Top 2023 Challenges for the Wine Industry as per the Leading Winemakers. Pt 1 is Here.

Climate change, labor shortage, geopolitical tensions, tariff fluctuations, and balancing personal life are the top 2023 challenges as per leading winemakers.

In this article, we share with you what some of the leading winemakers of the world think their current challenges are.

Mark Beaman: Drought and smoke have continued to plague us lately in California. While we are learning ways to combat it there seems to be a new angle to the challenge each season that differs from the previous. There is also the battle to reduce costs yet increase quality. We need to be profitable to be successful but defend what we need to successfully create wines of quality and distinction.

Alexander Ivanov: the climate change, the fashion, the focus on details, to ensure quality while every harvest is different

Oliver Styles: A lot of winemakers have effectively become middle management which often means they're working against the best interests of the people below them and the very wine they make. They are often pressured to do things like reduce staff costs, or costs generally, which means things like less hands-on techniques or more automation or higher workloads and burnout/disaffection among staff below them, generated by their own role. You can kid yourself that such things as automated pump-overs are "just as good" etc or that roughly tangibly similar results are achieved by automation but the wine industry (in my view) shouldn't be about industrialized production. This also means that fewer and fewer people are getting skilled-up in the industry. Wine is a social beverage - its production should be social too.

Stacy Vogel: It's very tough to be in wine production and have a family, and there is little support in the industry -- it's mostly just assumed you will rely on family or expensive extended caregivers if you can find them. It's not a particularly well-paid industry, especially for all of our support staff working in the cellars and vineyards, and family issues become a big strain for workers, especially during harvest. Add onto that the lack of affordable housing, especially in the wine-growing areas of California, and it makes it hard both to stay in the industry and attract the talented people we need to help us craft our wines.

Eva Pemper: One of the current challenges I think that the winemakers are facing are all the climate changes happening and global warming, unusual weather patterns, and how that is affecting vineyards and grapes in certain regions while you are still expected to create a wine that is true to its terror, style, and variety. Also, a big challenge is this fast-moving world and technology and how to follow that in winemaking. Keeping up with all the innovations while staying true to history is a big challenge winemakers have to face.?

Marco Sollazzo: I think the export market is becoming more difficult for Australia given the fact that other wine countries are producing good quality wines at a cheaper price.?Wine Regulation is another big challenge for winemakers, laws constantly change and it is difficult to be updated all the time with the different market requirements.

Joseph Patrick: labor shortages for vineyards and the occasional harvest help. When good labor is found, they always seem to have increasing rates per hour.?

Brian Crew: I think identity is a hard part of being a winemaker- in the sense of trying to determine what your market is used to drinking/what will sell easily vs. what you want to produce for the world and how to blend those together or plan for how to work around the obstacles. For example in our region, sweet wine is much more prevalent but we make French-inspired dry wines; it was quite risky but I think we are making serious progress in showing the consumer that dry wine can be expressive while helping them to discover what actual tasting profile they like as opposed to sweet vs. dry. Other than that, I would say shortages and shipping costs have made getting supplies harder and harder and more costly.

Peter Selin: Rising costs and climate (both meteorological and political)?

Andrew Yingst: There has been a swing to natural, bio-dynamic, and organic winemaking, which is exciting for experimentation, but those words are poorly defined and have developed an opposing dichotomy in their marketing. There is now a "right and wrong", "healthy vs unhealthy," and "safe vs unsafe...." In reality, the difference between what I'll call modern winemaking and what I listed above is negligible or simply non-existent in many cases. Nothing I've seen in modern winemaking is unsafe or unhealthy and by painting that picture many wineries are put at a marketing and sales disadvantage.?

Justin Mund: I think every winemaker has their own set of challenges.?As people, we have our own set of challenges.?The only specific thing I can think of has been the smoke taint issues because of the fires in recent years.

Rose Kentish: Understanding and moving with the changes in the global trading conditions for wine sales is tricky. Adapting to vintage variations - with water, heat, and staff all being so variable.