Italian wine consumer behaviour and wineries responsive capacity

• Main Authors: Malorgio, Giulio, Hertzberg, Anna, Grazia, Cristina
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: choice experiment; Consumer/Household Economics; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; wine consumer behaviour; wineries strategies

This paper analyzes habits and motivationsbehind wine consumption in Italy and focuses on theattributes affecting wine choice, through interviews anda choice experiment approach. We show that consumersare interested in a wide concept of quality, which coversthe whole production process. Both the notoriety of theindustrial brand and the designation of origin constituteimportant quality signals. However, the use of thedesignation of origin to assess quality at the moment ofpurchase requires a certain level of product knowledgeand involvement. Supermarkets and stores play anincreasing role in the commercialization of wine on thefinal market. Nevertheless, the appreciation of privatelabel wines is relatively low. Finally, we provide someobservations on how the Italian wineries are equippedtoward market requirements, according to thetypologies of vertical relationship between the vinegrowing and the grapevine processing stages, thequantity and quality strategies.