ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF PRECISION VITICULTURE. A CASE STUDY FROM MONTEFALCO SAGRANTINO DOCG

The concept of terroir is fundamental for viticulture, as it highlights the connection between soil, climate, and human intervention, as well as the role each of these factors plays in wine production. This concept is particularly important for high-quality wines, which are closely associated with a specific location and community. This relationship is best exemplified by the development of Geographical Indication (GI) legislation in the European Union. However, the accelerating pace of climate change presents a challenge to viticulture worldwide and, consequently, to the geographically fixed concept of terroir. This also affects rural communities that rely on local wine production. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyse the wine sector from both an environmental and socio-economic perspective. The first chapter presents a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature, published between 2000 and 2022, that investigates the relationship between viticulture and climate change. This allowed to identify the main actors (including authors, countries, institutions, and journals) leading the research in this domain. Moreover, co-citation analysis and bibliographic allowed to determine the dominant thematic clusters in previous and current scientific literature, and to reveal emerging research trajectories in this field. The main thematic clusters found include the assessment of climate change effects on viticultural regions worldwide, climate change’s impact on grape composition and phenology. The second chapter focuses on the economic impacts of climate change on Italian wineries, through a Ricardian analysis. The aim is to assess how long-term climatic factors influence net revenue per hectare of Italian grape-growing and wine producing farms. When considering a +1°C increase in temperatures, results indicate a decrease in net revenue per hectare in Northern and Southern Italy (-5.95% when all Italy is considered). The third chapter presents a qualitative analysis that illustrates how a wine GI in the Umbria region (Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG) may have influenced local socio-economic development and, if so, its perceived magnitude among local stakeholders. Finally, the fourth chapter presents an analysis of three wine regions located in France and Italy, and, through a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews, we are able to identify the main factors influencing the successful (or unsuccessful) outcome of a wine GI in a rural area.