The wine industry: persistence of tacit knowledge or increased codification? Some implications for catching-up countries

Abstract

The wine industry has changed considerably in the past 20 years. While new market opportunities increased the trade of wine worldwide, scientific and technical changes have produced an improvement in the quality of wine. Increased codification of knowledge has allowed the newly producing countries to compete in the international markets and to close the technological gap with more advanced traditional producers. This paper shows that in spite of the techno-scientific change in this industry, tacit knowledge persists being important but of a different nature with respect to that normally used by old farmers in the production of wine. Policy implications are noted.