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There has been a revolution in the winemaking and marketing of the country wines of southern France in the Languedoc‐Roussillon — the Vins de Pays d'Oc. This revolution has been founded on premium varietal wines and exploited modern techniques of vinification and marketing, which have drawn heavily on the experiences of the so‐called ‘New World.’ These new wines have successfully penetrated export markets, particularly the UK. Such developments, however, have attracted controversy, being criticised for encouraging the production of homogeneous, geographically inert, formulaic wines from well established rather than local grape varieties. However, a number of ventures are now showing increased recognition of local varieties and geographies in their winemaking and it is expected that such developments will continue. Moreover it is argued that the introduction of modern techniques in vinification and marketing, far from having a detrimental effect, have been of great benefit to the region.

This article compares the state of the French and Californian wine industries from a business perspective, through a broad survey of recent academic and popular press articles. Although these two wine regions may seem disparate, commonalities (including potential business opportunities and threats) make the comparison relevant. Facets of supply and demand are analyzed, and respective production and distribution regulations are summarized. Several predictions for the future are presented, with suggestions on how to best leverage these trends. Demands will rise as the economic downturn abates and overall non‐cyclic market expansion continues. Segmentation will play an even more important role in how suppliers target their offerings, as will changes within distribution and wine retailing. Regional shares of the domestic and export markets will shift as globalization of the sector, including international mergers and partnerships, continues. In conclusion, suppliers from both regions can take advantage of current conditions and future trends to produce and market wines in a business‐savvy manner.

No brand of wine enjoys the market shares and premium prices obtained in other alcoholic beverage markets. Market conventions work to prevent a single brand having a large share. Uses an example of a structured new product development process to show the analysis and processes needed to overcome the factors constraining a wine brand. The analysis focuses on the central role of the designation of a wine as its key brand element. The process outlines the development of realistic looking dummy products carefully structured to explore the range of potential options when used in consumer research. Concludes that consumer‐based new product development processes could provide wine brands of similar size and strength to those found in other markets.

Attempts to quantify the impact of de‐alcoholized, low and reduced‐alcohol wines on the UK wine market, from their appearance in the late 1980s, to the present day. Also assesses whether makers have been successful with the wines under discussion in their aim to capture a substantial percentage of the total wine market, examining the roles which the consumer and the marketing industry have played in the product and market development, and subsequently the wine's success or failure in attaining its goals. Particularly examines the role marketing may have to play in the future, if these products are to sustain market growth and finally gain acceptability as a purchase in their own right.

Until the last decade British Columbia was not well known as an area that produced premium wines. In 1994 Mission Hill Wineries, located in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, won the prestigious Avery Trophy for the best Chardonnay, beating out entrants from all the major wine growing regions in the world. Since that time many other accolades and awards have followed. These achievements reflect an increase in the quality of wine produced and level of viticultural expertise since the ‘rebirth’ (Aspler, 1999) of the British Columbia wine industry brought about by massive replanting programmes in response to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which liberalised export markets and made the production and sale of wine significantly more competitive in both the United States and Canada (Hackett, 1998). To the growing awareness of domestic and international markets, the British Columbia wine industry has been able to reinvent itself as an international premium vinifera wine producer (Aspler, 1999).

Subsequent to the First World War, the French Government regulated the Champagne industry, and locked the status of protected (and excluded) grapes into the new Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system, forever altering the incentives and output of wine producers. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

As a result, some indigenous varietals have disappeared entirely from the region – and a handful remain only in the vineyards and bottles of a few bold entrepreneurs, constituting less than 1 percent of Champagne production.

The authors assess several traditional explanations (from taste and preferences to agricultural resilience)-and dismiss them as unconvincing. Instead, the authors adopt a public choice framework of regulatory capture to explain the puzzle of thwarted entrepreneurship and consumer choice.

This paper is original.

The purpose of this study is to illustrate a general method for identifying the price impact of using a different varietal name for a wine.

A revealed preference research approach is employed using marketed wines and prices. Price impacts are estimated using hedonic price models which control for the influence of other factors on prices. The technique is applied to the use of accepted synonyms to describe different varieties of Australian wine.

The use of varietal synonyms in the Australian market is suggested to be more of a marketing strategy designed to command a higher price rather than because of wine stylistic reasons. Important premiums are estimated for the use of the terms Syrah, Pinot Gris and to a lesser extent for Fumé Blanc.

Australian wine producers may be able to command price premiums by strategically choosing a name for a particular varietal. It appears no significant stylistic changes are needed to “justify” any varietal name change, and as such, only a label name change may be required. A switch to French-associated or -sounding names for a wine varietal may result in price premiums for Australian producers.

The paper illustrates a general revealed preference method for identifying wine varietal name price premiums and further illustrates the importance of “Frenchness” in wine name use.

Many firms, wine producers among them, have successfully communicated the quality of their products to the market by emphasizing the geographic origin, or location of production of critical ingredient(s) found in the product. The purpose of this article is to: introduce the concept of a “place‐based” marketing strategy, i.e. a marketing strategy that identifies a consumer product with a specific geographic area; explain why it is essential to the wine business; and, why it may be superior to other types of marketing strategies for certain types of agricultural products. Additionally, traditional valuation techniques applied to agricultural land typically assume that agricultural goods are undifferentiable commodities. With the growing trend toward the production of “place‐based” agricultural products, the traditional valuation methods omit an important variable – the potential for the geographical source to help develop a product‘s brand equity. This paper also discusses land valuation techniques and applies the concept of products of place to the trend among Californian wine growers to produce wines with vineyard designations.

The relative popularity of South Africa's leading grape varietals and some blends are discussed from the time vitis vinifera was introduced to the Cape of Good Hope in the 1650's to the present day. The word ‘Cultivar’ which is sometimes used, is the South African word meaning cultivated variety. These cultivars were almost all French, Spanish and German because of those countries relative proximity to Holland from whence the early settlers had come. Most of the grapes were given local names, and their European identities were, in many cases, not established until the 20th century; during which period South Africa's own hybrid Pinotage was produced. The effects of the sanctions era, and its lifting are examined, and the reasons for popularity changes explored. Some conclusion is attempted relating in part, but by no means wholly, to fashion.

In this paper, we seek to highlight how adherence to a dominant logic is an effortful activity. Using rhetorical analysis, we show that the use of rhetorical history provides a key mechanism by which organizations may convince audiences of adherence to a dominant logic, while also subverting or obscuring past adherence to a (currently) subordinate logic. We illustrate such use of rhetorical history by drawing on the case study of Ontario wine industry, where wineries use rhetorical history to demonstrate adherence to the logic of fine winemaking, while obscuring the industry’s past adherence to the now-subordinate and stigmatized logic of alcohol making. Implications for future research on institutional logics are discussed.