Wine industry perceptions and reactions to the COVID-19 crisis in the Old and New Worlds: Do business models make a difference?

The COVID-19 crisis has severely impacted the wine industry, with producers in different countries affected differently and, therefore, differing in their perceptions toward it. These differing perceptions are assumed to be due to different business models, mainly linked to the distribution system adopted and resulting in varying distances of producers to distributors and consumers. While upstream integration characterizes the Old World, the New World applies a downstream business model, being more closely linked to distributors and consumers and, therefore, more vulnerable to shocks, which should lead to higher perceived impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.