The role of expert judgments in wine quality assessment: the mismatch between chemical, sensorial and extrinsic cues

Purpose The complexity in determining the quality of a credence good like wine increases due to the lack of mandatory ingredient labeling. This has generated a significant information asymmetry in the wine market, leading consumers to delegate their purchase decisions to expert rankings and wine guides. This paper explores whether expert assessments reduce the information asymmetry caused by the absence of ingredient labeling in the wine market.Design/methodology/approach By employing analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a sample of 304 wines included in the Wine Guide of the Spanish Consumers Organization (OCU), this paper assesses the extent to which expert assessments based on sensory evaluations converge with the objective cues provided by laboratory analysis in wine quality evaluations.Findings Results reveal a mismatch between expert assessments and laboratory analyses. Chemical aspects such as SO2 levels or volatile acidity, sensorial factors such as intensity and persistence, and extrinsic variables such as the region of origin or wine type play an important role in the quality ranking of wines.Originality/value These findings call for the inclusion of objective intrinsic cues in expert sensory assessments to provide consumers reliable information about wines and to resolve the apparent dissonances in wine quality assessments.

Brand as an innovation—The case of Czech wine

The Czech Republic is not a typical wine-growing country, yet winemaking and viticulture are among the oldest Czech crafts. Although the situation is slightly improving today, domestic wine production is not very preferred by Czech consumers since more than two-thirds of the wine that Czechs drink each year is imported. In the long term, the worst situation prevailed with the sales of a young wine. The cause was twofold: On the one hand, the market was already penetrated by imported Beaujolais nouveau, which became a synonym for the young wine. On the other, a peculiar Czechs’ taste for young wine was also an obstacle. As a young wine, many Czechs drink partially fermented must from grapevine fruits called “Burčák”. The young wine market was therefore seemingly penetrated with a low possibility of new brands entering it. The proposed case study will describe an ongoing campaign in which a new brand, “Svatomartinské víno”, was created. With this brand, it was possible to change the Czech consumers’ view of immature wines fundamentally. Thanks to the innovative branding approach, the product, which Czech consumers had neglected for many years, became a superior and must-have product for broad consumers. Also, the relationship between the brand and consumers has been established. The new brand has become a potential for many other related events. Last but not least, the consumption of domestic wine increased, which led to the support of local wineries and related regions.

Adaptive market hypothesis: An empirical analysis of the Wine Market

We test the nature of weak form informational efficiency present in the wine market using daily return of LIV-EX 50 index from 1/1/2010 to 12/6/2020. First, we employ a number of statistical tests including variance ratio tests, tests for linear and non-linear dependence and Hurst coefficient. The tests are applied on the full dataset and on four non overlapping sub-samples of equal length. The variance ratio tests provide a mixed regarding informational efficiency. Evidence of non-linear dependence in the return series was found. The Hurst coefficient values confirm the presence of long run persistence in the wine market. Based on the mixed evidence, we test the possibility of adaptive nature of the wine market. We employ the newly proposed Adaptive Index (AI) to quantify the degree of information inefficiency in the wine market at any instance. Our results confirm that wine market is adaptive and periodically shifts between states of efficiency and inefficiency. The wine market is found to be relatively free from the Covid-19 induced shock and the safe haven property of wine is thus confirmed. Finally, impact of various macroeconomic and financial events on wine market efficiency is identified by using AI.

The effect of taxes, similar financial liabilities and demographic variables on Turkey's table wine market: a survey

PurposeThis study examines the effect of taxes, similar financial liabilities, and demographic variables such as respondent age, company age, and field of operation on the table wine market in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted on the wine producers and importers via SurveyMonkey. Thirty-six survey questions were answered using a five-point Likert scale. The responses obtained from 51 owners and administrators of wine companies were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 23 program.FindingsExcise and value-added taxes affected the amount and price of table wine production in Turkey, whereas the banderole affected quality and price. The excise tax, value-added tax, banderole, Resource Utilization Support Fund, customs duty, and authorizations also affected the amount, quality and price of table wine imports. Although financial liabilities such as the banderole, Resource Utilization Support Fund and authorizations required for import do not constitute a heavy load on wine costs, they do have similar effects as other taxes on table wine imports.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study was its sample size. Only 51 individuals responded, as it was an online questionnaire. However, this did not compromise the representativeness of the sample with regard to the company's field of operation (production and import of table wine), lending credibility to the opinions provided.Originality/valueThis study establishes that, contrary to popular belief, decisions regarding wine production and import are not solely affected by a heavy tax burden. Other factors, such as the banderole, Resource Utilization Support Fund, ages of companies and respondents and authorizations required for import, which are not viewed as a heavy burden in monetary terms, also prove to be decisive.

The Wine Market in Campania Region, Italy

This work aims to analyze how the Wine Market of Campania Region is working today. The analysis made use of the support of Prof. Napoli - professor of Strategy and Corporate Governance at the Ecampus Telematic University – and makes use the disciplinary contribution of Michael Porter and his model of Five Competitive Forces.

Paninvasion severity assessment of a US grape pest to disrupt the global wine market

Economic impacts from plant pests are often felt at the regional scale, yet some impacts expand to the global scale through the alignment of a pest's invasion potentials. Such globally invasive species (i.e., paninvasives) are like the human pathogens that cause pandemics; and like pandemics, assessing paninvasion risk for an emerging regional pest is key for stakeholders to take early actions that avoid market disruption. Here, we develop the paninvasion severity assessment framework and use it to assess a rapidly spreading regional US grape pest, the spotted lanternfly planthopper (Lycorma delicatula; SLF), to spread and disrupt the global wine market. We found that SLF invasion potentials are aligned globally because important viticultural regions with suitable environments for SLF establishment also heavily trade with invaded US states. If the US acts as an invasive bridgehead, Italy, France, Spain, and other important wine exporters are likely to experience the next SLF introductions. Risk to the global wine market is high unless stakeholders work to reduce SLF invasion potentials in the US and globally.

Effect of Online Collective Intelligence in Wine Industry: Focus on Correlation between Wine Quality Ratings and On-Premise Prices

This study aims to explore whether wine CI (Collective Intelligence) platforms, such as Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, can provide a wine rating effect on price, as Robert Parker’s does in the Korean wine market. To achieve the purpose of the study, we collected information with wine evaluation ratings and on-premise prices from three wine evaluation sites and seven restaurants in South Korea. The researchers calculated the Pearson’s rho between the wine evaluation ratings and on-premise prices based on country, region, vintage, and type of wine. Based on the results of the study, the CI of wine ratings shows statistically the same association degree to price as wine guru Robert Parker’s score. This study can academically extend the research of CI’s application in the wine industry and provide strong support for a sustainable e-business model and pricing tactics in the wine industry.

THE WINE SECTOR MANAGEMENT IN PORTUGAL: AN OVERVIEW ON ITS THREE-DIMENSIONAL SUSTAINABILITY

The paper scrutinizes wine sector sustainability management in Portugal, which is a traditional wine producer. In Portugal, wine is strategic to its agri-food industry. As the wine market faced changes in consumption and an increase in the quality of the wine offered, new green products (organic, biodynamic) appeared for market niches concerned with environmental and health issues, as well as new ways of communication through the Internet and social media. First, we discuss a global wine market that affects wine market in Portugal, and then we present the internal situation and tendencies, including some examples of sustainable management of this sector in the economic, societal, and ecological dimensions. In the present work, the perspective is essentially of an entire economic sector, since in the Portuguese wine market the Old-World model prevails. This situation comprises high market fragmentation, and strong power exercised by distribution and consumers; it also means that wine production is subject to strict national and common market regulations. However, we do not abandon the micro analysis at the level of the company’s relations with its stakeholders. The methodology adopted in this review is qualitative and it consists of critical analysis of the literature from diverse disciplines, but it also uses secondary sources, such as institutional and technical reports, databases, statistics, notes and media news.

Az átalakuló terroir – Egy természetföldrajzi fogalom társadalomföldrajzi átértékelése

As a winemaking concept, terroir has had a “lightning career” in recent decades. Initially used by a narrow professional class, the term has now become more popular. It is unavoidable for the wine economy, the market and consumers. The fundamental study of terroir has been carried out primarily within the framework of physical geography, and only in the last two decades has social geography and other social sciences played a growing role in this research. The expansion of the wine market, the emergence of foreign terroir wines, and the European Union’s regulation of protection of origin, which is also based on terroir, have made the concept more well-known in Hungary as well. At the same time, the Hungarian perception, and even the vast majority of domestic terroir studies, still follow the physical geographical approach. I consider it very important that the latest social science studies also have a place in terroir research in Hungary, because these are absolutely necessary for understanding and applying the concept in Hungarian conditions. The present study attempts to begin to fill this gap.

ON COMPETITIVENESS OF SPANISH WINE IN THE WORLD MARKET

Many countries produce different types of wines. Each one possesses its special technologies, unique wine brands. The article analyzes the world wine market and assesses the competitiveness of one of the world’s main exporters of this drink, Spain.