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Original Research Article

Wine productive efficiency and value chain: Special Issue "Transforming wine value chains – Adapting to a changing world"

(Just Accepted)
  • Gustavo Ferro,
  • Carlos A. Romero
Gustavo Ferro
Universidad del CEMA, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Carlos A. Romero
IIEP-CONICET Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/wep-20614

Published 2026-07-20

Keywords

  • Wine,
  • Value chains,
  • Efficiency frontiers,
  • DEA

How to Cite

Ferro, G., & Romero, C. (2026). Wine productive efficiency and value chain: Special Issue "Transforming wine value chains – Adapting to a changing world". Wine Economics and Policy. https://doi.org/10.36253/wep-20614

Copyright (c) 2024 Gustavo Ferro, Carlos A. Romero

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The global wine industry is shifting from high-volume production to quality-focused "premiumization," creating tension between efficiency (volume per unit of input) and resource-intensive technologies (using inputs to increase quality). This paper provides an evidence-based framework to assess how value chain choices, from viticulture to bottling, influence performance across market segments. Using data from 10 countries, we apply a two-stage approach: first, we measure relative efficiency scores for Value- and Premium-specializing wineries via Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA); second, we use Simar-Wilson regression to assess the impact of several technological factors on these scores. Results show that Value wineries have 41–44% efficiency, while Premium wineries reach 50–53%, indicating more efficient resource use in higher-end firms. For Value wineries, modernization and automation boost efficiency. In Premium wineries, practices such as manual irrigation and stainless-steel aging are key. Manual harvesting decreases efficiency by up to 10.6%, confirming that a focus on quality reduces productive volume. We identified a consistent set of significant variables, with the same signs and similar absolute values, influencing efficiency across both wine types under different hypotheses about returns to scale. This study links detailed technologies to global efficiency, showing that quality investments can be managed for performance.

(Just Accepted)

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