Cool emerging versus warm established regions: Does climate change alter the sustainability focus in wine production? A thematic review and sustainability maturity assessment of the case study Belgium and the leading wine Federations

Global warming is favourable for wine production above the 50° parallel north and irreversibly perturbs established, influential wine regions in southern Europe. Human interventions in wine production leave an environmental footprint in both old and new regions. Traditional wine regions tackle this challenge by integrating mitigation and adaptation strategies in sustainable, climate-resilient production schemes. As the need for such integrated adaptation and mitigation strategies is less pronounced in newly emerging wine regions, mitigation strategies are also less advanced. Integrated mitigation and adaptation needs are region-specific, making the strategies of traditional wine regions arguably unsuitable for the so-called cool climate regions. This thematic review and gap analysis interprets and compares relevant literature to identify the hindrances to a more environmentally sustainable approach in emerging cool climate wine regions. Belgian wine production is the cool climate case study; three prevalent transnational Federations represent the major traditional wine regions with a developed sustainability focus. The review reveals an academic gap and is constructed upon exploratory research and framework articles. The review justifies the case study’s main barriers: an underdeveloped sustainability maturity and, consequently, the non-transferability of coordinated sustainability programmes. It reveals the need for cool climate regions to accelerate shared and integrated efforts to overcome the one-sided focus on viticulture and the limited attention to vinification and mitigation. The pathway towards sustainability maturity, joined by strategic stakeholders, should be based on impacts’ hotspot detection tools such as a life-cycle assessment.