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Wine Ratings: Seeking a Consensus among Tasters via Normalization, Approval, and Aggregation

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  • Gergaud, Olivier
  • Ginsburgh, Victor
  • Moreno-Ternero, Juan D.

Abstract

The modern era of wine journalism has provided abundant information about wines and widespread use of numerical rating systems. A tiny difference, especially at the top of the distribution of ratings, may have striking consequences on wine sales and investment returns. This article provides a general framework to obtain a consensus among tasters’ opinions (reflected as numerical wine ratings) via three subsequent stages: normalization, approval, and aggregation. It is inspired by contributions in political science, social choice, game theory, and operations research. We apply it to the Judgment of Paris as well as to rank 2018 en-primeur Bordeaux wines, rated by five international experts. (JEL Classifications: C18, L15, L66)

Suggested Citation

  • Gergaud, Olivier & Ginsburgh, Victor & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D., 2021. "Wine Ratings: Seeking a Consensus among Tasters via Normalization, Approval, and Aggregation," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 321-342, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jwecon:v:16:y:2021:i:3:p:321-342_5
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    Cited by:

    1. Clarissa Laura Maria Spiess Bru, 2023. "Does the Tasting Note Matter? Language Categories and Their Impact on Professional Ratings and Prices," Working Papers Dissertations 105, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. Olivier Gergaud & Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2022. "Tracking Quality Assessments Over Time. The Rise and Fall of S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon," Working Papers ECARES 2022-13, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Bergantiños, Gustavo & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D., 2020. "Broadcasting La Liga," MPRA Paper 104750, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2023. "The Eurovision Song Contest: voting rules, biases and rationality," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 47(2), pages 247-277, June.
    5. Barberà, Salvador & Bossert, Walter & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D., 2023. "Wine rankings and the Borda method," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 122-138, May.
    6. Manuel Serra & Nuno Antonio & Claudia Henriques & Carlos M. Afonso, 2021. "Promoting Sustainability through Regional Food and Wine Pairing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.
    7. Bodington, Jeff, 2021. "A Maximum Entropy Estimate of Uncertainty about a Wine Rating," Working Papers 321847, American Association of Wine Economists.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco

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