What matters to consumers of organic wine?

The purpose of this paper is to determine the importance of the “organic” attribute for wine in relation to other attributes and to identify the most important determinants as far as the consumption of organic wine is concerned.

A survey based on interviews with 404 Swiss wine drinkers was conducted. The data were evaluated by means of conjoint and regression analyses.

The “organic” attribute was more important than the colour of the wine but less important than the price and the country of origin, foreign French wine being preferred to local Swiss wine. Urban and female consumers were relatively likely to consume organic wine, as were consumers who perceive organic wine as being healthy.

Marketing for organic wine in well‐developed markets should focus on the argument of image and health. Urban female consumers are the most important target group.

The paper presents the first results on the important attributes for marketing organic wine in developed organic food markets.