Abstract:

Winemaking and wine trade represents a dynamic sector, with important implications for the business environment, for society and for the individual consumer. Being a food commodity for human metabolism, wine must be characterized by well-defined nutritional features and quality, and must not affect the consumer’s health. Wine consumption is also connected to the hedonistic side of the consumer, the sensory properties playing an extremely important role in the buying decision. The use of some protected geographical indications serves as a market regulatory tool for authorities, a sign of quality for consumers and a means of promoting wine producers, strict market distribution and usage rules being mandatory. The EU market is one of the best regulated markets in terms of legislation in the domain of industrial property. This paper proposes a concentration degree analysis of the wine market, with registered geographical specifications, based on the Gini Struck method, applied nationally and globally. The research has shown that, both at a European level and at an international level, there is a high concentration degree of the wine product market with registered geographical specifications. The paper can be useful both to the academia, as a means of experimental result interpretation and research, and to the European and national business environment, as a means of identifying some niche markets, accessible to wine producers.