2010-03-11T06:17:51Z http://wine-econ.org/comments/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:wine-econ.org,2010-03-01:2870299 Allen Kanady http://myportfolio.usc.edu/kanady/ 2010-03-01T18:21:44Z 2010-03-01T18:21:44Z Considering my current interests in business and economics specifically pertaining to the restaurant industry, I was intrigued by your informative analysis of a connection (if any) between the Wine Spectator’s ratings of the wineries that use them as an advertising platform. This article broke-down many of Mr. Reuter’s findings and arguments, particularly the assumptions that were made about a bias tasting system that employed a blind and independent structure. I first want to address the major assumption in the paper. For this type of study it is crucial to have a control group, which was utilized by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate system. But everything was based on the assumption that Wine Advocate is a completely impartial rating system. Just because Wine Advocate does not allow any advertisements in their space, does not mean it is unbiased. There are many others ways a company can be influenced by financial implication (transportation, royalties, and a planned itinerary by the wineries just to name a few). Also Wine Spectator clearly specifies in their code of ethics that they practice blind tasting for all reputable ratings but Wine Advocate uses blind tasting “when possible”.<br /><br />The positive correlation that is referred to when discussing the connection between the advertisers and their wine ratings through Wine Spectator leaves an open door. Is this positive correlation statistically significant, have a strong statistical significance, or no statistical correlation? If there is a statistical significance, how is that possible? There would have to be one of the following two assumptions occurring. First, are the sales and advertisement branch of Wine Spectator involved in the tasting and rating system? And secondly, if that is not true then the tasters are being told what wineries need to receive high ratings. Both of these assumptions are farfetched. Since Wine Spectator is such a highly reputable company, being the most widely-read wine publication with over 2.5 million readers, there revenue comes from the reputation and corporate image they have built. To risk those extremely valuable assets for some small advertisement fee would be suicidal. From a marketing and business standpoint, having the most popular and reputable wine rating publication is a cornucopia for advertisers. Most wineries would love to take advantage of their space, and many do. It makes sense to sell this space to other companies as long as it doesn’t influence or affect your rating system in any way. To counterbalance their advertisements and to put their subscribers at ease, Wine Spectator posts many facts about their tasting procedures and their code of ethics when it comes to the rating system. Given the data and the amount of unanswered questions and assumptions, my opinion is that there is not direct connection between Wine Spectator’s ratings and the wineries that advertise through them. To make that accusation, I believe more data needs to tag:wine-econ.org,2010-02-26:2861898 James H http://www.footballshirtsearch.co.uk/ 2010-02-26T09:38:34Z 2010-02-26T09:38:34Z What an astounding set of papers - I had no idea a body like the AAWE existed, let alone the fact that they produce such in depth articles about all aspects of the economics of the wine industry. Some potentially fascinating stuff in there from a pure economics standpoint. tag:wine-econ.org,2010-02-16:2832297 gucci clothing store http://www.stylishbrandz.com 2010-02-16T10:05:33Z 2010-02-16T10:05:33Z Schools in many countries carry out similar experiments, and the results are really good as far as the health of the children is concerned, so I suppose that this one is sure to be a success as well .One more important thing is to hold lectures for parents on diet of their children, to make the nutrition of the kids healthy at home as well. tag:wine-econ.org,2010-01-27:2762614 Karl Storchmann 2010-01-28T03:26:04Z 2010-01-28T03:26:04Z Thorsten, many thanks for this great comment! Karl tag:wine-econ.org,2010-01-27:2760423 Thorsten Kogge 2010-01-27T13:16:32Z 2010-01-27T13:16:32Z Marx has a few parts in his writing on monopolies and ground-rents with reference to geographical demarcations and issues of scarcity: <br />"A vineyard producing wine of very extraordinary quality, a wine which can be produced only in a relatively small quantity, carries a monopoly price. The winegrower would realize a considerable surplus profit from this monopoly price, the excess of which over the value of the product would be wholly determined by the wealth and the fine appetite of the rich wine drinkers. This surplus profit, which flows from a monopoly price, is converted into rent and in this form falls into the hands of the landlord, thanks to his title to this piece of the globe, which is endowed with peculiar properties. Here, then, the monopoly price creates the rent. On the other hand, the rent would create a monopoly price, if grain were sold not merely above its price of production, but also above its value, owing to the barrier erected by the private ownership of the land against the investment of capital upon uncultivated soil without the payment of rent." (Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. III; Part VI, Chapter XLVI)<br /><br />It is interesting that he made the reference to "wine of extraordinary quality" as if it is an ontological category, whereas in retrospect, we see changes of that quality conception especially in the 19th Century. It shows that at this time, the believe in an automatism regarding demarcations and scarcity to assure quality were thought to be sufficient. The later history of the AOCs as well as of German vineyards made it clear that quality reputation requires more collective measurements and quality controls. If we talk about wine quality, we should talk about non-ontological but indeed cultural concepts of quality which had to be specified and translated into quality categories from both market associations and the state: classifications and categories don't come by chance, they are made, involving intermediaries and political actors. This has never been trivial and never been uncontested but Marx thought about culture as a superstructure (überbau) and therefore, he might had problems not assume that there is something "behind" wine quality which is not related to monopoly price and ground-rent. tag:wine-econ.org,2010-01-23:2750862 wine of the month club http://www.uncorkedventures.com/WineClubs 2010-01-23T19:50:55Z 2010-01-23T19:50:55Z A very interesting study indeed. Hopefully the results will continue to fuel the movement to healthier foods in our schools. tag:wine-econ.org,2010-01-09:2718368 Karl Storchmann http://wine-economics.org 2010-01-09T13:53:10Z 2010-01-09T13:53:10Z Punktlich2, for NY the answer is: it does not matter whether you walk or drive. Without a full meal and without a doggy bag you must not take your wine. ---&nbsp; It would be fascinating to compare the various state rules regarding BYOB and their determinants. -- <br>And yes, all this favors half bottles. Karl tag:wine-econ.org,2010-01-04:2702723 Punktlich2 2010-01-04T11:43:09Z 2010-01-04T11:43:09Z Does the law even apply to a BYOB situation, assuming that you walk home and thus aren't driving with an opened bottle of alcoholic beverage in the car? If so, depending on corkage charge, bring half-bottles. This Chicago news rpt says you can, but could be wrong <a href="http://bit.ly/6Z9H1G">http://bit.ly/6Z9H1G</a> State laws differ... tag:wine-econ.org,2010-01-02:2698313 Dubai Property http://www.providentestate.com 2010-01-02T15:54:51Z 2010-01-02T15:54:51Z Every year the statistics of obesity increases. Information like this should be spread to others for them to be aware. tag:wine-econ.org,2009-12-27:2684106 Harry Cantrell 2009-12-27T22:54:05Z 2009-12-27T22:54:05Z agree that WA does not accept advertising, so the whole concept is bogus. Also, how many advertisers' wines were tasted, got a bad score and those score/reviews WERE NOT PUBLISHED? This could clearly improve the perceived overall performance by the advertisers.