Improving Sustainable Viticulture and Winemaking Practices: Chapter 1 - Achieving a more sustainable wine supply chain—Environmental and socioeconomic issues of the industry

Sustainable development involves three basic pillars: environmental, economic, and social. In the case of the wine sector, sustainability needs to integrate the concept defined by economics, ecology, and community dimensions for both grape and wine production. The wine industry is a large, globalized, and diversified sector encompassing multiple production systems and cultures, diverse management choices and a wide range of monitoring tools and solutions. This chapter presents and discusses the most relevant risks and concerns of modern wine industry and major sustainability issues related to wine production and related supply chain. The wine sector must implement more sustainable practices to mitigate climate change impacts and to decrease its environmental impact while ensuring its important economic and social function. Metrics and standards are required to support audits, efficient management, and regulatory parameters. Social issues must be addressed by the sector, especially because it strongly relies on human resources and manual labor. Research and development activities and related innovation (e.g., digitalization, sensors, mechanization, and recycling) can result in improved sustainability and resilience while the lack of transparency of the sector will harm confidence of consumers and competiveness.