Are Wine Boom Bust Cycles Inevitable?
A mini-symposium presented by the Robert Mondavi Institute’s Center for Wine Economics at the University of California, Davis in October examined boom and bust cycles in the world wine industry and addressed emerging opportunities and challenges. Themes of the event, which featured three speakers and audience participation, included the need for longer-term planning and research for better decision-making by industry executives, and larger, industry-wide concerns such as supply and demand, climate change, and resource and water issues. Peter Hayes provided global perspective from his position as vice president and past president of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), and perspective as a native Australian who has been a viticulturist for both Rosemount Estates and Southcorp, involved with Australian wine industry research. UC Davis agricultural economists Daniel Sumner and Richard Howitt focused more locally on California resource issues. Hayes has witnessed first-ha
