The Forum for the Environmental Sustainability of Wine was set up in February 2013 on the initiative of Attilio Scienza, Michele Manelli and Marco Sabellico, and with the support of Gambero Rosso Holding and the Italian Wine Union, with the aim of promoting the environmental sustainability of wine as a fundamental element of the qualitative excellence and the competitiveness of Italian wines on the market. The Forum is based on the premise that the definition of a single, common and comparable approach is essential to the development of a system based on social, economic and environmental improvement. The First Report on Sustainable Winegrowing, which will be presented in New York the next November 10th, summarizes the initial stage in a journey and intends to:
– mark the birth of a movement within the Italian wine sector
AIM OF IDENTITY AND INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
– respond to the first research questions
SCIENTIFIC AIM
– propose the launch of a common and concrete process of improvement in the sector
OPERATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT AIM
In the current phase this document also represents an organizational proposal for the creation of a “place” capable of catalyzing and transmitting the demands of all stakeholders: the Forum for the Sustainability of Wine.
The following document is the result of a complex journey that has involved 37 experts on the topic of sustainable wine from the technical and scientific community, united by this manifesto of values and goals. Two working groups have conducted in-depth studies and research on the system, including cognitive investigations regarding over 1000 wineries and 15 national programs for the sustainable development of wine. Three specific studies have emerged from this work: the first examines the economic features of the current movement (by Prof. Eugenio Pomarici of the University of Naples Federico II; co-author Dr Riccardo Vecchio); the second illustrates the synoptic framework of the Italian sustainable development programs (by Prof. Fabio Mencarelli of the University of Tuscia; co-author Luciano De Propris); the third seeks to define how a strategic orientation towards sustainability is transforming the business models of Italian wineries (by Prof. Lorenzo Zanni of the University of Siena; co-author Dr Tommaso Pucci). The Forum for Wine Sustainability has selected the essential points from these basic premises to form the technical and cultural proposal it intends to put forward for the next leg of this journey.