Résumé

This article first proposes a segmentation of the market for fine wines on the basis of two complementary dimensions: liquidity and price-to-quality relation. Three main segments, corresponding to three different types of customers, are identified: investors favor very liquid and prestigious wines (‘investable wines’); collectors prefer rare and mythical wines (‘collectible wines’); and connoisseurs want to fill their cellars with ‘good value wines’. The article then examines the implications of this segmentation and thereby sheds a new light on two of the most researched issues in wine economics: pricing and performance of fine wines. Several attributes appear to have a distinct effect on the price of wines from different segments. In particular, the way the age of a wine affects its price is far from unequivocal: the most investable wines are often too expensive when they start being traded and they consequently tend to underperform during their first ten years on the market, whereas less prestigious wines are initially more fairly-priced. Likewise, the performance of the various segments is far from homogeneous: investable and collectible wines deliver higher returns but are also more sensitive to broad economic and financial conditions than good-value wines. Collectible wines seem to maintain a positive exposure to market and liquidity risk, whereas investable wines are affected by market risk only.

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