By Sandra Taylor
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My new book, A Consumer’s Guide to Sustainable Wine (coming soon) will serve as a valuable and first-of-its-kind resource for wine enthusiasts, consumers, producers, retailers and industry professionals alike. Today’s global consumer is interested in making informed choices that align with their environmental consciousness and social responsibility. By exploring the intricate relationship between wine production and sustainability, this guide aims to empower readers to enjoy their favorite wines while contributing to a healthier planet. Consumers hold the key to our sustainable future…just like with organic foods, electric cars and LED light bulbs.
“The global organic wine market size was estimated at USD 8.9 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2% from 2022 to 2030. The market growth is driven by the shifting consumer behavior patterns for food and beverages across the world.”
– Grand Review Research.com
The market for sustainable wines is growing every year– yet there is no clear way for consumers to determine which wineries are sustainable, and what that term even means! This is a major problem for consumers as well as wine retailers, who themselves acknowledge they often don’t know the difference between organic, biodynamic, natural, or “sustainable” winemaking.
A Consumer’s Guide to Sustainable Wine will fill this void. The guide defines what “sustainability” means in the wine industry and goes one step further by rating wineries and vineyards. To achieve this my team at Sustainable Business International, has created a Robert Parker-type rating system called Wine–WATCH™, not for flavor and taste, but for sustainability. Wine–WATCH™ aims to be a global standard of sustainability assessment.
Unlike critics tasting reviews– Parker’s 100-point rating and Jancis Robinson’s 20-point system, among others– the Wine–WATCH™ rating tells consumers where the wines they select fit on a continuum of environmental and social responsibility performance. This process involves a complex assessment of the practices and certifications for each vineyard and winery.
As vineyards and wineries increasingly adopt more sustainable practices –from how they farm, to the products they create, how they treat workers, to the services and packaging they utilize– consumers seek to educate themselves and make informed decisions. Both the guide and the new Wine–WATCH™ rating system are designed to help educate, by sharing which wineries, brands and labels they should seek out.
As an executive for Starbucks, I led the team that created and launched C.A.F.E. Practices, influencing global standards for environmental sustainability and ethics throughout the coffee industry, with major focus on equitable supply chains. Next, I applied my understanding of sustainability as a brand in my first book for the wine industry.
My love of wine started as a passion project, but now it is my main avocation and occupation. These days my focus is on the wine consumer, revolutionizing how wine drinkers understand and enjoy sustainable wines, all leading to my goal of a more environmentally-sustainable and socially-responsible planet. I want fine wine that is sustainably produced to be accessible to more people. And I want consumers to choose sustainable wine.
The guide will list my recommendations of sustainable wineries and selected wines, categorized by flavor and grape varietals. And yes, value wines (under $20) will be noted throughout to assure consumers at every economic level that they too can be conscious consumers.
Those choices will be made easier with the new sustainability rating system (Wine–WATCH™) that promotes two interrelated ideals– human rights and environmental sustainability. For today’s consumers, sustainability increasingly means not only climate action and conservation but also fairness to workers, social equity, and commitment to communities. Yet, obtaining pertinent information about a wine can feel overwhelming and difficult.
The solution is Wine–WATCH™, a new system of measuring and communicating, both credibly and easily, the overall sustainability of a winery. Wine–WATCH™ rates a winery’s practices and scope of operations according to five pillars, hence the acronym: Winemaking, Agriculture, Transportation, Certification and Humanity.
Stay tuned for details of Wine–WATCH™ coming soon.