The country-brand in the wine industry: how important is variety specialization?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether or not the reputation of a region/country in the international wine market depends on a region/country’s efforts to specialize in a specific grape variety. Design/methodology/approach Data on 19,959 bottles of wine corresponding to six vintages across ten wine producing regions worldwide are used to estimate a hedonic price model that measures consumer valuations of the different wine attributes. Findings The results of this study show that although variety specialization has successfully underpinned the reputation of some New World regions, such as the Napa Valley (with its Cabernet Sauvignon) or Oregon (with its Pinot Noir); in others, such as Australia (with its Shiraz), this has not been successful. Practical implications Over the last ten years, the exponential growth of Australian bulk wine exports has seriously harmed the reputation of Australian wine. With respect to the Napa Valley wines, price discount received by Australian wines increases between the 1997 and 2007 vintage from 33 to 61 percent. Thus, in order to successfully build a collective reputation of an entrant (New World) country, an institutional framework that mediates differences of interest between the large and small vineyards and, above all, that regulates the free-rider problem in the wine market is required. Originality/value This paper empirically illustrates how cooperative (and non-cooperative) behavior between firms can help to build (and to destroy) collective reputation of wines that come from the same region or country.