Does the denomination taste better than the wine?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate whether consumer preferences differ for wines with diverse price points and second, to analyze the effect of denominations of origin information on preferences.

Design/methodology/approach

In, total 150 regular wine buyers expressed their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for 12 red wines of 3 denominations (Chianti Classico DOCG, Morellino di Scansano DOCG and Toscana IGT) with three price points (basic=€5, medium=€10 and high=€20) in an incentive-compatible experiment, involving two consecutive rounds: a blind tasting and an informed tasting.

Findings

The findings reveal that price points are not statistically related to consumer preferences measured in the blind round, while information on the denomination of origin leads to a statistically significant increase in WTP for wines of all price points for all denominations.

Originality/value

This paper investigates whether Sangiovese-based wines at varying levels of price points (basic, medium and high) receive different WTP by consumers in non-hypothetical experimental auctions. Furthermore, the effect of denominations of origin information on preferences is explored, comparing evaluations without and with this specific information.

Citation

Vecchio, R., Rinaldi, A. and Moio, L. (2019), "Does the denomination taste better than the wine?", British Food Journal, Vol. 121 No. 12, pp. 3293-3306. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-04-2019-0294