Globalization of the world wine market and restructuring of the supply-side

The wine market has experienced major transformations in the past thirty years, with a consumption collapse per capita in the historical Southern European producing countries and the emergence of new actors in America and Oceania. The result of this was a structural gap between supply and demand, generating wine-growing prices and income instability, mainly in the European Union and, more recently, in Australia. This alteration goes with a restructuring of the supply, with the emergence of an oligopoly with fringes1 already observed in other agrifood sectors. A dominant group of powerful multinational firms has settled in, based on a high-scale strategy, strong marketing of products and the capture of distribution networks. This strategy finds its financial resources in the growing financialisation of corporate governance. It appeals to public authorities, especially European ones, for a reform of the institutional sector-based framework.