Kate B. Fuller

Too Much of a Good Thing? Causes and Consequences of Increases in Sugar Content of California Wine Grapes

The sugar content of California wine grapes has increased significantly over the past 10–20 years, and this implies a corresponding increase in the alcohol content of wine made with those grapes. In this paper we develop a simple model of winegrape production and quality, including sugar content and other characteristics as choice variables along with yield. Using this model we derive hypotheses about alternative theoretical explanations for the phenomenon of rising sugar content of grapes, including effects of changes in climate and producer responses to changes in consumer demand. We analyze detailed data on changes in the sugar content of California wine grapes at crush to obtain insight into the relative importance of the different influences. We buttress this analysis of sugar content of wine grapes with data on the alcohol content of wine. (JEL Classification: Q54, Q19, D12, D22)

Assessing the Returns to R&D on Perennial Crops: The Costs and Benefits of Pierce's Disease Research in the California Winegrape Industry

Pierce’s Disease (PD) of grapevines costs more than

The High and Rising Alcohol Content of Wine

100 million per year, even with public control programs in place that cost

Pierce's disease costs California

50 million per year (Tumber et al., 2012). If the PD Control Program ended, and the GWSS was distributed freely throughout California, the annual cost to the winegrape industry would increase by more than

104 million per year

185 million (Alston et al., 2012). Using a simulation model of the market for California winegrapes, we estimate the benefits from research, development and adoption of PD-resistant vines as ranging from

Splendide Mendax: † False Label Claims about High and Rising Alcohol Content of Wine

4 million to

The Value of Powdery Mildew Resistance in Grapes: Evidence from California

125 million annually over a 50 year horizon, depending on the length of the R&D lag and the rate of adoption. In addition to these quantitative results the paper offers insight into the broader question of economic evaluation of damage-mitigation technology for perennial crops.

The Economic Consequences of Pierce's Disease and Related Policy in the California Winegrape Industry

Initial motivation for the work in this chapter came from an observation that the sugar content of California wine grapes at harvest had increased by more than 9 per cent, from 21.4 degrees Brix in 1980 (average across all wines and all districts) to 23.3 degrees Brix in 2008.1 Sugar essentially converts directly into alcohol, so an 11 per cent increase in the average sugar content of wine grapes implies a corresponding 11 per cent increase in the average alcohol content in wine. Questions arose as to whether the rising sugar content of grapes was indeed reflected in rising alcohol content of wine and whether we could distinguish between causes related to climate change versus other causes related to evolving market preferences, as indicated by expert ratings for wines, and government policies that discourage the production of wine with higher alcohol content.2