Social representations of wine and culture: A comparison between France and New Zealand

• We examine differences between wine consumers, and wine professionals’ social representations of wine in France and in New Zealand.
• Novices evoked time of consumption: dinner, party. Experts referred to sharing, heritage, conviviality.
• French participants’ social representation of wine was associated with social identity.
• New Zealand participants’ social representation of wine was associated with social acts such as dinner.
• Social representations of wine depend on a person’s wine expertise and wine culture.

The aim of the present study was to investigate social representations of wine as a function of wine expertise and culture. Wine expertise has been studied extensively in the field of psychology and sensorial analysis highlighting perceptual, verbal or memory skills. Wine is at the heart of French customs and eating traditions, and meanings developed about it are the subject of a real social construction and thus of social representations. But what about countries where the culture of wine is not historical? The objective of this research was to study the influence of expertise on social representations of wine from French and New Zealanders. Three hundred and ninety French and 177 New Zealanders, experts and non-experts in wine, participated in the study. To examine the social representation of wine, we used verbal association tasks designed to lead participants to associate the first four words that came to mind at the mention of the word “wine”. Data collected in the association tasks were submitted to a correspondence analysis. Results showed that New Zealanders considered wine with different flavours as a subject of relaxation and fun, but also linked to food. French associated wine with friendship, red wine, and cheese. The results also revealed differences between experts and novices. Novices evoked time of consumption including dinner and party whereas experts referred to sharing, heritage, and conviviality. The results are discussed in terms of theory of social representations.