The wine sector management in Portugal: an overview on its three-dimensional sustainability.

Abstract

The paper scrutinizes wine sector sustainability management in Portugal, which is a traditional wine producer. In Portugal, wine is strategic to its agri-food industry. As the wine market faced changes in consumption and an increase in the quality of the wine offered, new green products (organic, biodynamic) appeared for market niches concerned with environmental and health issues, as well as new ways of communication through the Internet and social media. First, we discuss a global wine market that affects wine market in Portugal, and then we present the internal situation and tendencies, including some examples of sustainable management of this sector in the economic, societal, and ecological dimensions. In the present work, the perspective is essentially of an entire economic sector, since in the Portuguese wine market the Old-World model prevails. This situation comprises high market fragmentation, and strong power exercised by distribution and consumers; it also means that wine production is subject to strict national and common market regulations. However, we do not abandon the micro analysis at the level of the company’s relations with its stakeholders. The methodology adopted in this review is qualitative and it consists of critical analysis of the literature from diverse disciplines, but it also uses secondary sources, such as institutional and technical reports, databases, statistics, notes and media news.