This paper examines the impact of Sunday blue law reforms on small-scale wineries in the United States. Using establishment-level data from 2000 to 2020, we employ an event-study framework to analyze the impact of changes in Sunday alcohol sales regulations across states on the performance of small wineries. We find that deregulation is associated with substantial declines in the performance of small wineries. On average, sales fell by 25.5%, employment declined by 7.8%, and survival rates dropped by 5.2% following the repeal of Sunday sales restrictions. These adverse effects are particularly pronounced among the smallest wineries and those located in metropolitan counties. The results suggest that while deregulation increased consumer access to alcohol on Sundays, it also intensified competition from large-scale retail outlets, thereby undermining the direct-to-consumer sales channels that are critical to small wine producers.

This paper analyzes the impact of product-market fit on firms’ export performance, focusing specifically on the case of wineries. To this end, we use a representative sample of Spanish wineries and data on 49 export markets. The empirical analysis is based on a firm heterogeneity model that integrates both macroeconomic and firm-level factors influencing wine export performance. Our findings indicate that a good product–market match facilitates export activity and can mitigate traditional barriers to international trade, such as geographic or political distance. When a winery conducts effective market research and identify markets where consumer preferences align closely with the characteristics of its products, its export performance improves significantly.

Sums of the ratings that judges assign to wines are a near universal method of determining the winners and losers of wine competitions. Sums are easy to calculate and easy to communicate, but seven flaws make sums of ratings a perilous guide to relative quality or preference. Stars & Bars combinatorics show that the same sum can be the result of billions of compositions of ratings and that those compositions, for the same sum, can contain dispersion that ranges from universal consensus to apparent randomness to polar disagreement. Order preference models can address both order and dispersion, and an example using a Plackett–Luce model yields maximum likelihood estimates of top-choice probabilities that are a defensible guide to relative quality or preference.

Fungus-resistant grape varieties (FRGVs) offer considerable ecological and economic benefits through reduced fungicide use, yet their cultivation remains limited. Due to the unfamiliarity of these varieties, marketing them is challenging. This study investigates the pricing and presence of FRGVs in the German high-priced wine segment. The aim is to uncover differences in the value-giving attributes of wines from FRGVs and conventional varieties. A hedonic price model was applied to multiyear (2016–2024) data from the renowned German wine guide “Der Eichelmann” using both OLS and quantile regression (n ≈ 73,800). Our results show that FRGVs are currently only marginally represented in the wine guide. Of the 36 FRGVs authorized in Germany, wines made from only 5 of those varieties appear in noteworthy quantities. FRGVs achieve, ceteris paribus, implicit price premiums compared to conventional varieties. However, as FRGVs are predominantly marketed by wineries with lower reputations and tend to receive lower expert ratings, their average price is below that of conventional varieties. The findings underscore the need for targeted marketing strategies that effectively communicate the sustainability benefits of FRGVs, strengthen credibility through reputable producers, and concentrate on “flagship varieties” to facilitate market penetration.

In two studies with 1,275 participants, we examine how values are associated with wine cues and how these associations shape selection across private and professional contexts. Building on signaling theory and identity economics, we propose a utility framework in which choice utility is a context-dependent function of alignment with the private self (personal values), the professional self (role values), and anticipated reputational returns to identity signaling. Signal interpretability depends on a shared code in which observable cues carry similar meanings for senders and receivers. Drawing on Schwartz's value theory, we find evidence that participants systematically attribute distinct values to three observable cues—bottle appearance, short narratives, and tasting notes. Our findings show that in private settings, individuals favor wines linked to self-transcendence and openness to change, whereas in professional settings they prefer wines associated with self-enhancement and conservation. These cross-context patterns suggest that observing wine choice provides a novel tool for researchers to indirectly assess both personal and work-related values. In this respect, our approach relates to revealed preference theory, which infers individual preferences from observed choices.