Enhancing energy efficiency in wineries: A novel benchmarking approach

• An innovative method to foster energy efficiency in the wine industry is presented. • 11 reference-models for wineries are identified, based on their process types. • 3 novel indices enable assessing the impact of outsourcing key production stages. • This approach was validated using data collected from 20 Italian wineries. • It enhances wineries’ EnPIs benchmarking, overcoming current method’s limitations. This article introduces an innovative method to foster energy efficiency in the wine industry, focussing on the benchmarking of Energy Performance Indicators (EnPIs). It facilitates the evaluation and monitoring of wineries’ performances over time, allowing for comparison with similar entities, through the categorization of wineries into eleven distinct reference-models based on their process types, enhancing the understanding of energy use. Additionally, three “outsourcing” indices are introduced to identify significant energy consumption in key production stages. The methodology is designed for simplicity, requiring only basic input and product output data, readily available to companies. To validate this approach, a specially-developed data collection form was proposed to 20 Italian wineries, ranging from small producers to large-scale operations. The results illustrate some important limitations in methods that solely rely on EnPIs for energy performance benchmarking, which may lead to inaccurate conclusions. The proposed categorization and outsourcing indices allow for a more comprehensive energy consumption analysis related to the actual production process. Interestingly, some companies, initially perceived as efficient, exhibit instead critical performances, which entails the need for further analysis. Correlation analyses confirm the efficacy of these methodological choices, underscoring the robustness of the proposed approach and proving its potential as an asset for companies, decision-makers, and stakeholders aiming at sustainability improvement, including all those boards involved with certification standards.