Price Premiums and Discounts for Australian Sparkling Wines

Abstract This paper assesses the price premiums and discounts for nine sparkling wine types or names commonly employed in Australia. Hedonic wine price functions are estimated for 10 years of wine releases to identify the specific price impact of different sparkling wine types or names, after controlling for other wine price determining factors. Results identify that important price premiums occur with the use of blanc de blancs and other less common sparkling reds. An important price discount is estimated for prosecco wines. Sparkling wine type interactions with climatic regional conditions and cellaring potential also point to some interesting results. The estimates may have potentially important implications for the strategic use of wine types and names by producers and for consumers in identifying good valued sparkling wines.