Vol. 11 No. 2 (2022)
Original Research Article

Consistency of expert product reviews: an application to wine guides

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  • Gabriel I. Penagos-Londoño,
  • Felipe Ruiz-Moreno,
  • Ricardo Sellers-Rubio,
  • Salvador Del Barrio-García,
  • Ana B. Casado-Díaz
Gabriel I. Penagos-Londoño
Pontifical Xavierian University, Department of Economics, Carrera 7 No. 40-62, Bogota
Felipe Ruiz-Moreno
University of Alicante, Department of Marketing, Crta. San Vicente s/n. 03690, Alicante
Ricardo Sellers-Rubio
University of Alicante, Department of Marketing, Crta. San Vicente s/n. 03690, Alicante
Salvador Del Barrio-García
University of Granada, Department of Marketing and Marketing Research, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071, Granada
Ana B. Casado-Díaz
University of Alicante, Department of Marketing, Crta. San Vicente s/n. 03690, Alicante
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/wep-12400

Published 2022-11-17

Keywords

  • reputation,
  • wine,
  • experts ratings,
  • sentiment analysis,
  • finite mixture model,
  • wine guides
    • ...More
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How to Cite

Penagos-Londoño, G. I. ., Ruiz-Moreno, F., Sellers-Rubio, R., Del Barrio-García, S., & Casado-Díaz, A. B. (2022). Consistency of expert product reviews: an application to wine guides. Wine Economics and Policy, 11(2), 51–60. https://doi.org/10.36253/wep-12400
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Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to examine the internal consistency of wine guides by comparing the judgements of expert wine tasters and reviewers. A classification of wines is provided to establish whether expert reviews of similar wines are coherent. Design/methodology/approach. Sentiment analysis based on natural language processing techniques was used to compare quantitative and qualitative reviews between experts. In addition, a finite mixture model was used to classify wines into categories to analyse internal consistency between ratings. Findings. The results for a sample of more than 200,000 Wine Enthusiast ratings reveal significant differences between expert reviews. This finding indicates that there are no standard criteria for reviewing wines included in the guide. Originality. Wine guides are amongst the most widely used marketing resources in the wine industry. They provide a signal to consumers about the quality of wines, guiding their purchase decisions. They also influence the reputation of brands and the performance of companies producing these wines. The main contribution of this study is to propose a new way to compare the reviews of wine guide experts.

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