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This paper aims to model the price of cellar tours using a hedonic pricing approach. The authors analyze the complex relationship between the price of an add-on (here, cellar tours) and the price of the reference product (here, wine).

Thanks to a large database containing information on about 1,000 winery experiences, the authors regress the price of cellar tours on wine prices and on a broad set of objective characteristics that are (1) tour specific and (2) common to all tours offered by the winery. These exogenous controls include the type and style of experience offered, amenities and winemaking characteristics.

The authors show that the price of cellar tours follows the price of the most expensive wine sold by the winery, which is a proxy for reputation. The authors find that one of the main determinants of cellar tour prices is visit length: wineries charge more for longer experiences. The number of wines tasted during the visit also increases the price. Prices are higher in places where there is a high level of wine tourism activity, which might be a sign of authenticity.

Wine producers in different countries need to gain insights on how to price cellar tours, which are composite goods. The results can help practitioners price their winery experience according to common practices in different wine regions. The results may also be of interest to professionals in the tourism sector who are in charge of the pricing of by-products (e.g. tee-shirts, books, etc.), or for luxury fashion labels extending their brand in the catering industry with cafes and restaurants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first empirical analysis that examines the complex relationship between the price of an add-on and the price of the reference product in the context of wine tourism.

Given the lack of consensus among wine experts, this paper aims to examine whether this implies they make systematic mistakes or is an expression of their idiosyncratic preferences.

Grade equations are estimated for five famous wine-experts and a panel of 62 Bordeaux fine wines over the period 2003-2011. The appellation of origin is considered a measure of the typical taste of the wines. The authors control for objective factors, thanks to weather variables and the ranking of each wine.

Ratings vary among experts, such that some statistically significantly favour wines produced in specific areas, indicating their taste preferences. Thus, preferences matter in expert ratings and would seem to suggest a continental variance. The finding explains the lack of consensus in this opinion market.

The lack of consensus among wine experts should not necessarily be viewed as market inefficiency. If consumers find the “right expert” reflecting their own tastes, as in the case of cultural goods, they may not necessarily experience a welfare loss due to expert opinion heterogeneity.

This paper contributes to renewing the debate on expert accuracy, considering wine as a cultural good and introducing preferences into the analysis. The authors develop the concept according to which existing differences in the personal tastes of the experts can facilitate consumer search.

Faced with major new challenges in a rapidly evolving world market, small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the wine sector in the Bordeaux region urgently need to reconsider their strategic options. This paper, through an analysis of the nature, role, and interaction of competencies in strategy‐making processes in the wine sector, aims to identify the main components of wine companies’ competencies in order to devise a tool to aid their strategic decision making.

The research methodology, which is based on a cognitive approach, employs critical incidences methodology, content analysis and causal mapping.

A competencies study founded on a series of interviews conducted with the personnel of six wine SMEs in the Bordeaux region reveals the importance of eight core competencies (production, labour, costs, quality, investment, market, competition, and clients/sales) in devising strategy. In addition, this paper demonstrates that core factors affecting the success of strategic development include: knowledge versus know‐how; investment, quality; labour difficulties, team issues, market positioning; customer relationship and trust. The implications of the practical implementation of these results are discussed.

Shows the future prospects for French wine companies not being taken for granted. On account of radical market changes the French wine sector needs to re‐evaluate the situation and investigate new strategic options that might permit it to regain a competitive advantage in a changing environment.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for consumer demand for vertically differentiated products. The approach is resolutely dynamic. Consumers are especially placed in situations of repeated purchases. They may reflect their past purchases in their decision. The suppliers adapt to the demand by amending their offer price. A simulation of the model of consumer behavior is made on the Champagne wine market. It results in a stable market that validates the theoretical choices.

The methodology used is multi‐agent simulation. It is little used compared to cross‐cutting approaches such as multiple regression, joint analysis and constrained optimization. The multi‐agent simulation is a metaphor of the real world that makes virtual agents (consumers and suppliers) compete; these agents are provided with features that can vary over time and with predetermined behavior. This longitudinal approach allows in particular the capture of the effects of time on the choices observed in the habit phenomena, and also allows a description of nonlinear relationships.

The use of a variable personal capital leads to the creation of a simple dynamic model of consumer behavior and fulfils the simulation of the demand in a market of vertically differentiated products.

The originality of this work is based both on the formalization of the dynamic decision process and the methodology used, based on multi‐agent simulation. It helps to explore the evolution of the behavior of agents in the long term by taking into account past experiences. The simulation allows us to show that, in situations of repeated purchase, habits and involvement put into perspective the impact of salient cues of choice (reputation, price).