Wine Tourism, the Business of Wine, and the Impact of the Environöment and Sustainability

According to the United Nations, climate change has been named the defining issue of the twenty-first century. The impact of global warming has consequences for current and future global humanity. Immediate changes to food consumption and drinking habits are needed if humankind is to achieve the goals identified in the Paris Agreement of keeping climate change under 2 °C by 2050. While viticulture, viniculture, and climate change may seem like independent issues, the way grapes are selected for wine production, irrigate vineyards, bottle wines, and move wines globally attest to climate change and capitalistic planting for awarded wines. One of the most impactful things we can do as individuals is to ignore the chase for gold medals and support producers that are leading the globe's best environmental practices in the business of grape growing, wine production, and global supply chain management. With sustainable practices in the business of grape growing and winemaking, the industry needs to be positioned to make immediate changes to its livelihood. The negative impact of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, water-dependent species, fossil fuel consumption, and a poor circular economy plays into the issue of why the wine industry finds itself at this juncture. As some scholars suggest that sustainable farming is a journey, grape growers and winemakers should be addressing the change as a race towards the survivability of planet earth and the future of human beings. This chapter will be dedicated to the change agents leading the best practices in the commerce of grapes, wine, and transportation and how consumers can best prepare themselves to purchase wines and responsibly visit wineries.