Evaluation of wine by expert and novice consumers in the presence of variations in quality, brand and country of origin cues

The findings of an experimental study exploring the taste testing of wine with varying degrees of expertise and in the presence of variations in quality, brand and country of origin (COO) cues are reported. Novices experienced difficulty in evaluating quality and even when detecting quality differences were unable to assign an intelligent meaning to these differences. Experts did use physical quality and price evaluations, but in a more analytical manner with country of origin and brand information being used consistently with actual quality differences. Novices were found to use brand name in a limited fashion and relied mainly on COO information. The results demonstrated the importance of the extrinsic cues for both novices and experts. Surprisingly, there was no clear evidence of domestic preference.