Pride and prejudice in the evaluation of wine?

The region where a wine is produced is a factor that influences consumers' preferences and price perceptions. For most consumers, a wine from an established place like France would be preferred over a wine from less established place, like Texas. However, a consumer's identity with their home area (not well known for wine) may override such an effect. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to determine whether a wine's geographic origin influences wine preference and price perceptions and, if so, whether identity with a place and/or wine expertise moderate this relationship.

A total of 257 students from a Texas university sample and rate two identical wines – yet one is labeled as from France and the other as from Texas. Their identification with Texas and their wine expertise are also measured. Paired sample t‐tests and repeated measures MANOCA are used to analyze the data.

The paper finds that a wine's country of origin has a strong effect on consumers' preferences and price perceptions. Specifically, consumers prefer the French wine over Texas wine and are willing to pay more for the French wine. Consumers' identification with Texas does not significantly mitigate the effects of country of origin; those who score low on Texas identity as well as those who score high had similar ratings for the wines. Similarly, no moderating effects for wine expertise are found.

This research shows the strong effect of county of origin even when participants actually sample the (identical) wines. It offers value by showing that the identity with a region provides little help in overcoming this effect and that wine producers and regions should consider strategies other than appealing to a consumer's identity with the region.