Christophe Baron Prize for
the Best Conference Presentation

The Christophe Baron Prize for the best wine economics presentation at an AAWE Annual Conference is donated by Christophe Baron of Cayuse Vineyards, Walla Walla, Washington and consists of six bottles of Cayuse Syrah.

Christophe is a native of the Champagne region in France where his family has made champagne for centuries. He studied viticulture and enology in Champagne and Burgundy and in 1993, came to the U.S. to further his training. Among others, he has worked with Adelsheim Vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and interned at Waterbrook Winery in Walla Walla, Washington. After being a “flying winemaker” in Australia, New Zealand, and Romania for a few years, Christophe wanted to start his own vineyards and returned to the Pacific Northwest. In 1996, he bought an old 10-acre orchard covered with softball-sized cobblestones fifteen miles south of Walla Walla, Washington. He called the venture Cayuse Vineyards, after a Native American tribe whose name was derived from the French word “cailloux”—which means “stones.” In the decade since, it has grown to seven vineyards, soon to be eight, encompassing more than 55 acres. What was considered by many a foolish gamble on that field of stones has been rewarded year after year with some of the most acclaimed wines in the region—and in the nation. “Those stones are the reason I’m here in Walla Walla,” Christophe says. “It’s certainly not for the night life.”

The Christophe Baron Prize thus acknowledges outstanding economic work, sometimes conducted off the beaten track, service to the association, and utter dedication to the discipline of wine economics (often done instead of glittering night life).

2012 Princeton

Bradley Rickard (Cornell University)
Reputation Spillovers: Examining Consumer Response to Information about Wine Appellations (joint with Jill McCluskey, Washington State University, and Richard W. Patterson, Cornell University)

Antonella Mancino  (Universidad del CEMA Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Measuring the Impact of Climate Change on Argentinean Viticulture

Philippe Masset (Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Bottled Poetry: Tasters, Ratings and en primeur Prices (joint with Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, University of Fribourg, Switzerland).

Local Organization: Orley Ashenfelter (Princeton University), Pete Parcells (Whitman College), Karl Storchmann (New York University)

2011 Bolzano

Julian Alston (UC Davis)
Splendide Mendax: False Label Claims about High and Rising Alcohol Content of Wine (with Kate Fuller (UC Davis), James Lapsley (UC Davis), Kabir Tumber (UC Davis), George Soleas (Liquor Control Board of Ontario)

Franco Peracchi (U of Rome Tor Vergata)
Price and Landscape as Signals of Product Quality: Evidence Based on Random Signals in Wine Tastings (with Giovanni Mastrobuoni (Collegio Carlo Alberto) and Aleksey Tetenov (Collegio Carlo Alberto))

Koen Deconinck (U of Leuven)
From Vodka to Baltika: A Perfect Storm in the Russian Beer Market (with Jo Swinnen, U Leuven)

Local Organization: Günter Schamel (Free U of Bolzano)

2010 Davis

Jing Cao and Lynne Stokes (both Southern Methodist University)
Evaluation of Wine Judge Performance through Three Characteristics: Bias, Discrimination, and Variation

Magali Delmas (UC Los Angeles)
Consumers’ Responses to Wine Eco-Labels

Bernd Frick (University of Paderborn)
The Impact of Individual and Collective Reputation on Wine Prices: Empirical Evidence from the Mosel Valley

Local Organization: Julian Alston(UC Davis), Jonathan Barker (UC Davis), Leslie “Bees” Butler (UC Davis), Clare Hasler (UC Davis), James T. Lapsley (UC Davis), Stephen Sawyer (City of Vacaville, CA)

2009 Reims

Coco Krumme (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
A Nose by any other Name: Descriptions as Signals for Wine Price

Carlos Ramirez (George Mason University)
Do Words Add Value? The Effects of Wine Descriptions on Wine Prices: Evidence from Napa

Alex Robinson (Whitman College)
Exchange Rate Pass-Through to U.S. Import Prices. Evidence from the Wine Market

Local Organization: Christian Barrère (University of Reims), Stephen Charters (Reims Management School), Olivier Gergaud (University of Reims), David Ménival (Reims Management School)

2008 Portland

Robert Hodgson (Humboldt State University and Fieldbrook Winery)
An Examination of Judge Reliability at a major U.S. Wine Competition

Peter Roberts (Emory University)
Basking in Reflected Glory: Substantive and Symbolic Implications of Winemaker Mobility

Local Organization: Mellie Pullman (Portland State University),
Karl Storchmann (Whitman College)

2007 Trier

The Liquid Assets Prize of the AAWE/VDQS was awarded to
Peter Roberts (Emory University) Critical Exposure and P-Q Relationships for New World Wine in the US Market

The AAWE Prize was awarded to
Paolo Buonanno (University of Bergamo) and
Paolo Vanin (University of Padova)
Bowling Alone, Drinking Together

Local Organization: Dieter Sadowski (University of Trier),
Karl Storchmann (Whitman College)