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Patterns of Relative Cost of Champagne by the Same Producer: Analysis of the Cost of Entry-Level, Mid-Range, and Flagship Champagne*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2018

Paul J. Merton Open the ORCID record for Paul J. Merton [Opens in a new window]
Paul J. Merton*
Affiliation:
Ethos Wines Group, Inc., 33 Rogers St., Cambridge, MA 02142; e-mail: pmerton@ethoswines.com.
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Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of champagne prices in New York City from 1948 to 2013 by determining how many hours one must work, using after-tax income, to purchase a bottle of champagne. Each of the three brands analyzed—Bollinger, Louis Roederer, and Moët & Chandon—was divided into three tiers of nonvintage, vintage, and flagship champagne. The results indicated that all income groups worked fewer hours for entry-level nonvintage bottles of champagne, whereas the number of hours required to purchase flagship bottles generally increased. (JEL Classifications: E31, H24)

Keywords

champagneinflationreal incomeprice stratification
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , November 2017 , pp. 426 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2018 

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Footnotes

*

With sincere appreciation and gratitude to Karl Storchmann and an anonymous referee for their comments and suggestions. A special thanks to Samantha Merton for her editorial comments and assistance. The author is grateful for many conversations with Chris Culler, Theresa Jimenez, and Robert C. Merton. Thank you to James Bohannon for suggesting sources for historical New York State and New York City personal income tax rates; Jennifer Greenleaf for research advice and MIT libraries for the use of facilities; UC Davis libraries and Amy Azzarito for selecting Sherry–Lehmann catalogs to scan for “Price the Vintage” application; and Frank Chang for statistics and graph work. My thanks also go the participants of the American Association of Wine Economists conference in Padua, in June 2017, without whom this research would not have been completed.

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