Abstract
Australian wines are identified by the varietal names of the grapes rather than the regions as in France and other
traditional wine producing countries. This paper uses the concept of hedonic price theory to investigate a range of
extrinsic characteristics’ ability to predict prices for different climate regions (warm and cool) and four major wine
varieties of Australian wines, two reds (shiraz and cabernet) and two whites (chardonnay and riesling). The effects of
winery reputation (wine company/brand), winery size (production scale), age of the wine, and region of origin (wine
grape source) contributing to the relationship between price and quality attributes of Australian wines are investigated,
based on 1880 observations of bottled wines. Wine quality rating and winery/brand reputation have major effects on the
price, while region and size of winery have differential effects depending on the variety of grape. Vintage has only a
minor effect.