Journal of Wine Economics Volume 13 | 2018 | No. 4
Selected Proceedings

In this article, we use attendance data from La Cité du Vin, a wine museum in the city of Bordeaux, to assess the impact of the recent wave of terror that affected France on wine tourism. We use recent count regression estimation techniques suited for time series data to build a prediction model of the demand for attendance at this museum. We conclude that the institution lost about 5,000 visitors over 426 days, during which 14 successive terrorist attacks took place. This corresponds to almost 1% of the total number of visitors in the sample period.

We analyzed data from Oxford University Blind Tasting Society’s 2018 training season to assess whether blind tasting training improves accuracy. Over time, guesses for grape variety increased in terms of accuracy as well as within-group agreement. Moreover, for grape variety, location, and vintage, the chances of the most common within-group guess being correct were significantly higher than the underlying frequency distribution. Finally, we observed a shift in preference towards older wines, with those with little initial experience gaining a preference for greater acidity and alcohol, and decreasing their preference for oak. Our results have important implications for growing wine markets with an increasingly educated consumer population.

This article presents a micro-macro integrated model/framework for the disaggregated quan- titative assessment of the impacts of various shocks generated in five socio-economic and climate-driven simulations on the wine-grape sector in Veneto, Italy.

Much research shows that women and men have different taste acuities and preferences. If female and male judges tend to assign different ratings to the same wines, then the gender bal- ances of the judge panels will bias awards. Existing research supports the null hypothesis, however, that finding is based on small sample sizes. This article presents the results for a large sample; 260 wines and 1,736 wine-score observations. Subject to the strong qualification that non-gender-related variation is material, the results affirm that female and male judges do assign about the same ratings to the same wines. The expected value of the difference in their mean ratings is zero.

This article analyzes consumer loyalty in the Italian market for Prosecco sparkling wines. In particular, we examine the relationship among wine appellation, price, and consumer loyalty. To that effect, we run a Dirichlet model on Nielsen scan data to estimate brand per- formance measures and study purchase patterns in the sparkling wine market. We find that Prosecco wines benefit from high-consumer loyalty, and that this loyalty can be explained by both the appeal of the Prosecco appellation and its upper-tier price point. We conclude that promotion strategies with deep discounts, as they affect the appellation’s image, might hurt consumer loyalty in the long run.

This study investigates a hypothesized positive relationship between the number and strength of network ties and the performance of wineries in emerging production regions, which may face different challenges than wineries found in well-established regions. Results corroborate expectations that greater ties to competitors and firms in related tourism food and lodging sectors bolster performance.

The U.S. and global beer industries include a great many smaller-scale craft breweries supply- ing numerous differentiated products as well as a few macro-breweries with less diverse beer portfolios. The craft and macro segments of this industry have become quite distinct, with little substitutability between the two types of beer. Furthermore, since the early 2000s the craft segment has realized consistent growth whereas large breweries have seen a steady decline in sales. Macro-breweries have responded by acquiring smaller breweries to capture a share of the craft market. This study implements an experimental approach to measure con- sumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for locally produced and independently owned beer. Regression analysis clearly indicates that consumers prefer locally owned and independently produced beer, and how much they are willing to pay for those attributes.

This article discusses key comparative advantages of wine-producing nations and suggest pro- spective views on their evolution. Our methodology is twofold. First, we study comparative advantages in 16 countries using Porter’s diamond. Then, we report results from a survey in which wine economists are asked to assess the future trade performance of these countries. Results are relatively consistent across methods regarding the future “heavy weights” like China, but also New Zealand and Chile, countries show the greatest potential to succeed in the future global wine trade. It is also expected that Georgia, the United Kingdom, and Australia play an important role, although to a lesser extent. Our findings indicate that com- parative advantages in wine trade are neither uniform nor static; especially, terroir is no longer sufficient. The diamond approach contradicts experts from two countries in particular, France and Argentina, suggesting that experts put great emphasis on demand and market structures as key trade determinants for the future.

This paper studies the risk attitudes of winegrowers in France. In French viticulture, most of the production is done under an appellation regime that constrains maximum authorized yields. We consider a trans-log cost function under the constraint of this maximum yield and estimate winegrowers’ attitudes to risk. Our estimates are based on the European Farm Accountancy Data Network database (2005–2014) and data from the French National Institute of Origin and Quality. We find that winegrowers are risk averse. For the majority of winegrowers, risk aversion is declining with expected profit. In the Champagne region, however, where expected profits are far higher than in the other regions, we observe the reverse relation: winegrowers become more risk averse as expected profits rise.

We empirically examine the strategic importance of the choices of the first person ordering, that is, the leader, for the decisions made and money spent by other commensals at a restaurant table. Our aim is to study the similarity of orders—in terms of dishes, drinks, and prices— among the table leader and the other commensals. The empirical results reveal that table leaders, both male and female, exert a considerable influence on the choices made by other diners. We analyze the differences arising when males and females act as table leaders.