Currently, carbon footprint (CF) analysis is gaining a role of primary interest within the extensive literature regarding wine sustainability issues. It envisages the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions that underpin the life-cycle of wine, from viticulture and vinification to wine bottling, distribution, consumption and waste end-of-life. This critical review pursues several methodological and conceptual issues behind wine carbon footprinting, such as calculation approaches, labeling and standardization purposes, combinations with other methods and theories, and CF trends in the wine sector. Most studies have only addressed specific methodological issues from an attributional life-cycle perspective, or have directly reported the CF profile of a given wine product. Future studies, however, will have to deal with increasingly complex market interactions linked to the entire life cycle of wine-making. A comprehensive discussion is presented concerning the benefits the CF indicator may provide both to producers and consumers and on the needs for reducing uncertainties and misinterpretations within a growing globalized wine market. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.