Crowdfunding in Wine

Crowdfunding has recently emerged as a novel way of financing new ventures. This coincides with a growing interest in wine as an investment good and with a search for new funding opportunities by wine makers. In this study, we first suggest a brief review of the literature on wine and finance as well as on how crowdfunding is entering the wine sector. In particular, we question who are the potential investors willing to engage in wine crowdfunded projects, and what kind of revenue could attract them. To go further, we also exploit an original survey where interviewees are asked about their wine consumption and purchase, their knowledge about crowdfunding, their relation to the Internet, their investment and project related to wine crowdfunding and their expectations concerning the returns from this type of contribution. We suggest that, among all forms of crowdfunding, the donation/voluntary contribution side, driven by intrinsic motivation, is likely to remain marginal compared to crowdfunding as an investment or a form of early purchase - a retail form of the “en primeur” sales. More generally, we ask how the public can help finance this sector and diversify the way wine is sold.