Sustainability rests on three pillars: people, planet, and profit. And yet, all too often sustainability is equated with environmental stewardship. With environmental responsibility being the growing focal point in the wine industry over the last few years, social responsibility and racial inequities in the wine industry are often ignored. Growers and winemakers see commitments to climate action as a critical strategic priority, but many are slow to recognizesocial justice (the people pillar) as a critical risk factor.
Human and labor rights, for the most part, remain a significant void in most regional wine sustainability standards. While environmental standards, required in order to be certified, are detailed and broad in their coverage, human social issues are typically voluntary and not included among mandatory standards. Environmental considerations such as water and energy management, soil health and minimization of chemical use are covered by these standards in great detail, but ‘human issues’ are typically limited to factors such as in-job training, and provision of appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for field workers
It really bothers me that organic and biodynamic certifications, as well as the natural wine movement, have no requirements for social sustainability. An organic label is one way to judge a wine’s environmental responsibility, but the life cycle impact of a bottle of wine goes beyond that, to include human rights factors as well.
Younger consumers, now more racially diverse than previous generations, consider social sustainability, along with environmental issues, when evaluating brands and companies. They have higher ethical expectations, which shape their consumption decisions.
Increasingly employees and customers look to business leaders to address social and environmental issues.
When I went to work at Starbucks in the early 2000s, as sustainability hit the global stage as a critical element of business leadership, social equity was always inherent to being sustainable, then called corporate social responsibility (CSR). Over time the social equity element has been sidelined. .In fact, real sustainability is about caring for the health and resilience of nature and environment, the health and resilience of employees and community, all of which attract today’s consumers and contribute to the success and longevity of businesses.
Social sustainability extends to issues that improve the quality of our lives, reducing inequality; fighting poverty; helping people make better choices about their physical and mental health; supporting childcare, senior care, health care, and workplace diversity., Ten years ago, you might not have had these expectations, but disease, social injustice, protests, economic collapse, climate crises and war are weighing heavily on all our minds now.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we heard a lot about essential workers. Workers and farmers across the world helped ensure that we still had access to the foods we eat every day.
Yet despite this crucial service to us all, the global food system remains tilted against their rights, specifically for women and migrant workers. Some employers exploit the fact that migrant workers face fewer protections. They can be entitled to fewer rights under local laws; they may be undocumented and in fear of deportation; or they may be isolated or even more dependent on their wages and therefore less likely to speak out. Wine consumers need to view worker rights issues urgently.
In my book, Vines and Values, you can learn more about the history of labor practices in the wine industry. Scathing examples exist in South African vineyards, covered in a 2016 documentary, Bitter Grapes: Slavery in Vineyards. The situation has not improved much since then. Oxfam, a British-based organization devoted to alleviating global poverty, uncovered some appalling labor abuses in the Italian wine industry. These vineyard workers are not confident raising a concern or grievance at the workplace, for fear of losing their jobs or reprisals from the company.Fear of retaliation has also been reported in a Sonoma vineyard during harvest.
As consumers we should expect more of those who produce the wines we buy and love.
