Auteur: Anne Jones – Director of Regenerative Viticulture Foundation
As buyers around the world, and increasingly in Asia, question the credibility of wine producers’ sustainability claims, regenerative viticulture — which aims to restore degraded systems and improve long-term resilience — holds many of the answers.
Wine has long communicated its sustainability through claims such as organic, natural, green or responsible. These terms have shaped perception. But as markets mature, buyers are asking more precise questions, reflecting an understanding that sustainability sits across the full value chain, from agriculture and production to packaging and distribution. In Asia, that transition is happening quickly.
Across Asia’s premium wine markets, sustainability is becoming part of how wines are selected, assessed and increasingly de-risked. Importers, hospitality groups and premium retailers no longer want to know whether a producer is sustainable, but whether those claims are credible, can be demonstrated, measured and trusted. In this context, regenerative viticulture is gaining ground, not as a trend but as part of a broader sustainability framework aligned with a fundamental commercial need: resilience.
This is not only about ideology. It is about the continuity of supply, the credibility of claims and confidence in long-term value. Buyers in premium retail, distribution and hospitality operate within structured procurement environments and are accountable not just for what they buy, but for how those decisions stand up to scrutin.
Credit: © RVF
Sustainability under scrutiny
In markets such as Hong Kong and Macau, where wine is embedded in luxury hospitality, and in South Korea and Taiwan, where it is positioned as a lifestyle product, sustainability claims ar...
