Enhancing Local Cultural Heritage and Milieu to Promote the Wine Industry and Tourism. Light and Shade from the Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne

In the wine industry, the relationship between a company, its milieu and local cultural heritage is crucial for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Two of the key ingredients for the success of a wine destination are terroir – a combination of factors, including soil, climate, and sunlight, which give wine grapes their distinctive character – and landscape. The present research aims to make a contribution to the debate on this matter by examining the relationship between the wine sector, milieu and cultural heritage, to understand the role it plays in wine and tourism marketing, a field that scholars have not yet adequately explored. The paper discusses the case study of the Burgundy region, where the Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015. Thanks to a 6-month stay in the Dijon area and interviews with key actors, theoretical and managerial implications emerged regarding the relationship between wine, cultural heritage and milieu. The results show that the enhancement of this relationship could create value, not only for the wine sector (strengthening brand image), but also for cultural heritage (by improving its protection and enhancement) and for the territory (mainly through tourism development).