Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T08:37:51.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Last Frontier Investments: The Case of Alpine Wines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2019

Philippe Masset
Affiliation:
Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, HES-SO Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, Route de Cojonnex 18, 1000Lausanne 25, Switzerland; e-mail: [email protected].
Jean-Philippe Weisskopf*
Affiliation:
Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, HES-SO Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, Route de Cojonnex 18, 1000Lausanne 25, Switzerland
Clémentine Fauchery
Affiliation:
Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, HES-SO Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, Route de Cojonnex 18, 1000Lausanne 25, Switzerland; e-mail: [email protected].
*
e-mail: [email protected] (corresponding author).

Abstract

We identify and examine the performance of frontier investments from 2002 to 2017. Using fine wine as a setting, we find that the trade frequency and value of frontier investments in the form of Alpine wines have increased in recent years, leading to a rise in their prices above inflation rates. We further document that this frontier investment has been favorable in terms of risk-adjusted returns and volatility for investors. We also observe that the inclusion of frontier wines in a financial portfolio is favorable for investors, both in terms of returns and diversification benefits, due to low correlation coefficients. The identification and investment into frontier assets appears beneficial for investors looking for new opportunities. (JEL Classifications: C60, G11, Q11)

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We would like to thank an anonymous referee, the editor, and the guest editor, as well as Demian Berchtold and participants at the 2nd Wine and Hospitality Management Workshop and the INFER-INSEEC-LAREFI Workshop on wine macroeconomics and finance for helpful comments.

References

Alquist, R., Bhattarai, S., and Coibion, O. (2019). Commodity-price comovement and global economic activity. Journal of Monetary Economics. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Anderson, K., and Wittwer, G. (2017). U.K. and global wine markets by 2025, and implications of Brexit. Journal of Wine Economics, 12(3), 221251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aytaç, B., and Mandou, C. (2016). Wine: To drink or invest in? A study of wine as an investment asset in French portfolios. Research in International Business and Finance, 36, 591614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, M., Muth, R., and Nourse, H. (1963). A regression method for real estate price index construction. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 58(304), 933942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barclays (2012). Profit or Pleasure?. London: Barclays.Google Scholar
Blessing, S. (2011). Alternative Alternatives: Risk, Returns and Investment Strategy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Bouri, E., and Roubaud, D. (2016). Fine wines and stocks from the perspective of UK investors: Hedge or safe haven? Journal of Wine Economics, 11(2), 233248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breeden, J., and Liang, S. (2017). Auction-price dynamics for fine wines from age-period-cohort models. Journal of Wine Economics, 12(2), 173202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton, B., and Jacobsen, J. (2001). The rate of return on investment in wine. Economic Inquiry, 39(3), 337350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cardebat, J. M., and Figuet, J.-M. (2019). The impact of exchange rates on French wine exports. Journal of Wine Economics, 14(1), 7189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimson, E., Rousseau, P., and Spaenjers, C. (2015). The price of wine. Journal of Financial Economics, 118(2), 431449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Vittorio, A., and Ginsburgh, V. (1996). Des enchères comme révélateurs du classement des vins. Les grands crus du Haut-Médoc. Journal de la société française de statistique, 137(2), 1949.Google Scholar
Fogarty, J. (2006). The return to Australian fine wine. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 33(4), 542561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogarty, J. (2010). Wine investment and portfolio diversification gains. Journal of Wine Economics, 5(1), 119131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, E. (1981). To save or savor: The rate of return to storing wine. Journal of Political Economy, 89(3), 584592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joets, M., Mignon, V., and Razafindrabe, T. (2017). Does the volatility of commodity prices reflect macroeconomic uncertainty? Energy Economics, 68, 313326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, S., and Schoar, A. (2005). Private equity performance: Returns, persistence, and capital flows. The Journal of Finance, 60(4), 17911823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasker, W. (1979). The rate of return to storing wines. Journal of Political Economy, 87(6), 13631367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lintner, J. (1965). Security prices, risk, and maximal gains from diversification. Journal of Finance, 20(4), 587615.Google Scholar
Lombardi, M., and Ravazzolo, F. (2016). On the correlation between commodity and equity returns: Implications for portfolio allocation. Journal of Commodity Markets, 2(1), 4557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masset, P., and Weisskopf, J.-P. (2013). Wine as an alternative asset class. In. Pichery, M.-C. and Giraud-Héraud, E. (eds.), Wine Economics: Quantitative Studies and Empirical Applications, 173199. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masset, P., and Weisskopf, J.-P. (2015). Wine funds: An alternative turning sour? Journal of Alternative Investments, 17(4), 620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masset, P., and Weisskopf, J.-P. (2018a). Raise your glass: Wine investment and the financial crisis. In Ashenfelter, O. C., Gergaud, O., Storchmann, K., and Ziemba, W. (eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Wine, 271296. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.Google Scholar
Masset, P., and Weisskopf, J.-P. (2018b). Wine indices in practice: Nicely labeled but slightly corked. Economic Modelling, 68, 555569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masset, P., and Weisskopf, J.-P. (2019). Producing and consuming local: Switzerland as a local market. In Alonso Ugaglia, A., Cardebat, J.-M., and Corsi, A. (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Wine Industry Economics, 507522. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masset, P., Weisskopf, J.-P., Fay, B., and Le Fur, E. (2016). Red obsession: The ascent of fine wine in China. Emerging Markets Review, 29, 200225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanning, L., Shaffer, S. and Sharratt, J. (2008). Bordeaux wine as a financial investment. Journal of Wine Economics, 3(1), 5171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharpe, W. (1964). Capital asset prices: A theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk. Journal of Finance, 19(3), 425442.Google Scholar
Storchmann, K. (2018). Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Anderson, K. and Pinilla, V. (eds.), Wine's Evolving Globalization, 92129. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar