Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T18:58:05.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Wine Tasters, Ratings, and En Primeur Prices*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2015

Philippe Masset ,
Jean-Philippe Weisskopf  and
Mathieu Cossutta
Philippe Masset*
Affiliation:
Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Route de Cojonnex 18, CH-1000 Lausanne 25, Switzerland
Jean-Philippe Weisskopf
Affiliation:
Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Route de Cojonnex 18, CH-1000 Lausanne 25, Switzerland; e-mail: [email protected].
Mathieu Cossutta
Affiliation:
Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Route de Cojonnex 18, CH-1000 Lausanne 25, Switzerland; e-mail: [email protected].
*
(corresponding author) e-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the ratings of 12 influential wine critics on the Bordeaux en primeur market over the vintages 2003–2012. We hypothesize that wine experts differ significantly in their rating approach and influence on prices. We find that European critics are less transparent and in general more severe in their scoring than their American counterparts. Experts also appear to reach a relatively strong consensus on overall wine quality but have more diverse opinions on wines that achieve a surprising level of quality given the vintage, the ranking, or the appellation from which they originate. Our evidence also suggests that Robert Parker and Jean-Marc Quarin are the most influential critics, as a 10% surprise in their scores leads to a price increase of around 7%. We further find that their impact is higher for appellations and estates that are not covered by the official 1855 classification and for the best vintages. (JEL Classifications: C60, G11, Q11)

Keywords

en primeurexpert ratingsfine winewine futures
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , May 2015 , pp. 75 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We thank participants at the Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE), Karl Storchmann (the editor), and an anonymous referee for valuable comments and suggestions. We are indebted to Alain Bradfer, Anne-Christine Erlekam-Vogel for sharing their data and expertise on wine prices and Bertrand Le Guern and François Mauss for sharing their data and expertise on wine scores with us. All remaining errors are those of the authors.

References

Ali, H.H., and Nauges, C. (2007). The pricing of experience goods: The example of en primeur wine. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 89(1), 91–103.Google Scholar
Ali, H.H., Lecocq, S., and Visser, M. (2008). The impact of gurus: Parker grades and en primeur wine prices. Economic Journal, 118(529), F158–F173.Google Scholar
Arellano, M. (1987). Computing robust standard errors for within-groups estimators. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 49(4), 431–434.Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, O. (2010). Predicting the quality and prices of Bordeaux wine. Journal of Wine Economics, 5(1), 40–52.Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, O., and Jones, G.V. (2013). The demand for expert opinion: Bordeaux wine. Journal of Wine Economics, 8(3), 285–293.Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, O., Ashmore, D., and Lalonde, R. (1995). Bordeaux wine vintage quality and the weather. Chance, 8(4), 7–14.Google Scholar
Ashton, R.H. (2012). Reliability and consensus of experienced wine judges: Expertise within and between? Journal of Wine Economics, 7(1), 70–87.Google Scholar
Ashton, R.H. (2013). Is there consensus among wine quality ratings of prominent critics? An empirical analysis of red Bordeaux, 2004–2010. Journal of Wine Economics, 8(2), 225–234.Google Scholar
Bagwell, K., and Riordan, M.H. (1991). High and declining prices signal product quality. American Economic Review, 81(1), 224–239.Google Scholar
Baron, R.M., and Kenny, D.A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berger, J., Sorensen, A.T., and Rasmussen, S.J. (2010). Positive effects of negative publicity: When negative reviews increase sales. Marketing Science, 29(5), 815–827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cao, J., and Stokes, L. (2010). Evaluation of wine judge performance through three characteristics: Bias, discrimination, and variation. Journal of Wine Economics, 5(1), 132–142.Google Scholar
Cardebat, J.-M., and Livat, F. (2013). Wine experts rating: A matter of taste? Paper presented at the 4th I-CHLAR Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Cardebat, J.-M., Figuet, J.-M., and Paroissien, E. (2014). Expert opinion and Bordeaux wine prices: An attempt to correct bias in subjective judgements. Journal of Wine Economics, 9(3), 282–303.Google Scholar
Dubois, P., and Nauges, C. (2010). Identifying the effect of unobserved quality and expert reviews in the pricing of experience goods: Empirical application on Bordeaux wine. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 28, 205–212.Google Scholar
Friberg, R., and Grönqvist, E. (2012). Do expert reviews affect the demand for wine? American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 4(1), 193–211.Google Scholar
Gergaud, O., and Livat, F. (2007). How do consumers use signals to assess quality? American Association of Wine Economists, AAWE Working Paper No. 3.Google Scholar
Gergaud, O., Storchmann, K., and Verardi, V. (2015). Expert opinion and product quality: Evidence from New York City restaurants. Economic Inquiry, 53(2), 812–85.Google Scholar
Gluckman, R.L. (1990). A consumer approach to branded wines. European Journal of Marketing, 24(4), 27–46.Google Scholar
Haeger, J.W., and Storchmann, K. (2006). Prices of American Pinot Noir wines: Climate, craftsmanship, critics. Agricultural Economics, 35(1), 67–78.Google Scholar
Hay, C. (2010). The political economy of price and status formation in the Bordeaux en primeur market: The role of wine critics as rating agencies. Socio-Economic Review, 8(4), 685–707.Google Scholar
Hayes, A.F. (2013). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hilger, J., Rafert, G., and Villas-Boas, S. (2011). Expert opinion and the demand for experience goods: An experimental approach in the retail wine market. Review of Economics and Statistics, 93(4), 1289–1296.Google Scholar
Hodgson, R. (2008). An examination of judge reliability at a major U.S. wine competition. Journal of Wine Economics, 3(2), 105–113.Google Scholar
Jones, G.V., and Storchmann, K.H. (2001). Wine market prices and investment under uncertainty: An econometric model for Bordeaux crus classés. Agricultural Economics, 26(2), 115–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirmani, A., and Rao, A.R. (2000). No pain, no gain: A critical review of the literature on signaling unobservable product quality. Journal of Marketing, 64(2), 66–79.Google Scholar
Lockshin, L.S., and Rhodus, W.T. (1993). The effect of price and oak flavor on perceived wine quality. International Journal of Wine Marketing, 5(2/3), 13–25.Google Scholar
Mahenc, P., and Meunier, V. (2006). Early sales of Bordeaux grands crus. Journal of Wine Economics, 1(1), 57–74.Google Scholar
Malter, D. (2014). On the causality and cause of returns to organizational status evidence from the grands crus classés of the Médoc. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(2), 271–300.Google Scholar
Orth, U.R., and Krška, P. (2001). Quality signals in wine marketing: The role of exhibition awards. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 4(4), 385–397.Google Scholar
Ramirez, C.D. (2010). Do tasting notes add value? Evidence from Napa wines. Journal of Wine Economics, 5(1), 143–163.Google Scholar
Reinstein, D.A., and Snyder, C.M. (2005). The influence of expert reviews on consumer demand for experience goods: A case study of movie critics. Journal of Industrial Economics, 53(1), 27–51.Google Scholar
Roberts, P.W., and Reagans, R. (2007). Critical exposure and price-quality relationships for new world wines in the U.S. market. Journal of Wine Economics, 2(1), 84–97.Google Scholar
Rosen, M. (2012). Critics and pricing: Parker's nose is not as big a pointer as it was. Financial Times, London, June 19, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f29748d6-9dc6-11e1-9a9e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3SruzS4Y8.Google Scholar
San Martín, G.J., Troncoso, J.L., and Brümmer, B. (2008). Determinants of Argentinean wine prices in the U.S. Journal of Wine Economics, 3(1), 72–84.Google Scholar
Schnabel, H., and Storchmann, K. (2010). Prices as quality signals: Evidence from the wine market. Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, 8(1), article 2.Google Scholar
Storchmann, K. (2012). Wine economics. Journal of Wine Economics, 7(1), 1–33.Google Scholar
Vaillant, N.G., and Wolff, F.-C. (2011). Understanding how experts rate cigars: A “Havanometric” analysis. Applied Economics, 45(1), 99–109.Google Scholar