The OIV “at a crossroads” in its history

When OIV was founded, it was in the context of a couple of big issues facing the sector, which were fraud and Prohibition. The common thread that we’ve kept from those times is that the founders really prioritised science and cooperation as a way of helping the sector to move forward. Obviously, the organisation itself is quite different because we started with 8 members and now we have 50. We have also expanded our scope to include not just wine but grapes and other vine products. The nature of the sector and some of the issues have changed, but the core of the OIV with that dedication to science and working together to address the issues of the sector is really what remains important for us.

I think it’s been very successful, particularly in terms of raising the profile of the OIV at a high level. We’re an intergovernmental organisation so we’re operating at the ministerial level very often. We had a ministerial conference in Brescia in Italy, which was I guess a preliminary conference to the one here in Dijon. So it is about raising the profile of the OIV but also some of the challenges facing the sector. That’s been extremely important and successful. We’ve also had a much wider diffusion of our work on social media. We had a lovely campaign about 12 Resolutions for 12 Months highlighting some of our work. We also had a stamp from the French post. There’s been a lot happening this year. It culminates in the next week or so and we’ll see a lot more raising of the profile during that time.

We’re moving into this incredible ‘hotel particulier’, the Hôtel Bouchu. That in itself is quite symbolic because it’s a very traditional building. I like to think about the fact that it was built in the year that Europeans first discovered New Zealand, my home country! The building has been beautifully renovated and it illustrates the two faces of the year that we have, which is the tradition, the history, but also looking to the future so that’s very symbolic. Also, for the OIV to be in a wine region, to be near the subject of what we’re talking about, a region where you can see very vividly the concept of terroir, which is what we do, is important. On an economic basis, you can see the way that wine can add value to a regional economy.

Yes, I would certainly agree with this. The training is something that really got underway with my predecessor, Pau Roca. It’s a really great way of connecting, making some of the things we do at the OIV visible and making sure that they’re adding value. Climate change is a huge issue and so is soil and water management so having that course which we run jointly with CIHEAM is very valid. The ampelography courses that we’ve been running are very interesting because you have a science which had almost died out but is extremely important and ties in very nicely with the work we’re doing about grape vine genetic heritage. We have an incredibly diverse heritage and being able to identify and understand that heritage as a means of response to climate change is extremely important.

I can’t anticipate too much of what will be said because they are internal discussions among ministers but certainly from the OIV perspective, we are hoping that we will see a reaffirmation by ministers of their commitment to OIV and to the sector, and a recognition of some of the challenges and the opportunities that the sector is facing at the moment. From our perspective that would really give us support going into the next century.

The chair of the General Assembly and the executive committee has a three-year, non-renewable term. The current chair, Professor Mioi, is a very well-known professor of oenology from Italy. We have one candidate this year for the role of president who is Yvette Van Der Merwe, the head of the South Africa Wine Industry Information and Systems in South Africa. Obviously it’s an election process, but we hope it goes smoothly.

What we’re trying to achieve with the strategic plan is really to position the OIV for the next century because we’re at this turning point for the organisation and I think it’s a time of transition for the sector. It’s very much about focusing our work on some of the key issues and making sure we add value as an organisation and that the OIV has the right structures and processes in place to deliver that. In terms of the issues that we will focus on, they’re industry challenges like climate change and sustainability, connecting with the consumers of tomorrow, trade, wine and society – these are the areas where we will have a strong focus in the strategic plan. Thinking about what the OIV can do that other people can’t do in this space.

In terms of product innovation, it’s a really interesting question. We’ve seen some innovations which to some extent are still going through the OIV like de-alcoholisation. You always have a tension in wine between the fundamental nature of the product as the fermentation of fresh grapes and what you can do with actual product innovation. I’m sure we will see some innovations in the future but we also have this great diversity which means we’re able to develop styles that are attractive to consumers. Packaging is also a source of innovation – this is something we haven’t really looked at historically in the OIV and it’s something we’ve included in the plan for the future.

The OIV first started considering de-alcoholisation a very long time ago. In 2012, we came up with the recommendations about the practices to produce the product and the definitions of the product and those are essentially what have been carried through recently into EU legislation. The discussion at the moment is about the nature of additives – what you put into de-alcoholised wine shouldn’t be anything different from what you put into standard wine. I think it’s an important discussion to have because it’s about the nature and identity of the product. It shows the value of the OIV that you can have these discussions which are quite scientific but with a philosophical perspective behind them too. To be able to discuss this at a global level is really important. It takes a little time sometimes, but they’re important questions.

One of things that OIV does in the global situation is to gather the data. The global data that people are looking at about the current situation for wine comes from the OIV. We look at the situation from a global level and there are two things happening: with all of the global uncertainty, financial uncertainty and inflation, that has definitely affected the sector and consumption. It has pushed costs up higher and at the same time reduced people’s spend. I don’t have a crystal ball to know what’s going to happen in the world, but this is a transient factor, it’s not a structural element of the sector. But at the same time, we are seeing a decrease in consumption, which is kind of gradual and the past few years of uncertainty have precipitated it somewhat. It’s not a homogenous trend because red wine consumption in traditional countries in Europe and China has decreased quite significantly, but white wine, sparkling and to some extent rosé wine are increasing a lot as well. You can see that in some ways we’re at a transition point for consumer tastes and expectations. I think there are a lot of things we can think about that are quite encouraging. Historically, consumption in the 1990s was lower than it is today, global trade has risen from 15% in 2000 to 45-50% today and wine is consumed in 154 countries. We also have a geographical spread of production, which apart from anything else, balances out the risks of climate change to some extent. In terms of agricultural crops, we have a product that is very advanced for sustainability and also has a real authenticity which is something that consumers are looking for. So there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic. Wine is a very resilient sector.

We see the issue as a broader question about wine and society and not just wine and health. It’s important to remember OIV’s role as a scientific and technical organisation so we’re not engaging in the politics or the policy. What we do, and what we can do is collect scientific data, provide it to our members, publish it, and make sure that from the OIV and our members’ perspective, we have objective scientific data available on the subject. But also, because we see the entire product category, we also have this holistic perspective and can take into account the social context of consumption and some of the wider aspects such as the cultural value of the product, the economic contribution in terms of adding value to regional economies, tourism etc. So we can really try and paint the whole picture rather than just focusing on one aspect. We don’t deny the health concerns at all, and we should take them into account because they’re very important as well. 

First of all, we want to grow our membership. That’s very important because we are a global organisation and we want to make sure we get the whole family of wine within the organisation. We want to expand our capacity and in the new strategic plan we have proposed some ‘blue sky’ activities in terms of thinking about what we can do as the organisation that brings together the governments of the world of vine and wine. So it would be great to see some of these proposals get off the ground. One example is maybe to create an observatory on sustainability. We’re quite a long way from that at the moment but it’s an aspirational goal for the sector. For me, it would be really important that around the world the sector knows, understands and sees the value of OIV as an organisation that it can go to if they’re considering, for example, certain practices or resources for sustainability. This is something we can do at OIV. There isn’t another organisation that matches that.