Empirical Evidence of Factors Affecting Fine Wine Prices Using Hedonic Price Model The Case of Spain, France and Italy

Abstract

This study focuses on a hedonic wine price analysis in three different countries: Spain, France and Italy due to their relevant economic and production impact on the wine sector. After the analysis of empirical evidence, we decided to consider extra factors that have not yet been contemplated by the literature and that might impact the overall price of wine such as the source of the data, the consumers’ wine rate and the food that might have a good blend with a particular wine style. To perform a statistical analysis, the data was collected from Wine-Searcher.com using the free version and the model used in this research considers the variables "experts and consumers rating", "wine vintage", "origin and appellation", "color", "grape/blend" and "food suggestion". Results showed that the factors origin, appellation, grape/blend, color and experts' opinion are important features for price determination. In France and in Italy, consumers online review also play a role affecting wine prices. Another important result is the positive effect of wine bottle prices when purchased to be paired with certain food.