Wine Business

Similar to other foods, the concept of natural wine is much debated due to the lack of a clear and regulated definition, leading to a proliferation of heterogeneous norms and standards proposed from different natural wine associations at national levels. The current study explored the aspects which mediate individuals' information and perception of natural wine, and the rationale behind natural wine consumption behavior among Italian (n = 501) and Spanish (n = 527) regular wine consumers. The results reveal a quite low self-reported degree of perceived information by Italian respondents and slightly higher levels among Spanish ones. The key drivers of natural wine consumption in both countries are wine consumption frequency, information, and natural product interest. In contrast, higher wine involvement levels decrease natural wine consumption frequency in both Italy and Spain. The findings also show that different perceptions lead to diverse motivations, suggesting the need for more homogeneous standards to mitigate the level of information asymmetry currently on the market.

This chapter describes characteristic features of Polish law concerning fruit-fermented flavored beverages against the background of the EU law regulating “other fermented beverages”. Particular attention is given to the classification of the specific fermented beverages either as flavored fruit-wine or spirit drink category. In other words, this analysis is an attempt to capture the essence of the nature of alcoholic beverages obtained from fruits other than grapes, especially those products whose taste and smell differ from those of the fruits that have been used for fermentation. The paper proposes also legislative changes in the provisions of the Combined Nomenclature as well as in the industry regulations aimed that would provide legal coherence in this market sektor.

Según la Ley de la Viña y el Vino, éste “es el alimento natural obtenido exclusivamente por fermentación alcohólica, total o parcial, de uva fresca, estrujada o no, de mosto de uva” (Art. 2 Ley 24/2003, Gobierno de España). La RAE, en su séptima acepción de “natural” como adjetivo, define aquello “Que se produce por solas las fuerzas de la naturaleza,
como contrapuesto a sobrenatural y milagroso”. Por tanto, la relación entre vino y alimento queda establecida en el marco normativo y definitorio español. Sin embargo, el vino continúa siendo el único producto alimentario no sujeto a regulación de etiquetado en cuanto a ingredientes y aditivos en todo el mundo. Ante esta tesitura comenzamos nuestra línea de investigación sobre vino, patrimonio,
alimentación y salud, preguntándonos: ¿es sano/insano cualquier vino independientemente de su proceso productivo y propiedades organolépticas?, ¿son estos factores tenidos en cuenta en la certificación de la calidad del vino? La respuesta inmediata es que es imposible saberlo. ¿Cuá- les son las consecuencias de esta situación anómala, y qué podemos hacer desde la investigación aplicada?

Hallel. Carmel. Bezalel

The Exhibitions:
Halel. Carmel Winery
'Judaica Now!':
Goblets and Kiddush Cups
of the Bezalel School

These two exhibitions: "Halel. Carmel Winery" and
"'Judaica Now!': Goblets and Kiddush Cups of the Bezalel
School" focus on two pioneering phenomenon. Both of them,
each one in its own specific field, established a material
and cultural infrastructure for the renewal of the Jewish
settlement in Eretz Israel. The two integrated exhibitions
presented here show the primary aspects where these two
enterprises overlap. The principal point here is the fact that
their produce, wine in Rishon Le‑Zion and art in Bezalel,
symbolized the regenerated Jewish settlement. Moreover,
most of their products were purchased by Jews in the
Diaspora as an emotional gesture of love for Eretz Israel
together with a contribution for the realization of the idea
for its settlement.
The "Halel. Carmel Winery" exhibition tells the story of
the winery from its historical perspective. The winery
symbolized the realization of the dream of settling
Eretz Israel. Thus, it became a source of pride and a center
of attraction for the leaders of the people and the world
who pinned their hopes on it and visited the winery. The
historical exhibition aims to show how innovative the
Rishon Le-Zion winery was during its early years as it was
recognized as the prominent modern agricultural-industrial
plant in the Middle Eastern region. The winery played a key
role in the economic life of Rishon Le-Zion and the Jewish
settlements in the surrounding area. The exhibition displays
its development, achievements, challenges, transitions,
connections with the Diaspora and how it influenced
Rishon Le-Zion and the Yishuv in Eretz Israel. The exhibition
focuses mainly on the first few decades of the winery's
existence which were also the most momentous years in
its history, during which a modern industrial model was
developed leading to a breakthrough in the country.
The Bezalel exhibition 'Judaica Now'!: Goblets and
Kiddush Cups of the Bezalel School"is displayed from the
contemporary artistic standpoint. In this exhibition also
some 48 exhibits of contemporary wine and Kiddush cups,
handmade by artists and designers belonging to the Bezalel
School, are displayed. The philosophy and artistic language
of the School's members, men and women, were apparent as
expressed in the holy vessels and articles. The participants in
this group show had all attended Bezalel either as students
or teachers, some served as department heads. A large
group among these artists later became the elite of leading
Judaica artists, whose creations now enrich the collections of
important museums in Israel and throughout the world.

Curators:
"Hallel. Carmel Winery": Yona Shapira
"'Judaica Now!': Wine goblets and Kiddush cups of the
Bezalel School": Dr. Shirat‑Miriam Shamir, Ido Noy


הלַלֵּ. כרמל. בצלאל
התערוכות:
הַללֵּ. יקב כרמל
'יודאיקה עכשיו!':
כוסות וגביעי יין לקידוש
של אסכולת בצלאל

שתי התערוכות עוסקות בשני מפעלים חלוציים: יקב ראשון־לציון
ובית הספר לאמנויות "בצלאל". שניהם, כל אחד בתחומו, הניחו
תשתית חומרית ותרבותית ליישוב היהודי המתחדש בארץ ישראל.
שתי התערוכות המוצגות במשולב, מציגות את נקודות ההשקה בין שני
המפעלים. העיקרית שבהן היא העובדה שתוצריהם, היין ואמנות בצלאל,
היוו סמל ליישוב היהודי המתחדש ונרכשו על ידי יהודי הגולה כמחווה
רגשית של אהבת ארץ ישראל וכתרומה למען הגשמת הרעיון של
יישובה. היקב מוצג מן הזווית ההיסטורית ואילו בצלאל מוצג מנקודת
מבט אמנותית עכשווית.
היקב היה סמל להגשמת חזון יישוב ארץ ישראל, מקור לגאווה ואבן
שואבת למנהיגי עם ועולם שנשאו עיניהם אליו וביקרו בו. התערוכה
"הלל. יקב כרמל" מבקשת להציג את החדשנות של יקב ראשון־לציון
בשנותיו הראשונות כמפעל תעשיה חקלאית מודרני הבולט במרחב
המזרח התיכון ועומד במרכז חיי הכלכלה של ראשון־לציון ומושבות
הסביבה. בתערוכה מוצגים התפתחותו, הישגיו, אתגריו, גלגוליו,
קשריו עם הגולה והשפעתו על ראשון־לציון ועל הישוב בארץ־ישראל.
עיקר התערוכה עוסק בעשורים הראשונים לקיום היקב שהיו השנים
המשמעותיות בתולדותיו שבמהלכן עוצב בו מודל תעשייתי חדשני
ופורץ דרך בארץ.
התערוכה, "׳יודאיקה עכשיו!׳: כוסות וגביעי יין לקידוש של אסכולת
בצלאל" מציגה 48 גביעי יין וקידוש עכשוויים מעשה ידיהם של אמנים
ומעצבים השייכים לאסכולת בצלאל. מהתערוכה ניבטת תפיסת העולם
ושפתם האמנותית של חברי וחברות האסכולה כפי שאלו מקבלות ביטוי
בתשמישי קדושה. משתתפי התערוכה הקבוצתית, עברו כולם בבצלאל:
בין שלמדו או שלימדו בו או בין שהובילו אותו כראשי המחלקות. חלק
נכבד מאמנים אלה נעשו לאמני היודאיקה המובילים, שיצירותיהם
מעטרות את אוספי המוזיאונים החשובים בישראל ובעולם.

אוצרים:
הלל, יקב כרמל: יונה שפירא
'יודאיקה עכשיו!': כוסות וגביעי יין לקידוש
של אסכולת בצלאל: ד"ר שירת־מרים שמיר ועידו נוי

Natural wine is a small but rapidly growing sector within the wine industry. Expertise in the field has been advanced by wine experts and professionals, while publications to aid in further understanding the topic lag behind. This manuscript highlights the need to develop more rigorous methodologies to better understand the market segment of natural wine, its consumers, and their composition and behaviour. Moreover, it calls for a deeper theoretical engagement with the notion of natural wine, which positions it among other sustainable and ecological certifications, including organic, biodynamic or sulphite-free. This would allow researchers to advance from the current state of knowledge, which continues to limit our 'practical' capacity for advice to policy makers but not to winemakers and marketers. These theoretical and methodological developments would allow scholars to catch up with debates being held by different social actors in the natural wine scene, including winemakers' and consumer associations, bloggers, writers and professional marketers.

This paper explores the emergence of the terroirist social movement in Spain and the controversies arising from it. We assess its role in transforming the Spanish wine scene and wine regions from the combined perspective of rural and social movement studies. Spain boasts the largest surface area of vineyards and the largest volume of wine exports of any country, yet it also sells the cheapest wine and lacks wine zoning policies, which makes Spain unique among traditional wine-producing countries. Considering this situation, a group of terroir-driven winemakers are challenging the Spanish industrial wine establishment. They have built networks in rural areas throughout the country and are actively involved in local grassroots movements, aiming to produce quality wines with added value, recover neglected wine regions and grape varieties, and reinstate traditional wine culture. While the movement displays certain elite and populist tendencies, it remains radical in its attempt to challenge a deep-seated economic model dominated by large companies with a powerful lobby that influences the government.

"What does a gentleman who has worked throughout his life for the Sherry wine establishment shares with the son of a bricklayer who has worked for more than a decade for a large industrial wine cellar and has spent his salary buying small parcels of old vines in his town to prevent their uprooting and who, eventually, brings the fruit of these vines to the market? And what do they have in common with a group of university friends who set up a wine consulting company that makes some of the most innovative wines in their different territories? (…) We are talking here about a heterogeneous group of people whose lives have a common thread." (Gutiérrez, 2017 : 27)

2This common thread is of interest to anthropologists and food scholars in general, or at least it should be. In his first sole-authored book, Luis Gutiérrez offers a detailed portrayal of a new generation of winemakers who are transforming the Spanish wine sector. Wine production in Spain was traditionally characterized by an industrial approach geared towards quantity rather than quality, leading Spanish wines to be the cheapest worldwide, both bottled and in bulk. This much-welcomed intervention would be less relevant were we talking about a person with less trajectory or influence in the real world. But Luis Gutiérrez is a wine taster and critic for Spain, Latin America and the French Jura region for the Wine Advocate, the most influential global wine magazine led by the famous wine critic Robert Parker. He also published extensively in culinary journals worldwide and for jancisrobinson.com, co-authoring the book 1001 wines you must try before you die (Beckett, 2014) and The Finest Wines of Rioja and Northwestern Spain (Barquín, 2011).

El vino está de moda, no solo como producto simbólico diferenciado en los términos que explicaba Bourdieu (1984), sino también como “superalimento”, por su potencial nutritivo y concentración de antioxidantes, resveratrol o vitaminas. Numerosos estudios subrayan los beneficios del consumo moderado de vino, entre los que se encuentran la reducción de enfermedades cardiovasculares, cancerígenas o la mejora de la función cognitiva. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha no existen investigaciones que analicen las prácticas productivas y enológicas que confieren al vino este tipo de propiedades. Es, además, desconocido para el consumidor el listado de ingredientes que contiene una botella de vino, mientras que cualquier otro producto alimentario debe etiquetar cualquier tipo de aditivo. Consecuentemente, no es posible diferenciar qué vino es saludable en base a los criterios de certificación de calidad existentes.
La profunda crítica a las implicaciones de la chaptalización no resultaría quizás tan demoledora de no ser por las credenciales del autor. Yravedra es Presidente Honorario de la Organización Internacional de la Viña y el Vino (OIV). A lo largo de su vida ha desarrollado una importante defensa de la calidad del vino y de las Denominaciones de Origen, tanto españoles como internacionales, en foros como la OIV y en el Comité Científico de Denominaciones de Origen de Productos Alimentarios de la Unión Europea.

The main aim of this paper is to provide a clear understanding of wine producers’ perceptions about terroir and its potentialities as a differentiation tool. Additionally,
we explored the role of local wine associations and policy makers in the creation and valorization of place
image through terroir. We realized a cross-case analysis based on two wine areas respectively located in France and Italy. Specifically, we identified 11 wineries in the Pic Saint-Loup and 15 wineries in the Sannio Valley and conducted semi-structured interviews  with owners and managers in order to obtain in-depth information. Our findings reveal that in wine producers’ perspective,  terroir is a complex concept with multiple facets,  whose relative importance changes depending on the context in which its social construction takes place
and the role of institutional actors in the improvement of place image and reputation.

Abstract

This paper evaluates the internationalisation process in the wine business in a RBV perspective. By adopting a concept centric approach the aim of this paper is to provide a systematic analysis of the literature review about internationalisation in the wine business. An overview of main theoretical issues on RBV and internationalisation, together with the description of the major changes occurring in the wine industry, will be provided in the first part of the paper.

Keywords

RBV, resource-based view, international orientation, concept centric approaches, stage models, internationalisation drivers, business, globalisation, wine industry, alcohol

Purpose
The complexity in determining the quality of a credence good like wine increases due to the lack of mandatory ingredient labeling. This has generated a significant information asymmetry in the wine market, leading consumers to delegate their purchase decisions to expert rankings and wine guides. This paper explores whether expert assessments reduce the information asymmetry caused by the absence of ingredient labeling in the wine market.

Design/methodology/approach
By employing analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a sample of 304 wines included in the Wine Guide of the Spanish Consumers Organization (OCU), this paper assesses the extent to which expert assessments based on sensory evaluations converge with the objective cues provided by laboratory analysis in wine quality evaluations.

Findings
Results reveal a mismatch between expert assessments and laboratory analyses. Chemical aspects such as SO2 levels or volatile acidity, sensorial factors such as intensity and persistence, and extrinsic variables such as the region of origin or wine type play an important role in the quality ranking of wines.

Originality/value
These findings call for the inclusion of objective intrinsic cues in expert sensory assessments to provide consumers reliable information about wines and to resolve the apparent dissonances in wine quality assessments.

Natural wine is made from grapes produced under organic or biodynamic management without using additives in the cellar. Natural wine represents a movement of winegrowers that see agriculture as an ethical act against wine industrialization and as a way to make food systems more sustainable. The movement has gained fast-growing global fame and connects rural producers with urban consumers. The recent French recognition of a natural wine certification has spurred discontent among other European countries and wine business associations. A debate about the policy implications of natural wine certification is necessary in order to shed light on the matter. This article calls for transparency in the labeling of wine ingredients, in line with recent consumer demands, which would make the creation of new certifications redundant.

This opinion article addresses the implications of recent EU regulations on alcoholic drinks labeling for regional development. In March 2017, the European Commission released a report requiring the mandatory labeling of ingredients and nutritional information for alcoholic beverages within 1 year, putting an end to the exceptionality of this sector compared to other foodstuffs, and responding to pressing demands by European consumer associations and other actors. Pressure from the alcohol sector had delayed EU legislation on the matter and managed to avoid a mandatory labeling provision, instead generating the possibility of making its own regulation proposal within a year. The Commission will assess this proposal in March 2018 and could review or reject it if found to be unsatisfactory. Here, we want to examine the controversy elicited by this new regulation, analyzing the consequences of labeling (or not) in the particular case of wine regions. It shows how the lack of labeling regulations harms winemakers oriented towards the production of quality wines and generates important information asymmetries that can lead to an overall decrease of wine quality. Ultimately, it highlights the relevance of a regional perspective on EU sectoral policies, as these can have unintended effects and lead to contradictory outcomes. The example of wine regions is used to emphasize this issue by showing the need to harmonize regional cohesion and CAP policies with industrial, environmental and consumer protection policies.