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The paper reports on a study of marketing approaches adopted by different categories of wine producer in the Sainte Foy Bordeaux region in south‐west France. Market conditions for many French producers have been deteriorating, with falling consumption in the main markets and growing competition from the new wine regions. Even with the world‐famous name “Bordeaux” on the label, a much more active marketing stance is becoming essential. One possible marketing response by producers is to develop strong branding. Several possible dimensions for individual branding can be identified, including the individual chateau name, the AOC marking, the type of wine, the grape variety used, whether or not the wine is organically grown and the vintage. In developing and maintaining these brand identities, producers have to integrate collective marketing efforts, such as promotional programmes for the local AOC marking, with individual marketing programmes for their own brands.

As far as lasting of the great Bordeaux wines is concerned, each critic needs to identify his specificity if he is to maintain or increase market share. History shows, however, that each new critic has had to position himself in relation to the market leader, namely the American wine critic Robert Parker. The question of whether or not the differences in evaluation are real or simply part of the critics’ grading strategy can thus be raised. To illustrate this we shall examine the results of Dubourdieu and Parker's evaluation.

For several years now, Bordeaux's vineyards have suffered from what would appear to be an interminable crisis. Some analysts view overproduction as the cause. Others blame the product Bordeaux puts out, decrying its lack of adaptation to new consumer expectations. What is true is that Bordeaux producers do not tend to spontaneously adopt a market orientation. However, faced with a dilemma that seems to be getting worse and worse, many are starting to seek their salvation in marketing. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

The present article uses a series of case studies covering regions outside of Bordeaux to find concrete answers to these questions. As a methodology, these case studies have been used to illustrate different ways to develop production and sales.

Consolidating the production, increasing the sales forces efforts, reducing the number of intermediaries between production and consumption, maintaining a niche position on the global market are one of the main findings of this paper and practical implication.

Using case studies and not quantitative approach represents both limits of the approach and innovative methodology that permits rich comparison with local practices.

Analyzes a local crisis thanks to external case studies.

In this paper, the authors argue that fine wines can be considered art and as such can be awarded luxury status. The authors discuss the processes of artification, through which such wines are recognized as art (Shapiro and Heinich, 2012), and heritagization, in which the cultural differentiation implicit in the concept of terroir (the various elements of a microclimate that contribute to a wine's specific attributes) connects a wine to its history and provenance. The investigation focuses specifically on fine wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy, which are renowned worldwide for their depth and flavors. What traits are intrinsic to the definition of art, and what social processes culminate in transforming an entity from nonart to art?

It is a conceptual paper that requires blending several viewpoints to present the authors’ own viewpoints.

This study aims to address the above questions and argues that fine wines, as a source of aesthetic pleasure, are themselves an art form.

The implications for producers of fine wines and other artisanal products seeking to elevate brand awareness are discussed.

The findings of this study are of interest to wine scholars as well as wineries. They provide evidence as to how artification occurs.

While there are papers that address the issue of artification and heritagization individually, the authors bring to bear the importance of both concepts on specific wine regions in France: Burgundy and Bordeaux.

Working from the example of two of the main players in the Aquitaine wine sector; the co‐operatives and the wine merchants, the aim of this paper is to analyse the nature of strategic operations from the point of view of the concentration process taking place in the Bordeaux‐Aquitaine region.

After providing a theoretical framework about the industrial cluster and its strategic operations in the area of consolidation, the paper provides descriptive and quantitative data, collected from in‐depth interviews; surveys conducted by the authors; and secondary sources.

This paper provides both qualitative and quantitative evidence to prove that a number of collaborative approaches have been adopted in the region. It highlights the fact that these players are now more willing to respond to the conditions of a new competitive environment, and consequently to consider new strategic approaches.

The present paper, contrary to these received ideas, demonstrates that the Aquitaine wine value chain is undergoing deep restructuring process. With the spotlight focused on producing a size effect on the sector through concentration, the paper examines in greater detail what this process really is. It is not limited to size objectives as it commits the players to thorough production and market changes. This led to concentration operations being analysed in terms of strategic changes, notably with regard to the margin for manoeuvre that the players are meant to design and develop.

The paper aims to investigate the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) (i.e. uncertainty due to government policies) on fine wine prices.

The paper uses the Baker et al. (2016) monthly news-based measure of EPU for the leading wine markets: the USA, the UK, France, Germany and China in conjunction with monthly fine wine pricing data from the London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex). The wine sub-indices used are the Liv-ex 500 (Bordeaux), Burgundy 150, Champagne 50, Rhone 100, Italy 100, California 50, Port 50 and Rest of the World 50. The Prais–Winsten and Cochrane–Orcutt regressions are used for our analyses to correct for effects of serial correlation. Time lags are chosen based on the appropriate information criterion.

Changes in EPU levels negatively impact changes in the Liv-ex 500 index for all our leading wine markets except France, the Champagne 50 index for the UK and the Burgundy 150 and the Rhone 100 indices for Germany, with the effects being significant for at least up to a quarter before EPU is detected. The authors did not find significant results for the EPU of France.

The paper aims to provide insights into whether EPU creates opportunities or threats for investors and wineries.

A forward-looking news-based EPU measure is used to gain insights into how the different Liv-ex sub-indices react to increases in uncertainty centered around government policies across a sample of different countries.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the specificities of wine forgery today and to show the perspectives offered to the different stakeholders in the wine industry.

Owing to the technical aspects of this paper, a literature review based on academic papers (history) and articles coming from the professional press, internet websites and public organizations was made.

It was found that frauds have always existed. Forgers are constantly in search of new ways of counterfeiting wines. Producers have had to adapt to the various forms of counterfeiting, mainly by resorting to modern technology. As the traceability of great wines is becoming crucial, a new type of relationships between producers anxious to offer genuine estate wines and consumers anxious to drink the bottles they ordered has developed. This new constraint became a marketing opportunity for producers.

It was difficult to obtain official data (interviews or surveys) because of the sensitiveness of the topic.

This paper, which offers an inventory of the methods used by forgers to deceive customers, makes both producers and consumers aware of the extent of the problem. The counterfeiting phenomenon is dangerous for producers’ image and the technological changes are a tool allowing producers to protect their wine and reinforce their relationships with consumers.

This paper gives an overview of forgers’ ploys in France. It opens a discussion about perspectives for the different stakeholders while most of the research tends to focus on technical solutions and the analysis of specific affairs which received media coverage.

Calculating brand equity, the price differential that a branded product is able to charge compared to an unbranded equivalent, often suffers from a lack of a means to truly determine equivalence. Luxury wines have the benefit of an established measure of equivalency – the Parker score. Robert Parker’s influence as a tastemaker provides a point of comparison across brands. This study looks at brand equity of Bordeaux classified growth wines considering château brands, growths and vintages to illustrate the intangible value for the consumer.

Using price and wine-specific data from Wine-Searcher.com, an online database and search engine, an initial sample of 393 wines with Parker scores ranging from 72 to 100 is presented. A subset of perfect wines, with 100-point Parker scores, is also reviewed focusing on the great vintage of 2009.

The results indicate that brand equity in the luxury wine market exists. Not only is this true for the brand of a specific château, but there is also equity associated with the vintage and the growth.

This offers practical implications for brand managers in positioning their wines.

An analysis of luxury wines supports the financial perspective on brand equity, especially when there is a viable means of determining equivalence, such as the Parker score.

A dynamic econometric model of wine auctions is estimated to measure the informational signalling impact of a wine critic on the return to the investment in fine wines. United States data suggests that critic Robert Parker is an influencer on the auction price of Bordeaux wines. Furthermore it appears that American buyers look toward the much larger European market in order to establish values. In doing so they may be able to mitigate the effects of asymmetric information.

The purpose of this paper is to show that consumers' expertise of a product influences the number of attributes considered as important, the importance given to the attributes as well as the size and the content of the consideration set (CS).

A quantitative empirical study was carried out with 287 French wine consumers.

The results show that the attributes which were considered as important by the novices differ from those considered important by the experts and that the number of important attributes given by the novices (2) is lower than those given by the experts (7). Furthermore, the results show that the size of the CS itself is also influenced by subjective knowledge. On the other hand, this is not the case for the content of the CS.

The empirical study only focuses on one product category. The data were collected on the basis of statements rather than observations, which is liable to distort the results.

The paper shows that the visual attributes, such as the design and the packaging, are not sufficient to sell wine to French consumers, even if they are novices in this field.

While most research devoted to the effects of the CS focus on a single dimension of it, this paper tests simultaneously the effects on the size and on the variety of the CS, which is analyzed according to both a qualitative and quantitative approach.