Wine: Intrinsic attributes and consumers’ drinking frequency, experience, and involvement

This study developed and tested a model that links the perceived importance of sensory attributes of wine with drinking frequency and experience, and in turn links all these factors with product involvement as the central framework. Results from 493 survey responses collected in the North-western U.S. region employing path analysis and moderated regression analysis revealed that consumer drinking frequency significantly and positively influenced wine involvement while years of drinking moderated this relationship. Furthermore, involvement significantly and positively influenced the perceived importance of wine appearance and bouquet—but not wine taste. As such, highly involved consumers were more interested in ancillary product attributes, which in this case entailed appearance and bouquet. Moreover, the survey results suggest that consumers perceived the importance of intrinsic wine attributes in the same way as they would evaluate the attributes in formal wine-tasting events. Specifically, the perceived importance of appearance of wine significantly influenced perceived importance of bouquet and taste, and perceived importance of bouquet influenced perceived importance of taste.