Interest in sustainability has increased significantly in the wine sector in the past few years, driven by customer interest, as well as the impact of global warming-intensified weather extremes on wine growers. For a sustainable future the wine industry must design its entire value chain in such ways that it conserves and regenerates the natural environment and at the same time promotes human rights, inclusion and equality. The current paper identified five key challenges which have to be overcome in order to reach this goal: (1) climate change impact and adaptation strategies, (2) the reduction of GHG emissions and creation of carbon sinks, (3) vineyard inputs, (4) packaging and (5) social and economic sustainability. For each of these five challenges research gaps and possible solutions are presented which enable a holistic improvement of the sustainability of the whole wine value chain from the vineyard to the consumers. Examples for this are strategies to reduce the use of pesticides in the vineyard as well as carbon insetting options in the vineyard. Additionally, it is of utmost importance that every educational institution integrates facts and vision into their teaching programs in a holistic manner. Together, these approaches form the basis for a realistic sustainability vision for the global wine industry.

As retailers in the North increasingly adopt codes of practice containing social and/or environmental provisions in global supply chains, there is a need for rigorous assessment of their social impact. Moving beyond the rhetoric, it is important to establish the actual impact of such codes on poorer workers, their families, and other local stakeholders. This paper sets out the key methodological and conceptual issues arising in such an assessment as identified by a three-year study on the South African wine industry. It reviews the different motivations and approaches employed by code bodies, donors, academics, and practitioners, and highlights the lack of workers' voices in the debate on corporate responsibility as well as some of the early research findings. Finally, it explains how the inherent power inequalities in global supply chains make it more difficult to adopt a truly empowering approach to assessing the impact of codes of practice.

Emerging from decades of regulation and international isolation in the early 1990s, investment flowed into the South African wine industry, new vineyards were established, co-operatives modernized themselves, process and product ‘upgrading’ took place, wine quality improved, and export volumes increased dramatically, much of it sold in bulk. While this has inevitably stimulated innovation, the financial rewards for ‘basic’ quality are limited. Thus after two decades of upgrading, where do South African wine co-operatives, who produce most of the exports, go from here? Conventional global value chain theory (GVC) suggests that improving quality and adding further value is the way forward. However, given the classical constraints of co-operatives, is the higher quality trajectory a realistic option? Drawing on detailed case studies the paper argues that it is not only remnants of traditional principles that stand in the way of South Africa's ‘new generation’ co-operatives moving up the value chain, but also the high costs involved.

This paper argues that on balance, deregulation and the exposure to overseas markets has been beneficial to the South African wine industry, resulting in strong growth, increased employment and much improved international competitiveness. However, the paper also draws attention to the fact that not everybody has benefited in equal measure from the process of upgrading, modernisation and internationalisation. Since the start of the transition in the mid 1990s, a number of growers have left the industry and for many workers employment has become less secure. [Une dynamique pour le bien? Les marchès, les caves et la main-d'œuvre dans l'industrie du vin sud-africain aprés l'apartheid]. Cet article soutient que dans l'ensemble, la déréglementation et l'ouverture aux marchés d'outre-mer ont été bénéfiques pour l'industrie du vin sud africain, ce qui a entrainé une forte croissance, favorisé l'augmentation de l'emploi et une compétitivité internationale bien améliorée. Toutefois, le document attire également l'attention sur le fait que tout le monde n'a pas à part égale profité de ce processus d'amélioration, de modernisation et d'internationalisation. Depuis le début de la transition au milieu des années 1990, un certain nombre de producteurs ont quitté l'industrie car pour de nombreux actifs, le monde du travail était devenu moins certain. Mots-clés : les marchès ; le vin ; l'Afrique du Sud

Since the mid-1990s the number of South African wine co-operatives has been reduced by two‑thirds. Some of it is due to mergers, but others have converted to companies, partly because they are convinced that this is an organisational model superior to that of co-operatives. By converting, these cellars hoped to free themselves from the classical constraints suffered by co-operatives. But have these hopes actually been realised? This is the central question of the paper. In trying to answer it the paper draws on case studies of 14 co-operatives and ex-co-operatives conducted between 2014-2016. The analysis relies mainly on data and information supplied by cellar staff during in-depth interviews. In our assessment we translate ‘performance’ into financial stability and for this purpose we use mainly two indicators, viz. capital ratio and cash flow. The cases are analysed against the backdrop of co-operative theory, changes in the South African wine industry over the last 20 years, and the particular nature of South African co-operatives.