Consumer Response to Quality Differentiation Strategies in Wine PDOs

The wine-growing sector is probably the area of agriculture that best expresses the binomial of production quality-territorial identity. In fact, the identification of agricultural production with the territory, its peculiarities and its atmospheres generates a relationship that is mutually advantageous and that the consumer perceives and values. This binomial is the basis that has generated the PDOs, which represent a winning solution for the success of productions that are otherwise fragmented and have little market “recognisability”. A current debate that has spread to various wine-growing areas questions the advisability of introducing sub-zoning based on quality levels in order to better promote the typical characteristics of each territory. The objective of this paper is to verify whether the strategy of sub-zoning based on the quality diversification of productions could constitute an appropriate tool to further promote a territory's productions. Towards this end, we have developed a discrete choice experiment to compare a new Chianti Classico DOCG type of excellence with other 4 DOCG Tuscan Sangiovese wines. The results show that introducing this new typology into a territory that has already been awarded the DOCG certification can represent a valid development strategy for the firm, as well as for territories.