Essays in Wine Economics

Abstract

This thesis explores relevant topics in wine economics and viticulture from a multidisciplinary perspective. It is based on six main analytical chapters (i.e., published papers in scientific journals) and two other publications added as appendixes. The first two papers use econometric methods to quantify the potential impact of climate change in Australia. They show that climate change will likely have a negative impact on the country’s viticulture, mainly due to the deteriorating effect that higher temperatures could have on grape (and wine) quality. The third paper classifies and describes the world’s wine regions based on their climates. It also shows that for maintaining wine styles, winegrowers in many regions may need to source winegrapes from regions with more appropriate (usually cooler) climates or to plant alternative winegrape varieties that do better in their climates. This situation is not different in Australia, as suggested in the first two papers and discussed in the first two appendixes. The fourth paper shows that, far from becoming more diverse, the mix of winegrape varieties is becoming more similar across countries and more concentrated globally. While the main aim of the fifth paper is to analyse how globalisation has changed the impact of some key variables on wine trade flows, it also shows that countries with a more similar mix of winegrape varieties trade more wine (although this is not necessarily a causal relationship). Finally, the last paper estimates the impact of the European grapevine moth on grape production and justifies its eradication program.