to read more articles in the series.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marianne McGarry Wolf does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the label has an animal on it, chances are you’ll buy the wine.Marianne McGarry Wolf, Interim Department Head and Professor of Wine and Viticulture, California Polytechnic State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.