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Independent French wine producers are faced with excessive costs and a declining image of quality compared with their New World competitors. A confusing offer and weak brand identities also make their often poorly marketed products less attractive at the point of sale. As production continues to surge, plummeting prices have left many of these producers economically unviable. Is it possible for these small independent producers to survive in an ever more competitive global market? This paper attempts to answer this question, by studying the challenges confronting this group, as well as their advantages, both in their home and on a global market.

Literature in French and English was reviewed in highlighting key issues impinging the industry. A small survey was conducted to ascertain the drinking habits of young adults market in France. Also SWOT, PESTLE, and Porter’s Five Forces were used in presenting a more strructured approach in discussing the nature of and challenges facing this industry.

It is evident that a lot of work needs to be done for French wines to regain their global competitiveness, and even more so for small producers who do not benefit from the massive promotional budgets of their larger competitors. However, by ensuring a superior level of quality, higher production costs can be justified, while still being carefully managed to ensure that all additional costs incurred add value to the end product. This quality needs to be guaranteed by a stronger and clearer AOC system that is regularly evaluated to maintain its credibility, and reinforced by a strong individual brand image, in order to gain consumer confidence. A cultural change is also necessary, away from defence and towards a more proactive approach. The innovation for which French winemakers were once famous must be reclaimed.

It would be interesting to further study the cultural metamorphosis that has taken place amongst French winemakers over the course of the last century. The comparative bargaining power of small producers against large supermarket chains is also a topic that could be further explored. Given that it will not be possible for all producers to become a key reference and guarantee shelf space amongst their highly marketed competitors, greater research into more innovative ways of getting products to market would be extremely useful.

Foreign markets should be highly studied and understood before entry. Integrating products into local culture is often more successful than imposing the product as part of the culture of the producing country. Most importantly, however, producers should be prepared to adapt to a changing market and to invest in order to secure future capital inflows. The rise of new global players, such as China, will only intensify competition, and today’s less sophisticated consumers are more likely to be swayed by low prices and strong brands than by an overpriced and poorly positioned product from “Old Europe”.

A fairly thorough account of the current state of affairs of the wine industry in France has been presented and both the French literature and relevant web sites in French have been reviewed in highlighting and evaluating issues impinging the wine industry.

This study explores the impact of institutions, policies, and regulations at the global, national, and sectoral levels on digitalisation within the Italian and Australian wine industries.

Drawing on qualitative research data collected from interviews with key personnel in the wine industry, this study shows that both jurisdictions are at a similar stage of emergent digital development despite very different settings.

Accordingly, the authors find that digitalisation is constrained by common policy and regulatory issues emanating at the global and national levels, such as a lack of data infrastructure and data governance, and the need for institutions at the local and regional levels to spur innovation, especially with SMEs.

This is the first study to analyse the role of policy, regulation, and institutional arrangements in digital diffusion using a cross-country comparison of the wine sector.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and understand the relevant attributes, extrinsic and intrinsic, that Portuguese consumers value and are relevant in the decision process for choosing wine. Further, the study aims to check possible differences in the valued attributes regarding consumer's involvement level and wine Region Origin.

The research was designed to identify relevant wine attributes and measure their importance when choosing a wine. In order to achieve this objective and match it with consumers' involvement and wine origin region, 30 Focus Groups were performed, involving 171 consumers from five Portuguese regions of origin.

The region of origin is the attribute that triggers the process of choosing a wine. Label/back label, price, bottle, brand, and wine varieties are also important clues, nevertheless differently valorised according to consumers' involvement. The less relevant attributes are winemaker/producer information, medals/awards, and overall design. Their importance varies with the degree of consumers' involvement and the wine region of origin. The main intrinsic attributes are flavour and aroma, regardless of involvement level or region of origin. Wine balance, freshness, acidity, colour and body have different perceptions, depending on the regions of origin. Alcohol content and gas are the least valued attributes.

Results allow an extended perspective about the process of buying wine, matching the importance of the relevant attributes with consumers' involvement level and region of origin. The study can contribute to an accurate market‐orientation perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to show the application of Q methodology in the practice of policymaking, namely, in the field of the wine business. Today, Q methodology has a rising significance in all aspects of human behavior where there is a need for gathering and analyzing qualitative data. This paper discusses the applicability of Q methodology as a participative bottom-up tool for extracting priorities for tailor-made sectorial policies in the field of the wine business.

Developed by William Stephenson almost a century ago, Q methodology was primarily used to study human behavior in different psychoanalysis practices and personality tests. But it can be used also as a tool to extract important opinions of stakeholders in the process of making new sectorial policies. To prove the applicability of Q methodology for this task, data collected from 30 small and medium Croatian winemakers are used as a case study. Selected winemakers originate from coastal and continental regions of Croatia covering the whole country. Gathered data were analyzed using the PQMethod ver. 2.35 software.

The results of the data analysis have given an insight into Croatian small wine business perspectives, rapidly revealing factors which matter the most to them (luck, value added tax, import lobby, margins in HORECA). On the other side, factors like automated grape harvesters, subsidized fair participation were identified that matter the least, and factors like prices and procedures for mandatory analyses, paperwork for exports and development of new sales channels are considered as neutral.

The selected participants are a small, but representative, group of Croatian winemakers and generalization of findings to the whole winemaking sector should be undertaken with caution. Q methodology is primarily an explorative technique, which brings a sense of coherence to the relation of the research question and contested answers, but prone to straightaway change.

Q methodology enables a participatory approach, rapid analysis and focus on the most important factors for changing relations and effects of planning and execution of sectoral policies. It can be used to effectively extract relevant factors common to group of different individuals acting in the same sector with the same goal.

This research provides an insight into potentials of Q-methodology approach when considering the theoretical framework for the policy making process. Therefore, it also widens its applicability in research of subjective viewpoints on different issues in a particular business sector.

This paper aims to conduct two studies to investigate the use of social media tools by wineries in Germany and assess the impact of Facebook membership on customers by comparing them with customers who were not members. Today, a vast number of books and studies are being published about social media in general, but less is known about their usage and effectiveness in the wine industry.

The first study was conducted among 321 German wineries. It focused on the attitudes and preferences of the winemakers regarding social media, and it analysed the daily use of this new communication tool. The second study took place in August 2012, and it set out to define the value that accrued to a winery from having Facebook fans. This analysis was based on an online survey with customers of the winery as well as on a comparative analysis of the buying patterns of customers who were Facebook fans and those who were not. The analysis compared the turnover from the purchases of both groups over a period of three years.

It was determined that 60 per cent of German wineries did communicate with their customers using social media. Facebook was the most important social media channel, followed by Twitter and YouTube. Of the winemakers interviewed, 40 per cent planned, in the near future, to implement additional activities involving social media. The consumer study proved that Facebook fans had a higher turnover compared to the non-Facebook fans of the winery studied. This finding emphasises the loyalty of Facebook fans. In addition, the study revealed that Facebook fans are open to receiving sales offers from the company which they support.

Winery owners should be aware of the effectiveness of this modern communication tool. This is not only because Facebook fans generate a much higher turnover but also because of the possibility that they are interested in additional special offers on Facebook, which could mean an expansion of the available sales channels.

To our knowledge, this kind of overview about the Germany wine sector as well as about the value of a Facebook-fan of a winery has not yet been undertaken.

Identifying the barriers that hinder the circularity in the wine industry in Bulgaria and proposing a preliminary circular economy (CE) index for ranking in order of importance the barriers for providing a suitable and replicable model through the contextualization of the study applied at the territorial level.

The article adopts a Fuzzy AHP methodology based on 6 main barriers and 19 sub-barriers to find the weights of the barriers and rank them. The study was conducted in Bulgaria, and it consists of a questionnaire with pairwise comparisons to ask for expert opinions of members of the Executive Board of the National Association of Bulgarian Vinegrowers and additional members of the regional vine and winegrowing chambers.

The study identifies training and education and environmental barriers as the most important among the main barriers whereas, economic barriers are assessed as low impact. Considering the sub-barriers, lack of consumer awareness and interest, unclear taxation for CE, lack of knowledge about environmental emissions (carbon, water etc.) within the supply chains, and lack of digital trends are determined as the most significant sub-barriers.

The preliminary CE index can be practically used and tested, when necessary, by each winemaker according to their understanding and opinion of CE barriers and sub-barriers. The ranking within the CE index can lead winemakers also to decisions related to the company's social policy.

The study uses the Fuzzy AHP methodology with expert opinions to analyze and weigh the main barriers to achieving CE at the micro-level.

This paper charts the history and development of Chilean wines. The incredible growth of Chile's wine output is a textbook example of how aggressive private enterprise can combine with enthusiastic government backing. In 1988, Chile shipped 185,630 hectolitres abroad. By 1998, this had grown to an impressive 2.3 million hl worth US$500 million. Equally, instead of sending 88% of its wine to Latin America, as it had in the 1980s, in 2001 it sold in high‐profit markets like Europe (41% of all exports), North America (34%) and, increasingly, Asia, where in 1998 Chile sold 14% of its wine. The only country spared from the devastating blight of phylloxera, Chile's wine industry boomed in the early years of the 20th century. In 1981, there were 100,000 hectares (one ha = 2.47 acres) under vines, which sank to 67,000 in 1985, the nadir of the industry. Then, a new sense of identity and purpose swept Chile's winemakers and investors. Suddenly, the wine revolution which had earlier had its impact on California and Australia caught on in Chile. There were gigantic investments in land, plantings and equipment. Old‐fashioned vines were uprooted. In the late 1990s, Cabernet Sauvignon doubled from 11,000 to 20,000 hectares. Merlot vineyard acreage quadrupled between 1994 and 1999, similar growth was seen with Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. Winemakers were also experimenting with Pinot Noir and with Shiraz, which loves the dry, hot Chilean autumn. Chile today has 75,600 hectares under vine about two‐thirds of them red grapes. That prime fruit is being pressed by the latest equipment from Europe, Australia and North America.

New York is the third top wine producing state in America. Competitive wine production across the United States has challenged New York winemakers to secure a place in the domestic market in order to support the long-term viability of the local economy. As businesses of agriculture become increasingly disrupted by the changing natural environment and consumer demand for sustainable products grows, vintners may distinguish themselves through the production and promotion of strategic initiatives on wine bottle labels.

Fueled by the distinct fields of green marketing and environmental communication, this research investigates the promotion of sustainable practices on wine bottle labels. Through the methodology of content analysis, this project examines all 13 wineries on the Shawangunk Wine Trail located in the Hudson River Region of New York.

The findings from this study show that less than half of wineries in the sample selection employ environmental marketing as a communication strategy.

This research carries practical, business and social implications for the local Hudson River Region, the larger New York wine industry, and any organization looking to remain viable in a competitive marketplace.

This paper reveals the potential for the Hudson River Region wine industry to promote its “distinctive” and “innovative” environmental philosophy of “terroir driven and sustainably produced” winemaking on wine bottle labels to differentiate themselves in a crowded and expanding marketplace and build a Basis of Legitimacy with consumers.

The products that small wineries offer are examined and the product intangibility of wine is discussed. Marketing implications of the problem of defining what the customer wants from wine are examined and some solutions offered.

The purpose of this study is to investigate non-pecuniary motivations and benefits of involvement in the wine business. Combining these motives with winery owners’ characteristics, attitudes and implemented strategies, the aim is to identify different winery owners’ styles in small-medium family-run firms.

The applied method is a qualitative explorative study involving in-depth interviews with Tuscan winery owners. They have hands-on involvement in the winemaking process, own a family business and supervise all of the production phases, from grape growing to bottling.

The study highlights the key role of non-economic motivations for winery owners. Passion, independence and a desire to live close to nature are predominant compared to pecuniary motivations, such as profit maximization. Therefore, the “lifestyle-oriented” style, characterized especially by the achievement of non-pecuniary benefits, represents the prevailing style amongst the interviewed winery owners, in contrast to the “business-oriented” style, which features typical producers described by mainstream economic theory.

The findings of this study are pivotal because they can facilitate a better understanding of how family-run wineries make decisions related to, e.g. firm size, staff management, product quality, exports and sustainability.