Sustainable wine tourism development in burgeoning regions: lessons from New Jersey and Connecticut

This paper examines wine tourism and economic sustainability at the winery. In addition to the existing literature, two small scales, burgeoning regions (wineries in the states of New Jersey and Connecticut in the USA) are surveyed, analysed and compared to exemplify opportunities in wine tourism sustainability. Results demonstrate that these regions are relatively young, have small properties, experiment with multiple varietals, and often outsource grapes or juice from other regions. Most of their sales are within their respective state and the majority at the winery itself. Given the proximity to major metropolitan areas of New York, Philadelphia and Boston the wineries must often focus on the tourism of wine as the primary economic activity. They are small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and must focus on marketing to entice visitors for cellar door sales. It is through collaborative marketing efforts of wine associations, wine trails, passport programs, and regional heritage branding that wineries in burgeoning regions can thrive. It is no longer just about size, shelf space and terroir. It is through this cooperative quest for long term sustainability - the combination of the unique environmental, economic and cultural features - of these less known rural regions that will allow smaller wineries to survive.