Drinkers reveal their thoughts about Australians and our wine
Early results released from a University of Adelaide-led research project have revealed overseas wine trade and consumers hold very positive feelings about Australians and Australian wine.
When trade and consumer focus groups in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and India were asked what they think about Australians and Australian wine they responded with descriptions of ‘authentic’, ‘exciting’, ‘sincere’, ‘strong’ and ‘reliable’.
Lead researcher and Program Director of Wine Business at the University of Adelaide Dr Roberta Crouch said that the early results are very positive for the Australian wine community.
‘Our international customers and consumers believe that our wine and our winemakers are authentic and exciting – this is really valuable when we have conversations and engage with wholesalers, retailers, sommeliers and consumers because they will have confidence in our wines’, she said.
‘We are delighted to find that international wine consumers are already predisposed to understand our messages about the authenticity and excitement of Australian fine wine’, said Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) Chief Executive Andreas Clark.
‘Our wines speak to the authenticity and uniqueness of our vineyards and the skills and passion of our grapegrowers and winemakers, and it is very pleasing to learn that these messages can resonate internationally’, he said.
The results are the first part of a seven-country study looking at country of origin effects for Australian wine.
‘Country of origin effects are those stereotypical beliefs consumers have about a product or service based on where that product or providers of that service are sourced’, Dr Crouch said.
‘For wine, country of origin has been found across numerous international studies to be consistently relied upon by consumers to inform their perceptions of wine quality and their willingness to pay a premium price – even overriding the actual taste of the wine in some instances’.
This research is funded by AGWA, the University of Adelaide and the Australian National University.
