WINE AS A TRADEABLE COMMODITY

Louie Franklin

Wine has been appreciated for thousands of years and throughout history has found it's purpose in religion, medicine, war and in

everyday life.

Wine as a commodity

Wine is a asset which it's value comes from it's perceived quality.

The quality and therefore value of the wine is determined by the consumer.

This value can fluctuate as the average consumers opinion changes on things such as variety, style and desirable wine regions.

Wine's quality and value can be determined by many things but the main ones being:

Branding – wines labeled with a brand that is well known and respected with loyal customers will have a higher value over brands with a lesser reputation.

Age – the ability of certain wines to improve with age allows them to increase in value over time.

Awards – the wine being reconsigned and highly regarded in the wine community.

Region – the particular region a wine and specifically variety comes from is highly influential as some regions have a greater reputation for quality and specific varieties. France and it's specialised regions is a good example.

Palatable – wine has to be palatable to it's market otherwise it will fail to sell and lose value.

Wine In Ancient Times

Wine was very important in ancient times as it was the highest alcoholic beverage that could be produced (before distillation was invented by the Arabic people).

This not only gave people a 'buzz' but also provided antibacterial properties.

This allowed it to be stored for long periods of time without spoiling.

Also providing medical properties. These factors gave wine many practical

aspects that were rare in ancient times which made it a very valuable commodity.

Early Egyptian Wine

The Egyptians were some of the first to recognise the value of wine, with winemaking and viticulture flourishing around 2000BC.

They would stamp their clay pots with the with the name of the estate and vintage of the wine.

This shows they understood that the value of the wine was related to the age and estate/who made it.

Early Greek Wine

The wine knowledge of the Egyptians was quickly picked up by the Greeks.

Around 400BC Theophrastus realised and documented the importance of grape variety, mesoclimate and soil quality.

Years later they also realised the relationship between low vigor and high quality.

Wine In Modern Times

Wine is now enjoyed all over the world with any country capable of producing wine doing so.

Though the huge popularity of wine has caused a massive influx of new wineries and vineyards to be planted.

This has caused supply to exceed demand decreasing the value of wine with much of it being sold in bulk to supermarkets.

References:

-File:Wine cellar.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2013, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wine_cellar.jpg

Course: WSC5.05 Introduction to Wine Business Online 2013. (n.d.). Retrieved August 13, 2013, from,

http://eitonline.eit.ac.nz/course/view.php?id=1875

A History Of Wine. (version 4.1, May 2004). Retrieved August 13,

http://www1.mpi-halle.mpg.de/~md_simul/data/special-data/wine-history.pdf

Modern Wines From Ancient Grapes. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2013, from http://www.helleniccomserve.com/modernwine.html

File:Wine cellar.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2013, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wine_cellar.jpg