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News
Green warning for Old World
At the heart of last week’s IWSC annual showcase debate lay a stark warning for the Old World. As the panel discussed the motion “This house believes the promotion of environmental credentials is a marketing ploy”, debate chairman Robert Joseph raised concern about European wine producers’ failure to develop a cohesive green strategy.
“I think there could be a tsunami heading for Europe,” he warned, explaining that with the codes of practice being introduced for countries such as New Zealand and Chile, “Every bottle of Montana, Concha y Toro and Villa Maria will be organic or sustainable.
“The whole of the New World will have got together on this and the Italians, Germans and Spanish will have a much harder time.”
As a panellist in the debate, Michael Cox, UK director of Wines of Chile, highlighted the progress being made in the country at a generic level to provide some objective qualification for its tagline “The Natural Choice”. Cox explained: “What bottles need is something more tangible, which is why Chile is developing a sustainable code of conduct, to which all wineries will sign up.”
With little evidence of such collaboration in the Old World, Joseph painted a picture of an imminent and plausible future, where “Being non-sustainable could become a bit like being the people who run the sweatshops.”
Joseph even went so far as to suggest that countries which don’t develop a clear and meaningful green code of practice could find themselves facing the prospect of a punitive tariff barrier in some countries. This is already a very real political issue for other products, as seen in the long running dispute over the EU ban on hormone-injected beef from the US, which retaliated by proposing fierce import duty sanctions on a number of EU products.
For a full report on the IWSC debate, look out for the December issue of the drinks business.
Gabriel Savage, 28.10.09