Comparative Analysis of Pinot Noir Quality-Price Ratios

A Quality Price Ratio Comparison of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Red Burgundy American Association of Wine Economists 17thAnnual Conference, 18 to 22 June 2025 San Luis Obispo, California, USA Neal D. Hulkower, PhD McMinnville, OR nhulkower@yahoo.com

Outline Background Question Methods and Analysis Answer Limitations References 2

Background (1 of 2) My study comparing the Quality Price Ratio (QPR) of Willamette Valley Chardonnay (WVC) and White Burgundy (WB) showed WVCs represent a better value than the WBs for wines with an average price above $21 (Hulkower 2023) Begs question, what about pinot noir? Prices for both Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs (WVPNs) and Red Burgundies (RBs) have been rising steadily rising Charlie, a wine tour guide in the Willamette Valley, feels that WVPNs no longer represent a better value than RBs 3

Question Does WVPN represent a better value than RB (only those that are 100% pinot noir)? 4

Methods and Analysis (1 of 8) Data compilation and analysis (wine- searcher, 2024) Collected average price and average rating of 391 distinct bottlings of WVPN and 387 distinct RBs in the same price range in November 2024 For each wine, the QPR was calculated by dividing the average rating by the average price Descriptive statistics Kolmogorov-Smirnov test 5

Methods and Analysis (2 of 8) Average Price Statistics WVPN 391 RB 387 N Minimum Maximum Mean Median Mode Standard Deviation $14.00 $549.00 $70.41 $59.00 $65.00 $52.51 $19.00 $555.00 $132.46 $92.00 $70.00 $109.31 Least Expensive WVPN: The Great Oregon Wine Company 'Rascal' Pinot Noir WVPN with Average Price Near Mean: Brick House Vineyards Halliday Hill Pinot Noir Most Expensive WVPN: Rose & Arrow Estate 'Stonecreek' Amity Hills Pinot Noir Least Expensive RB: Domaine Huber-Verdereau Bourgogne Cote d'Or Les Constances RB with Average Price Near Mean: Louis Jadot Les Fuees Most Expensive RB: Joseph Drouhin Chambertin Clos-de-Beze Grand Cru 6

Methods and Analysis (3 of 8) 7

Methods and Analysis (4 of 8) Average Rating and QPR Statistics WVPN 391 RB 387 N Minimum Average Rating Maximum Average Rating Mean Average Rating Median Average Rating Mode Average Rating Standard Deviation of Average Rating Minimum QPR Maximum QPR Mean QPR Median QPR Mode QPR Standard Deviation of QPR 84 95 81 95 90.54 91 91 1.76 0.1694 6.0000 1.7381 1.5254 2.0000 0.9148 89.97 90 91 2.07 0.1679 4.6842 1.1473 0.9783 1.5000 0.8061 8

Methods and Analysis (5 of 8) Not unexpectedly the curves are hyperbolas since the equations are of the form ? =? where y is QPR = ??????? ????? ? ??????? ????? and x = average price The 4 least expensive WVPNs cost less than any RB WVPNs dominate across the range of average price based on the smoothing of the data 9

Method and Analysis (6 of 8) So, the WVPNs represent a better value than the RBs for wines at any price Though the data used are time sensitive and averaged across vintages, this result would be expected to be robust; here s why... 10

Methods and Analysis (7 of 8) Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (Wikipedia, 2024): ?? ?? ?+? ?? ?? ?? ? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ?? ? ?? ?= 2.085362941 where c( ) = ??? ? ?,?he null Since Dmax= 132 > c( ) hypothesis that the two distributions come from the same population is rejected at = 0.001 ? 11

Methods and Analysis (8 of 8) The World s Most Wanted Red Burgundies Not Included in Data Set Wine Domaine de la Roman e-Conti Romanee-Conti Grand Cru DRC La T che Grand Cru Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru DRC Echezeaux Grand Cru DRC Roman e-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru DRC Richebourg Grand Cru Domaine Comte Georges de Vog e Musigny Grand Cru Cuv e Vieilles Vignes Rousseau Clos Saint-Jacques Clos de Tart Grand Cru Monopole Domaine Leroy Musigny Grand Cru Av Score Av Price 98 97 96 94 95 96 QPR $24,251 0.0040 $6,838 0.0142 $4,423 0.0217 $3,641 0.0258 $4,154 0.0229 $5,094 0.0188 95 95 95 98 $1,097 0.0866 $1,976 0.0481 $725 0.1310 $48,957 0.0020 If you're looking for big names and big price tags in Pinot Noir, Burgundy is the place for you. Don Kavanagh (2024) 12

Answer WVPNs represent a better value than the RBs for wines at all prices Sorry, Charlie 13

Limitations Small range of average scores Number of reviewers vary widely by wine Wines not scored by the same reviewers Data extracted from a dynamic database Impact of result will depend on individual taste, preference, and circumstance WVPN not widely available especially outside the US RB comes from a cult region for collectors who are not influenced by scores and have been willing to pay the high prices 14

References Hulkower, Neal D. (2023). A Quality Price Ratio Comparison of Willamette Valley Chardonnay and White Burgundy, American Association of Wine Economists 16th Annual Conference, 1- 5 July 2024, Lausanne, Switzerland Kavanaugh, Don (2024). The World's Most Wanted Red Burgundies, https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2024/04/the-worlds-most-wanted-red- burgundies Wikipedia (2024), Kolmogorov Smirnov test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolmogorov%E2%80%93Smirnov_test accessed December 2024 wine-searcher.com accessed November 2024 15