Remember when organic wine was the thing your crustiest hippy friends served at their tofu-laden potlucks?
Now farming grapes organically – or, at the very least, paying lip service to "sustainable farming practices" while secretly nuking your vineyards with Roundup – is de rigueur for anyone who wants to be taken seriously in the premium wine space. But is it enough?
There has been a subtle shift in what consumers want from their glass of wine – and what they're willing to pay (often more) for. The days of "just" farming organically sans chemicals simply doesn't cut it anymore.
Organic viticulture has been on the rise for some time (the share of the world's vineyard acreage that is organic went from 1.39 percent in 2005 to 7.85 percent in 2021 – a 464.75 percent increase – according to World of Organic Agriculture 2023, and sales or organic wine have increased, from 29 million cases in 2012, to 71m in 2022, an increase of 1.2 percent to 3.3. percent of the global wine share, according to the drinks market analysis firm International Wine & Spirit Research.
This growth has outpaced general wine sales, which have fallen from 2.4 billion to 2.06b cases, a decrease of 14.17 percent.
But doing what many consider to be the right thing to the grapes may not continue to translate to a healthy bottom line, if brands aren't extending their vision for sustainability to the people farming and selling those grapes.
Behind the shift
Unlike the dawn of widespread organic viticulture, when there were (sometimes valid) doubts about the quality of the wine being produced, it would be difficult even for the most determined wingnut, to argue that treating employees well and compensating them fairly for their efforts could do anything to diminish the quality of the wine being made.
On the contrary, the desire to support brands who are socially responsible appears to be refreshingly nonpartisan.
The majority – about 71 percent – of Americans have said that it is important to support socially responsible brands, according to an annual study about conscious consumerism from the consultancy Good.Must.Grow, which also noted that the latest findings show that support for social equity is at an all-time high since the survey began in 2013.
That study noted that 42 percent of Americans plan to allocate more of their spending to socially responsible companies this year.
Another study conducted by OnePoll reported on the flipside, with 74 percent of respondents saying they would boycott brands that went against their personal values. Even more – about 85 percent – report being willing to spend more money on higher quality products that reflect their values.
While organic and biodynamic certifications focus primarily on farming, other third-party verified organizations like B Corp, Fairtrade, Fair for Life and the newly minted Regenerative Organic Alliance are focused on looking at a company's holistic approach to sustainability, which includes their approach to farming and their treatment of their employees and the broader community.
Being socially responsible cannot, seemingly by definition, be accomplished with one-size fits all approach, and brands in different regions of the world are offering programs that meet challenges that may be unique to their region.
Training for underserved groups
Lamberto Frescobaldi is president at Marchesi Frescobaldi, one of the most iconic wineries in the world, having winemaking roots in Tuscany that date back more than 700 years. From the get-go, sales haven't been an issue, with artists like Donatella and Brunelleschi and members of the royal Court of England serving as unofficial ambassadors to the brand,
But when he was approached by a director of the Gorgona Penal Colony with a request to help her develop a winemaking program on the island, Frescobaldi says he saw an opportunity to not only make wine from what he saw as auspicious terroir, but actually give back to a country that gave him and his family so much.
"I realized that the program they were envisioning would put prisoners in touch with nature, and help them develop skills that could help them rebuild their lives," Frescobaldi says. "Most prisoners leave and go back to the villages they were born in because that's where their families are from."
But after serving long sentences for serious crimes, he adds, it is difficult for them to find work, especially without specialized skills. Of the more than 200 wineries the Gorgona Penal Colony approached, Frescobaldi was the only one to respond to the invitation.
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