WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 1 Just accepted 1 2 3 4 Old and new challenges in the wine business: what lies ahead for Wine 5 Economics and Policy 6 7 Nicola Marinelli1 8 9 10 11 1 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie, Alimentari, Ambientali e Forestali, University of 12 Florence, P.le delle Cascine, 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy, Email: nicola.marinelli@unifi.it 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nicola Marinelli, Dipartimento di 21 Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie, Alimentari, Ambientali e Forestali, University of Florence, P.le delle 22 Cascine, 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy, Email: nicola.marinelli@unifi.it 23 24 25 This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through 26 the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences 27 between this version and the Version of Record. 28 29 Please cite this article as: 30 31 Marinelli N. (2022), Old and new challenges in the wine business: what lies ahead for Wine 32 Economics and Policy, Wine Economics and Policy, Just Accepted. 33 DOI: 10.36253/wep-13987 34 35 36 37 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 2 Abstract: 38 The wine sector, as all the other businesses, is facing the effects of the recent global pandemic and of 39 the energy price crisis, but at the same time the research has not finished dealing with old/new 40 challenges in the field of sustainability and innovation. And probably never will, as these issues 41 represent an underlying constant in the debate. 42 As the wine world continues to change, our Journal changes: eleven years after the publication of the 43 first Issue, it is time to take stock of the situation and discuss what lies ahead. 44 45 Key words: Wine, business, research, innovation, sustainability 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 3 Dear readers, 72 when this Journal came to life with the publication of its first issue in 2012, it is no secret that there 73 was some sort of scepticism about it. Some said that there was no need for another wine journal and 74 that the topic was so specialised that a market for it would be very narrow. Now, after eleven years 75 and twenty-two Issues, that scepticism seems to be vanished. Wine Economics and Policy (WEP) 76 proved to be successful, in spite of the hardships that any new publication needs to face at first, and 77 the reasons for this success are very simple: 78 - a solid backbone: WEP is an emanation of the University of Florence, that has a long and 79 layered history of wine research and education. UniCeSV, the University Centre for the 80 Development of the Wine Sector, pools the best resources internally and connects them with 81 the rest of the Wine Academia and the business; 82 - a prestigious and active editorial board: in particular, the idea to have Editors for specific 83 geographical areas eased the appeal of the Journal worldwide and facilitated the submissions 84 from very different and very specific realities of the wine world; 85 - a fruitful cooperation with the publishers: Elsevier at first and now Firenze University Press 86 (FUP) gave the Journal all the means necessary for establishing a visible presence in the 87 competitive world of academic journals; 88 - the idea behind it: from the start, WEP was never intended to be “just another journal about 89 wine”. The topics we tried to cover ranged from the traditional ones like consumer behaviour 90 and business analysis to newer ones, with a particular attention on interdisciplinary aspects. 91 Moreover, the Journal was never intended to be addressed only to Academia and has always 92 maintained a space for policy analysis and discussion and for the direct voice of the business 93 sector. 94 95 When I was asked to take over the role of Editor in chief from Prof. Silvio Menghini, I admit I had 96 some doubts, and these doubts came from the fact that I thought it would be impossible to continue 97 to achieve all that was achieved under Prof. Menghini’s guidance. Silvio started the Journal and led 98 it where it is now with the help of the rest of the Editorial Board and the referees who contributed 99 with their availability and expertise: I will not mention the numbers related to the Journal’s 100 performance, because they are visible on our cover and our website, but we can affirm that WEP is 101 recognised as a prestigious publication for its reach and for the standards that researchers require 102 when deciding where to direct their work. 103 104 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 4 So, first of all, I would like to thank Prof. Silvio Menghini and promise that I will do my best to keep 105 up the excellent work. It is a challenge, though, because we move through a world that is constantly 106 changing and compels us to rethink, reassess and redirect our work all the time. 107 108 Where to now, then? We just came out (maybe) of a pandemic that hit hard, not only in terms of 109 health and social welfare, but also in economic and behavioural terms. The wine world has been 110 affected by it as all the other sectors and many studies have already been published addressing the 111 effects of the pandemic for the business. New behavioural and purchasing patterns emerge and need 112 to be further analysed to assess their relevance and their persistence in the wine market and to supply 113 producers with clearer indications. These new patterns stem from the reshaping of our social life 114 during lockdowns but also from the economic impact this period had on society, and this leads us to 115 face the other issues that affect the post-pandemic world economy, i.e. the energy crisis we are going 116 through now in many parts of the world. 117 118 But the challenges for the future do not stop here. There are some “old” challenges that still need to 119 be addressed completely or, better, we need to continue addressing: the climate crisis calls for a 120 renewed look at sustainable production and consumption with a particular attention to circular 121 economy models that many governments seem to be aiming at with the support of new, changing 122 policies. 123 124 Another “old” challenge regards the wide spectrum of digitalisation. The term is so broad that it does 125 not implicitly determine its object, so it can be applied to pretty much everything: from online new 126 media for the communication and distribution of wineries to the use of blockchain, the creation of 127 new accounting software and more. A lot of work was done on many aspects of it but we are certainly 128 not done with it, considering that, generally, technology is progressing at a faster pace than economic 129 and market research. 130 131 One last thing, that is directly linked to the mission of the Journal: we should never forget about the 132 dynamic between Academia and business. The research world is often biased towards a self-133 referencing approach that sometimes springs up in research… for the sake of research. This is 134 something that I, as new Editor in chief of this Journal, will try to avoid at all costs. I am well aware 135 of the needs and demands of academic research, but there is no need for it unless it has a concrete 136 impact in the real world. 137 138 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 5 Here’s to another eleven years (and beyond) of Wine Economics and Policy. 139 140 141