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In this study, the influence of vibration, bottle position, and initial headspace volume on the oxygen distribution inside a wine bottle were investigated. For this purpose, a model wine was filled in 0.75 L wine bottles and stored horizontally and vertically under different vibration intensities (500 mm/s2 and 1000 mm/s2) at a constant frequency of 50 Hz. The bottles were sealed with screw cap and cork closure and two different headspace volumes for each closure type. Our results indicated, that vibration and horizontal bottle position promoted the dissolution of oxygen from the headspace of the bottle into the wine causing accelerated sulfur dioxide degradation. The effect of vibration was larger in horizontally stored bottles indicating that a larger surface promotes oxygen uptake into the wine. In absence of headspace oxygen, vibration and bottle position showed no influence on sulfur dioxide-related oxygen degradation. Furthermore, it was shown that the dissolution of oxygen was faster under cork closure than under screw cap due to the overpressure by corking process. It was concluded that vibration and horizontal bottle position have a major impact on the dissolution of headspace oxygen from the headspace of the bottle into the wine but not on the chemical reaction of the dissolved oxygen with sulfur dioxide. The larger surface between the headspace and wine in horizontally stored bottles and the overpressure created by corking process accelerates the oxygen uptake from the bottles headspace into the wine.

PurposeNew York is the third top wine producing state in America. Competitive wine production across the United States has challenged New York winemakers to secure a place in the domestic market in order to support the long-term viability of the local economy. As businesses of agriculture become increasingly disrupted by the changing natural environment and consumer demand for sustainable products grows, vintners may distinguish themselves through the production and promotion of strategic initiatives on wine bottle labels.Design/methodology/approachFueled by the distinct fields of green marketing and environmental communication, this research investigates the promotion of sustainable practices on wine bottle labels. Through the methodology of content analysis, this project examines all 13 wineries on the Shawangunk Wine Trail located in the Hudson River Region of New York.FindingsThe findings from this study show that less than half of wineries in the sample selection employ environmental marketing as a communication strategy.Research limitations/implicationsThis research carries practical, business and social implications for the local Hudson River Region, the larger New York wine industry, and any organization looking to remain viable in a competitive marketplace.Originality/valueThis paper reveals the potential for the Hudson River Region wine industry to promote its “distinctive” and “innovative” environmental philosophy of “terroir driven and sustainably produced” winemaking on wine bottle labels to differentiate themselves in a crowded and expanding marketplace and build a Basis of Legitimacy with consumers.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to find out how unconscious perception and conscious reactions differ when it comes to evaluate wine bottles in a shopping shelf. It was evaluated how attention is related to subjective evaluations of interest and value in the perception of wine bottle design choices. Design/methodology/approach The experiment combined implicit eye-tracking observations and a quantitative measurement on the assessment on wine bottle designs. In total, 37 participants rated eight different wine bottle designs based on their interest and assumed value, without any given information about the wines’ original price classification. Findings There is a significant difference between the perception of wine bottle designs. Eye-catchy designs do not automatically transform into a higher perception of value and interest towards the product. The unconscious perception of bottles and the conscious reaction differentiate. Research limitations/implications The greatest limitation, as with many other implicit studies, is the limited number of subjects and the associated limited validity. In addition, eight bottles in four categories were studied, which is adequate, but does not fully reflect the complexity of the wine market supply. Practical implications Manufacturers and wine label designers should challenge existing pre-disposition towards certain wine bottle design choices. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first German consumer study that focusses on unconscious perception (measured by implicit eye movement behaviour) and conscious reactions in the context of explicit value and interest evaluation.

PurposeThe aim of this study is to analyse the importance of bottle design in relation to other purchasing criteria, and also to understand which design elements are most attractive to consumers.Design/methodology/approachA survey of a sample of 437 wine drinkers was carried out in Portugal using non-probabilistic sampling. The technique used was conjoint analysis based on the SPSS conjoint module.FindingsOne of the key findings was the low importance of bottle design in shaping consumer preferences compared to other attributes (origin, price and category of wine). In terms of design elements, the label had the biggest influence on consumer choice, followed by the type of bottle, bottle seal and brand name, in that order. Differences in consumer choice were evident according to the level of knowledge of wine and frequency of consumption.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide guidance for Portuguese wineries as regards the marketing and design decisions of their products and packaging.Originality/valueThis study sheds new light on the importance of wine bottle design on consumer preferences. Previous studies in the area have proved to be minimal and heterogeneous.

PurposeThis paper investigates how giving additional information to consumers changes their appreciation of wine, and how this effect changes with their knowledge of wine and their characteristics.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 415 French consumers was carried-out in 2014, focusing on the sensory evaluation of 37 red Bourgogne wines. Two sensorial evaluations (visual, and smell & taste) are investigated, first without any information about the wine and then with the presentation of the wine bottle with its labels.FindingsThe majority of participants are significantly influenced by the information displayed. The influence of information depends on their initial knowledge and individual characteristics (gender, age, and home area). This influence is robust, whatever be the means of evaluation.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was carried out with red Bourgogne wines and focused on the village and regional appellations, with a low and medium price range. The results need a broader investigation to be generalizable.Practical implicationsInformation does not have the same influence depending on individual characteristics and on knowledge of wine. Promoting different wines to different consumers who do not have the same knowledge and do not use the same distribution channels is challenging as consumers do not all have the same expectations of red Bourgogne wines. The results provide directions for better targeting consumers through the information on the bottle labels.Originality/valueBy cross-tabulating sensory tastings and knowledge tests, this research contributes to measuring the holistic effect of information on the hedonic appreciation of wine across a significant range of consumers issued from two big cities.

This study addresses the price heterogeneity of the five first growths of Bordeaux. We apply the quantile regression (QR) approach with market segmentation based on wine bottle price quantiles. We compute the hedonic price of wine attributes for various price segments in the market. This approach is applied to a major dataset comprising approximately 50,000 transactions over the 2003–2017 period. The findings indicate that the relative hedonic prices of several wine attributes differ significantly among deciles. The implications of our results are manifold. Vintage and Parker grades have a strong impact on the variation in wine prices, and there is a hierarchy among the five first growths of Bordeaux. There is also a premium commanded by the reputation and experience of an auction house. Since the financial crisis of 2012–2013, investors have considered that the five first growths are overrated, save for the most expensive wines; for those most expensive ones, investors prefer scarcity to liquidity. These results are of import to several actors in the fine wine market: investors, for example, could use the findings herein to better diversify their wine portfolio, while auction houses could better anticipate their future sales based on consumers’ expectation.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the existence and influence of gender effects on wine choice, specifically whether women and men seek the same cues in wine labelling. Design/methodology/approach Five focus groups, involving 45 regular wine consumers (22 women and 23 men) from four Portuguese wine regions of origin, were conducted. Sessions included two projective techniques. To gather more information, participants were asked to fill a short questionnaire, relating purchasing and consumption habits, knowledge and socioeconomic characteristics. Qualitative data were transcribed verbatim and content analysis was used. Findings Women frequently associate wine to the context of consumption; while men frequently associate wine to convivial and sensorial pleasure. Region of origin and prior knowledge experience seem to be the two main reasons for men to choose a wine; while, women seem to rely more on wine brand and previous experience. Front label information (region of origin, awards and region illustration) seems to be more important for women, while the back label descriptors (grape variety, world heritage site and wine history) are more relevant for men. The typography (font size) and information type were identified as negative aspects of the back label. Practical implications Understanding how men and women looking for information on a wine bottle can help marketers communicate with specific market segments. This paper provides insights to design marketing campaigns regarding product customization at the level of label information and design. Originality/value The present research contributes to current literature on wine consumer behaviour, exploring behavioural differences, perceptions and motivations by gender. In particular, the relevance of wine cues for choice decision is explored. The evidence of focus groups combined with projective techniques is complemented with data collected through a questionnaire.

Background The physical properties of tableware could influence selection and consumption of food and alcohol. There is considerable uncertainty, however, around the potential effects of different sizes and shapes of tableware on how much food and alcohol people self-serve. These studies aimed to estimate the impact of: 1. Plate size and shape on amount of food self-served; 2.Wine glass and bottle size on amount of wine self-poured. Methods 140 adults participated in two laboratory studies—each using randomised within-subjects factorial designs—where they self-served food (Study 1) and wine (Study 2): Study 1: 3 plate sizes (small; medium; large) × 2 plate shapes (circular; square). Study 2: 3 wine glass sizes (small; medium; large) × 2 wine bottle sizes (75 cl; 50 cl). Results Study 1: There was a main effect of plate size: less was self-served on small (76 g less, p p p = 0.46) or a size and shape interaction (p = 0.47). Study 2: There was a main effect of glass size: less was self-served in small (34 ml less, p p p = 0.20) or a glass and bottle size interaction (p = 0.18). Conclusions Smaller tableware (i.e. plates and wine glasses) decreases the amount of food and wine self-served in an initial serving. Future studies are required to generate estimates on selection and consumption in real world settings when numerous servings are possible. Protocol registration information: OSF (https://osf.io/dj3c6/) and ISRCTN (10.1186/ISRCTN66774780).

For many purchases, consumers often possess only limited information about product quality. Thus, observable product characteristics are used to determine expected quality levels when making purchase decisions. We use more than 1 million weekly scanner-level observations from grocery stores across ten U.S. markets between September 2009 and August 2012 to examine how consumers value a wine bottle's closure type (i.e., cork or screw cap). We focus on lower-priced wines—those with sale prices less than $30 per 750 milliliter bottle—to more accurately evaluate decisions of consumers for whom seeking additional information about wine quality is likely more costly than the benefits derived from that information. Using both pooled ordinary least squares and quantile regressions to estimate price premiums for bottles with corks or screw caps, we find that U.S. consumers are willing to pay, on average, approximately 8% more (about $1.00) for a bottle of wine that has a cork closure. In addition, we show that the size of this premium increases as wine prices decline. (JEL Classifications: D81, M31, Q11)

Wine is a high-value alcoholic beverage welcomed by consumers because of its flavor and nutritional value. The key information on wine bottle label is the basis of consumers' choice, which also becomes a target for manufacturers to adulterate, including geographical origin, grape variety and vintage. With the improvement of wine adulteration technology, modern technological means are needed to solve the above mentioned problems. The chemical basis of wine determines the type of technique used. Detection technology can be subdivided into four groups: mass spectrometry techniques, spectroscopic techniques, chromatography techniques, and other techniques. Multivariate statistical analysis of the data was performed by means of chemometrics methods. This paper outlines a series of procedures for wine classification and identification, and classified the analytical techniques and data processing methods used in recent years with listing their principles, advantages and disadvantages to help wine researchers choose appropriate methods to meet the challenge and ensure wine traceability and authenticity.

This paper describes an effort to utilize IoT, OCR, and blockchain technology to create wine track and trace system evaluated in a real-life environment. The research is focused on digital transformation in traditional wine supply chain, using computer vision to read the existing serial numbers labeled on bottles, so as to uniquely identifying individual bottles of wine and track the item life-cycle. The system provides mobile app to allow end consumers to scan each wine bottle and learn more about that particular product instance, its origin, authenticity, rating and potentially other characteristics. Status of each bottle is updated every time it has been scanned. To ensure the transparency of the recorded data and information immutability, the blockchain technology is used to record all relevant information into the ledger, e.g. all status updates for each item. The developed service enables tracking of a bottle throughout the supply chain, from a producer to a consumer, where traceability story is still not finalized. The consumed serial numbers are kept in the ledger, to avoid counterfeit scenario when one “bottle” (i.e. one serial number) is being sold multiple times. The life-cycle of bottle and its status changes are recorded, and the authenticity ensured facilitating verifiable identity of the authorized handlers and cutting edge cryptography, thus providing additional trust in the solution and transparency to all stakeholders.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the suitability of bioplastic bottles for wine packaging. The wine is largely packaged in glass bottles, although alternative solutions such as laminate, plastic and bag-in-box packaging are decidedly widespread on the market by virtue of their ease of use and low cost, especially for the so-called entry-level products. However, packaging involving the partial or exclusive use of plastic is the subject of discussion in the scientific community, by virtue of the persistence of plastic materials in the environment at the end of the product life cycle. A solution that could reconcile the practicality and low cost of plastic packaging with a reduced environmental footprint is the replacement of fossil-based plastics with compostable bioplastics. The latter biodegrade if properly treated at the end of their life, limiting the environmental footprint of the packaging. Bioplastics are, however, more complex to process than conventional plastics, also presenting a higher cost. The objective of this study is therefore the manufacture of prototype bottles in bioplastic for the packaging of wine by means of an extrusion blow molding process, as well as the evaluation of the main thermo-mechanical and physical properties of the same.

Detecting defects on the wine bottle surface is a challenging task due to these factors: (1) tiny defects on the surface, (2) visually similar defects with design patterns on bottles, (3) reflective (metallic) bottle surface, (4) real-time requirement. In this paper, we propose an efficient and light-weight detector for the defects. To this end, we adopt EfficientNet- B3 [1] as the backbone of the detector and YOLO [2] as the detection head. In addition, we use channel pruning approach [3] to obtain a more compact model. In the experiments, we obtain a score of 0.77 on the validation dataset, similar performance comparing to the two-stage methods[23]. The parameters of our detector are only 5. $8\mathrm{M}$ , which are about one tenth of the YOLO's [2]. The proposed detector achieves a good balance between speed and accuracy.

One of the most interesting enabling technologies for digital transformation is computer vision. Object and character recognition has already become very popular and it is used in everyday life. This research focuses on the use of computer vision to read serial numbers from wine labels in order to enable applications based on tracking and tracing of each individual wine bottle. After experimenting with several OCR tools, an open source software called Tesseract OCR engine was selected for the pilot solution. The paper discusses the implementation and image processioning that improved detection accuracy. The coding was done in the Python programming language. The solution code was tested using real-life like images of wine serial numbers. In addition, a custom built web-based evaluation tool was created and used for the interactive evaluation of the system.

We examined the effects of an extrinsic attribute of wine—closure type (natural, screw, synthetic, or glass)—on perceptions of intrinsic attributes (appearance, taste, bouquet, and overall quality) by comparing two separate samples of tasters to determine whether differences exist. A convenience sample of students, parents, faculty, staff, and community members in a college town in the northwestern United States participated in the study. The findings confirmed the positive halo effect of natural corks when compared with screw caps and synthetic corks. More specifically, wine thought to have been poured from a bottle with a natural cork closure registered significantly higher ratings on appearance, bouquet, taste, and overall quality compared with wines closed with screw caps or synthetic cork closures, but not those with glass closures. Our findings suggest that glass stoppers could replace natural corks without generating significantly negative effects on perceptions of intrinsic wine attributes.

Designing an aesthetic interaction is an important issue for Interaction Design (ID) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). While a number of frameworks exist, the experimental study of potential underlying principles remains rare. In this paper, we suggest that particular interaction attributes (e.g., “fast”) are systematically related to particular experiential qualities (e.g., “feeling competent”) and that interaction “feels better” if interaction matches the intended experience. A laboratory study (N = 32) explores this notion by testing two different ways of interacting within the same activity (opening a wine bottle) in two different experiential scenarios (focusing on relatedness, focusing on competence). Two corkscrews with different interaction profiles were used: one assumed to support a feeling of competence and the other to support relatedness. As expected, we found systematic shifts in preferences for specific corkscrews, differences in affective experience and in the relationships between interaction attributes and experiential qualities depending on the fit of interaction to the experience.

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to investigate how attention to wine labels related to preference by using quantitative measures of gaze and of the diameter of the eye pupil. We assessed whether eye fixations could predict choices and willingness to pay and whether pupil size could index the aesthetic value of wine labels. More specific goals were to identify which elements of a wine label captured attention the most and to assess whether an authentic label would be preferred by naïve consumers over other alternative labels, also designed by the same studio but excluded from the market. Design/methodology/approach Infrared eye-tracking was used to measure the amount of time spent on a specific label among four that were simultaneously shown on the computer screen. Participants also made explicit decisions about preferred labels and provided price estimates. Pupillometry was used for labels shown in isolation to obtain a physiological index of their arousing effect and aesthetic appeal. Eye fixations provided an index of what was selected by attention, whereas changes in the pupillary diameter indexed how intensively attention was focused on an item. Findings A strong positive relationship was found between the dwelling of gaze over a specific label and the degree in which a wine bottle was preferred and (virtually) chosen. The pictorial elements of the labels were fixated the most, whereas verbal information was looked at the least. Attractiveness scores of each bottle collected with one independent group of observers were able to predict the willingness to pay in another group. Moreover, pupil size changed non-linearly in relation to the hedonic values of the wine labels, indicating greater responses to the most as well as least attractive labels (i.e. for the most arousing labels). Research limitations/implications A limitation of the present experiments was that only choices and behavior of wine “novices” were probed; hence, the present findings might not be generalized to other segments (e.g. wine connoisseurs). Moreover, the present study could not specify which visual properties of a label affect preference, aesthetic value and estimates of price, as the study of these effects would require a large number and variety of label stimuli. Practical implications Eye monitoring methods could assist marketing studies of preferences and decision-making. Both wine label designers and wine producers could benefit from eye-tracking methods to improve label selection and optimize the design process of a wine label. Originality/value Although both eye-tracking and pupillometry have been used to the investigate aesthetic preferences for at least the past 50 years, the measurement of pupil diameter and eye movements to study attributes of (authentic) wine labels and their effectiveness is entirely novel. The present study confirms that measures based on eye-tracking combined to explicit choices or ratings provide complementary types of market-relevant information. Both methods provide objective, quantitative, information of the effect of the labels on consumers that is independent but predictive of actual choices and verbally reported preferences. Moreover, they appear to index different processes, pupillometry being a proxy of aesthetic value and gaze a reliable index of choice. Thus, the present findings can be of value to the academic researcher as well as industry and design practitioners.

Four industrial teams whose work has improved the lives of people around the world through advancements in printing, pharmaceuticals, and automotive paint were honored with the 2019 Heroes of Chemistry Award during the American Chemical Society national meeting in San Diego in August. The winning teams are from DuPont; Paratek Pharmaceuticals; Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie company; and PPG Industries. Started in 1996, the Heroes of Chemistry Award is ACS’s most prestigious honor for industrial chemists, who make up approximately half of ACS’s membership. Here’s a look at the teams being honored this year: DuPont: Cyrel Easy The DuPont team’s development of the Cyrel Easy flexographic printing plate technology has led to higher ink densities and color saturation, as well as improved print quality and consistency. Applications include more vibrant and eye-catching consumer product packaging, such as wine bottle labels, potato chip bags, and juice boxes. Like the modern-day version of a

The subject of this paper concerns an automatic device for extracting the cork and a comparison has been made between different solutions of electric devices, although the problem of automation is more complex. For the adopted mechanism, the screwing function of the corkscrew into the cork is different from the function of cork extraction. Consequently, a space-driven mechanical switching system with lever is proposed. The system is, also, equipped with a mechanical bistable device, which ensures the stability of the two states. The bottle cork extractor device, described in this paper, does not have a complete automation, because it requires manual operation for tipping the transfer lever. First of all, it was pursued a convenience of serving in the sense of minimal forces of user action. 3D modeling with SolidWorks programming environment has been used to design the device. Calculations for driving the device are, also, presented.

Purpose Based on the theoretical debates involving authenticity and consumer behavior intentions, this exploratory research study aims to identify whether the authentic experiences of tourists visiting wineries affect their behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach A self-administered questionnaire was created to address authenticity issues within the context of the on-site winery experience and how they ultimately affected behavioral intentions according to selected demographic characteristics. Adapting Wang’s categorization of authenticity as being composed of three dimensions, a total of 13 questions were developed and used to obtain consumer data. To determine whether these three dimensions related to authenticity affected visitors’ behavioral intentions within the context of the winery experience, a standard multiple regression procedure was used at a levels = 0.05 and 0.01. Findings The findings show that authentic characteristics play a substantial role in the behavioral intentions of winery tourists. Interestingly, there were no significant relationships between a visitor’s willingness to recommend wineries and the on-site winery experience, presentation of wine bottle labeling and impressions about the overall winery experience. Research limitations implications Because this was an exploratory study, repeated applications of this experiment must be conducted in many other global destinations where winery visits occur, to establish generalizable research findings. Future applications of this research study should consider introducing new variables to further measure authenticity related to on-site winery visits, not only to build upon these study findings but also to assist the wine industry marketing professionals in acquiring a better understanding of the relationship between authenticity, as related to on-site winery visits, and the behavioral intentions of winery visitors. Practical implications This study’s findings will help to better understand the behavioral intentions of winery visitors based upon the perceived authenticity levels of on-site winery experiences. The results provide strategic and developmental directions for wine industry professionals, winery owners, wine producers and wine destination marketing organizations to more accurately promote winery visits, products and destinations. Originality/value Although authenticity and wine tourism have both received much attention as research topics, no research, to date, has addressed the importance of perceived authenticity, as applied to the on-site winery visit, within the overall wine tourism experience and its effect upon visitor intentions. This study endeavored to quantify the attributes of authenticity that are specific to winery tourism and consumer behavior issues.

Adjusting the wine temperature is a routine procedure before opening a wine bottle. In many situations wine requires quick cooling, which occasionally raises disturbing questions among consumers and wine professionals. In particular, there are certain concerns that too rapid cooling of wine for some reasons may negatively affect its sensory characteristics and compromise the wine evaluation. To scientifically confirm of disprove this myth, we conducted a sensory analysis of six wines, cooled slowly in a refrigerator and quickly in an ice&ndash, water&ndash, salt mixture. Two sparkling wines, two white, and two red still wines with different aroma profiles were included in the research. Results of the triangle tests and 3-AFC tests demonstrated no perceivable differences between the quickly and slowly cooled wine samples. These outcomes may be useful for scientists, who perform wine sensory evaluations, as well as wine producers, experts, and the foodservice industry in general.

Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) is an important field of research targeting different applications. The one presented in this work results from an identified need for a wine anti-counterfeiting scheme based on photos of cork stoppers already proposed in previous work. A photo of each cork stopper is used to register a wine bottle during the bottling process. To verify the genuineness of the product a user captures a photo of the stopper; that photo is then compared with the entirety of the database and all the relevant information is retrieved to the user. This approach can be a very slow process, becoming more time consuming with each increase of the database. Aiming to solve this problem, a CBIR system for wine anti-counterfeiting purposes based on cork stopper photos is presented. The feature extraction is achieved using Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB), selecting the “best” keypoints (according to the Harris corner measure) per region. The regions are delimited by concentric circumferences calculated using the radius of the identified cork. The number of regions (NR), along with the number of selected keypoints (NP) per region, define the number of ORB descriptors needed for indexing the image in the database. To measure the similarity between the query image and the database a score is calculated based on NR and NP. Finally, the best N images according to the calculated score are retrieved. To evaluate the proposed approach 2 datasets (natural cork and agglomerate cork dataset) were created, totaling 1500 photos, and 4 different smartphone rear cameras were used. The recall results range from 75.0% to 99.5% in the natural dataset and from 86.0% to 99.0% in the agglomerate dataset. The average time for the retrieval process is about 9.74ms in a database populated with 100 photos. Critical analysis on the recall rate and its time tradeoff is also discussed. The results show that the proposed CBIR is adequate for its application — wine anti-counterfeiting.

The Glagolitic script was the first script used in the history of the Slavic-speaking peoples for literacy in their own language. It was used in Croatia from medieval times until the twentieth century. However, in recent years there has been a noticeable revival of a symbolic usage of the script in Croatia, primarily included in school curricula as a significant component of the Croatian cultural heritage. Letters of the script have also found their place on various products, such as souvenirs, wine bottles or key rings, as well as on art objects and inscriptions in the public space. In this chapter I will analyse the significance of the Glagolitic script for contemporary Croats and their identity and I will explain the process of commodification of the script and its usage in tourism. The materialities that will be analysed as language-defined objects of material culture are graffiti and inscriptions on municipal buildings, photographs of souvenirs, memorabilia, wine bottle labels, etc. All these objects were collected or photographed in the wider Zadar area.

An original methodology for the Water Footprint Assessment (WFA) of a Product for the wine-making industry sector is presented, with a particular focus on the evaluation procedure of the grey water. Results obtained with the proposed methodology are also presented for an Italian case study. The product was analyzed using a life-cycle approach, with the aim of studying the water volumes of each phase according to the newly-released ISO 14046 international standard. The functional unit chosen in this study is the common 0.75 liter wine bottle. An in-house software (V.I.V.A.) was implemented with the goal of accounting for all the contributions in a cradle-to-grave approach. At this stage, however, minor water volumes associated with some foreground and background processes are not assessed. The evaluation procedure was applied to a case study and green, blue, and grey water volumes were computed. Primary data were collected for a red wine produced by an Umbrian wine-making company. Results are in accordance with global average water footprint values from literature, showing a total WF of 632.2 L/bottle, with the major contribution (98.3%) given by green water, and minor contributions (1.2% and 0.5%) given by grey and blue water, respectively. A particular effort was dedicated to the definition of an improved methodology for the assessment of the virtual water volume required to dilute the load of pollutants on the environment below some reference level (Grey WF). The improved methodology was elaborated to assure the completeness of the water footprint assessment and to overcome some limitations of the reference approach. As a result, the overall WF can increase up to 3% in the most conservative hypotheses.

Sparkling wine sensory properties are driven by many factors, including the amount of CO2 and pressure in the bottle. We were interested in characterizing the sensory attributes of California blanc de blanc sparkling wine and the sensory impact of various effervescence conditions, such as artificial nucleation points, on the aroma and flavor. Beginning with the effect of effervescence conditions on the aroma and flavor intensity, three different nucleation treatments (air-dried glasses, paper towel-dried glasses, and glasses with an etched nucleation point) were compared. Thirty-three panelists assessed overall aroma and flavor intensity for each treatment in triplicate. No statistically significant differences in aroma and flavor intensity were found. Following this, the sensory profiles of eight Californian blanc de blanc sparkling wines were determined using a generic descriptive analysis. Eleven trained judges used visual, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and bubble descriptors to characterize the sensory differences among the sparkling wines. The characterization was done at both 1 and 5 min after pouring, using the same descriptors, to assess temporal variation. In addition, the atmospheric pressure of each wine bottle was measured to determine the influence of pressure on taste and aroma over time. Sparkling wines assessed at 1 and 5 min showed a significant difference in all wines. This difference was characterized by a decrease in bubble size and concentration and allowed for greater differences within the sample set; thus, at 5 min there was a greater differentiation among the wines. No correlations between bottle pressure and sensory attributes were found.

South Africa's organic wine industry has yet to benefit from research on wine bottle labelling. The wine bottle front label has proven to be a forceful first point of contact with consumers, and has powerful implications and consequences – both negative and positive – for marketing communication. Women have grown to represent a niche market which has increased spending and decision-making power, they are drinking more wine than before and have a preference for organic produce. This consumer group regards wine bottle front labels as an important decision-making entity and employs affective factors when making purchasing decisions. This research encompasses an approach which considered all the semiotic elements of wine bottle front labels and their influence on women within a retail setting. Although a small group of research respondents took part in this study, rich data were generated and the results indicate how semiotics influences South African consumers’ perceptions and decision making. With t...

In this paper, we propose a method to build an accurate initial trimap for the GrabCut algorithm without the need for human interaction. First, we identify a rough candidate for the label region of a bottle by applying a saliency map to find a salient area from the image. Then, the Hough Transformation method is used to detect the left and right borders of the label region, and the k-means algorithm is used to localize the upper and lower borders of the label of the bottle. These four borders are used to build an initial trimap for the GrabCut method. Finally, GrabCut segments accurate regions for the label. The experimental results for 130 wine bottle images demonstrated that the saliency map extracted a rough label region with an accuracy of 97.69% while also removing the complex background. The Hough transform and projection method accurately drew the outline of the label from the saliency area, and then the outline was used to build an initial trimap for GrabCut. Finally, the GrabCut algorithm successfully segmented the bottle label with an average accuracy of 92.31%. Therefore, we believe that our method is suitable for product label recognition systems that automatically segment product labels. Although our method achieved encouraging results, it has some limitations in that unreliable results are produced under conditions with varying illumination and reflections. Therefore, we are in the process of developing preprocessing algorithms to improve the proposed method to take into account variations in illumination and reflections.

The History of a Bottle is a system integrated in the Web portal of the Vinho Verde Region, which allows the genuineness verification of products with Denomination of Origin (DO) Vinho Verde and Geographical Indication (GI) Minho, through the guarantee seal placed on the bottle. The system allows the integration of different information associated with the guarantee seal, namely the brand name, the type and quality of the product, the date of certification and the bottler. The success of this system, which was awarded by Microsoft, is due to its information architecture, and management of data associated with brands, labeling, product accounts and their relation. The system contributes to the dissemination of the good image of the Vinho Verde Region, which has associated with other images, controlled by marketing, that help to conquer and remain in the attention and imagination of the public.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the impact that tasting sheet sensory descriptors have on wine sales in tasting rooms that rely on direct-to-consumer sales to sell the majority of their wines, such as those in New York wine regions. Design/methodology/approach – Nine tasting rooms participated in the study that took place on weekends (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) during a six-week period in July and August 2012. Tasting rooms alternated tasting sheets by weekend, one including sensory descriptors and one omitting sensory descriptors. At the end of each weekend, tasting room managers compiled information on daily wine bottle and (in the case of seven wineries) dollar sales. A multivariate statistical model was created to measure the relationship between the treatment (tasting sheet with or without descriptors) and wine sales, controlling for other variables that could influence wine sales. Findings – The authors found that both bottle and dollar sales were higher when tasting sheets without sensory descriptors were used, with dollar sales statistically significant at the 10 percent level. Other variables that impacted wine sales included the specific tasting room, the day of the weekend, and festivals occurring in the area. Practical implications – Many tasting rooms, particularly in New York, rely on the tasting room for the majority of wine sales. Determining factors that affect sales can help tasting room managers/owners optimize the tasting room experience for maximized profits. Originality/value – While there have been studies involving the impact of descriptors on sales of food and wine products, these studies have all taken place in a grocery store or restaurant setting where many different brands and varieties are offered. There has been no research studying the impact of descriptors on wine sales in the tasting room, where tasters have a limited selection and an option to sample products before purchasing. There has also been little research studying aspects of tasting sheets.

Visual search for a downward-pointing triangle among upward-pointing triangles is faster than vice versa, a phenomenon referred to as the downward-pointing triangle superiority (DPTS) effect. Here, we report two new experiments designed to investigate whether this phenomenon also emerges when a triangle appears as a local feature within a wine label. The experimental task was to identify whether all of the wine bottles in a store display were the same or not, while each wine bottle had either a downward- or upward-pointing triangle displayed on its label. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that the participants responded more rapidly when searching for a wine bottle with a downward-pointing triangle on its label than when the target had a triangle pointing upward, indicating the presence of a DPTS effect. In Experiment 2, the DPTS effect was replicated while varying the set size. The magnitude of the DPTS effect increased with increasing set size. Taken together, these results revealed similar visual search results for pictorial stimuli with triangles as local features as for geometric triangular shapes. The implications of these findings for the design of product labels are discussed.

Wineries always try different types of marketing strategies such as tasting rooms, promotion through the social media or websites. The main goal is to establish a way to win the consumers' loyalty and to keep them coming back or consuming their brand. In the last decades, the influences of the front and back label on consumers have largely been started to investigate. In this study, the wine bottles produced in the wineries located on Urla vineyard road were investigated in terms of their visual codes. The visual codes were identified in four classes: layouts and composition, typography, illustrations, and colours. Each label investigated based on the semiotics analyses. The findings suggested that the wine labels convey the feeling of tradition, seniority, elegance and history.

The study briefly sketches the process of the birth of the wine bottle label and how it became one of the most important signs of the wine bottle, the wine it contained and the wine-maker. The design and the making of the wine bottle labels have the same typical 20th-century history as the wine itself.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to discuss the implications of product loss rates in terms of the environmental performance of bottled wine. Wine loss refers to loss occurring when the consumer does not consume the wine contained in the bottle and disposes of it because of taste alteration, which is caused by inadequate product protection rendering the wine unpalatable to a knowledgeable consumer. The decision of whether or not to drink the wine in such cases is guided by subjective consumer taste perception and wine quality expectation (drinking the bottle or disposing of the wine down the drain and replacing it with a new bottle). This study aims to illustrate the importance of accurately defining system boundaries related to wine packaging systems. Methods: The environmental impacts resulting from wine loss rates as related to two types of wine bottle closures—natural cork stoppers and screw caps—have been estimated based on literature review data and compared to the impact of the respective closure system. The system studied relates to the functional unit “a 750 mL bottle of drinkable wine” and includes bottled wine, bottle and closure production, wine production, wine loss and wine poured down the drain. Results: The range of wine alteration rates due to corked wine is estimated to be 2–5% based on interviews with wine experts. Consumer behavior was assessed through a sensitivity study on replacement rates. When the increase in loss rate with the cork stopper is higher than 1.2% (corresponding to 3.5% corked wine multiplied by a consumer replacement rate of 35%), the influence of losses on the impact results is higher than that of the closure material itself. The different closures and associated wine losses represent less than 5% of the total life cycle impact of bottled wine.

Schematic influences of rape myth acceptance (RMA) on visual information processing were studied. After reading a short text on a rape case, students viewed a “police photograph” of the plaintiff's living room, where the rape allegedly happened, while their eye-movements were recorded. The photograph contained two myth-consistent cues, one being expected in the situation (wine bottle and glasses), the other unexpected (poster of a nude male). Results of Study 1 ( N = 60) showed that participants higher in RMA fixated the expected cue both earlier and less long, which may indicate hypervigilance and greater ease of processing, respectively. Higher RMA also predicted longer initial fixation of the unexpected cue. These processing differences mediated participants' verdicts and blame judgments. In Study 2 ( N = 30), participants' level of RMA was manipulated experimentally via social norm feedback. This manipulation significantly affected eye-movement patterns for the expected myth-consistent cue. Results support the notion that RMA actively guides visual information processing of relevant stimuli.

Phenolic compounds constitute important quality parameters of wines. Wines produced from different clones of the same grape variety show differences in relation to their chemical composition. The aim of this study was to characterize and differentiate Cabernet Sauvignon wines from two clones in relation to their chemical composition and to examine changes in the phenolic composition and antioxidant activity during wine ageing in the bottle. All wines were produced with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, clones 685 and 169, from two vineyards, under the same microvinification conditions. The wines were characterized in relation to phenolic composition and antioxidant activity, as well as monitored over 11 months of bottle ageing. A significant difference was observed between the chemical compositions of the wines produced from clones 169 and 685, clone 169 showing the highest phenolic content while clone 685 had better color characteristics. The wines showed high antioxidant activity. Principal components and cluster analyses demonstrated separation of the wine according to the clone. In relation to wine bottle ageing, for both clones evaluated was observed a decrease in all phenolic compound, except of quercetin, and the antioxidant activity of these wines increased during storage.

Commercial red wines ( Vitis vinifera L. cv. Shiraz) produced during the 2009 vintage underwent winemaker assessment for allocation grade soon after production. The wines were then subjected to phenolic analysis to measure wine color (total anthocyanin, SO(2) nonbleachable pigment, and wine color density) and tannins (concentration, composition, and average degree of polymerization). A positive relationship was found between wine phenolic concentration and projected bottle price. Tannin compositional analysis suggested that there was specifically a relationship between wine grade and skin-derived tannins. These results suggest that maximization of skin tannin concentration and/or proportion is related to an increase in projected wine bottle price.

The oxygen transmission rate (OTR) is a value commonly measured in different industries to evaluate oxygen flow through all types of packaging. The Mocon® Ox-tran® method (Mocon Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) for measuring OTR is globally accepted and is recommended in different standards such as the ASTM (F1307-02), but in practice, only a limited number of samples can be analysed, and the stabilisation of the measurement takes time. In this paper, a simple, non-destructive technique allowing measurement of co-extruded closure OTR is presented. The established protocol allows measurement of oxygen ingress through the closures or at the interface between closures and bottleneck and avoids possible leakages that can happen when bottlenecks are glued onto metallic plates. Oxygen permeating in the bottle is measured by a luminescence-based technology using separate sensors supplied by PreSens® (Precision Sensing GmbH, Regensburg, Germany). The simple set-up and the use of a non-destructive luminescence-based technology make this an easy test to perform. Moreover, the development of a predictive model allows us to reduce the analysis time to one week. Comparison with the well-established Mocon Ox-tran method shows good accordance between the two techniques. This new method allows the measurement of more samples in less time without compromising analytical performance. This method could become a useful quality control procedure in the wine industry to assess OTR performances of closures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The design and operation of a wine bottle screening device that noninvasively and nondestructively determines the presence of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), or cork taint, in bottle-mounted corks is described. The approach uses commercially available solid-phase microextraction fibers for reduced pressure preconcentration and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to detect TCA in wine bottle-mounted corks. Instrument calibration experiments and data corresponding to intentionally contaminated free and wine bottle mounted corks are described. This study suggests that reduced-pressure full-bottle screening is a viable qualitative method for identifying bottle-mounted TCA tainted corks without violating the bottle or harming the bottle seal and label.

J. Inst. Brew. 117(3), 456–461, 2011 In this study, 28 red and 18 white musts, from seven different local wineries in Turkey, were investigated to determine their ochratoxin A (OTA) content following the 2006 harvest period. The removal conditions of OTA during the main stages of the wine making processes (alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation, racking, fining and storage) were investigated using HPLC techniques. In addition, the removal of OTA from two samples of red musts containing more than 1.0 µg/L of OTA and one sample of white must containing 0.83 µg/L of OTA were studied. The percentage of OTA removal in the final wine was found to be 41.8% (Sample A) and 53.7% (Sample B) in red wine and 44.7% in the white wine. The activated carbon had no greater effect on removing OTA than the other fining agents. The wine bottle ageing processes decreased the OTA content of the red wine between 11.8% and 17.6% during 12 and 18 months of storage, respectively. The 24 month ageing period did not affect the OTA level of the red wine further compared to the 18 month period.

Combinatorial peptide ligand libraries (CPLLs) have been adopted for harvesting and identifying traces of casein (used as a fining agent) present in white wines. Although minute amounts (200 microL) of CPLL beads are added to the entire content of a wine bottle (750 mL), they are able to sequester with high efficiency (up to 80%) residual traces of casein, permitting a signal "amplification" of at least 5000-fold. It is here demonstrated that as little as 1 microg/L of casein can be efficiently detected in white wines, a major improvement over previous investigations in which the lower detection limit had been estimated at 100 microg/L. The fact that such very low levels of fining agents can still be detected in treated white wines should be taken into consideration by winemakers in labelling their products and by EC rulers in issuing proper regulations.

Wine counterfeiting is a major problem worldwide. Within this context, an approach to the problem of discerning original wine bottles from forged ones is the use of natural features present in the product, object and/or material (using it “as is”). The proposed application uses the cork stopper as a unique fingerprint, combined with state of the art image processing techniques to achieve individual object recognition and smartphones as the authentication equipment. The anti-counterfeiting scheme is divided into two phases: an enrollment phase, where every bottle is registered in a database using a photo of its cork stopper inside the bottle; and a verification phase, where an end-user/retailer captures a photo of the cork stopper using a regular smartphone, compares the photo with the previously-stored one and retrieves it if the wine bottle was previously registered. To evaluate the performance of the proposed application, two datasets of natural/agglomerate cork stoppers were built, totaling 1000 photos. The worst case results show a 100% precision ratio, an accuracy of 99.94% and a recall of 94.00%, using different smartphones. The perfect score in precision is a promising result, proving that this system can be applied to the prevention of wine counterfeiting and consumer/retailer security when purchasing a wine bottle.

This study examines the importance of different wine bottle closures, such as natural cork, synthetic cork, and screw tops, in the retail purchase decision of wine by millennials and baby boomers. By segmenting consumers in this manner, it is possible to better understand their preferences and aid wine producers and retailers in directing their marketing and advertising efforts. The results of this study indicate that the type of bottle closure impacts the consumers purchase decision differently, depending on the type of purchase—whether for personal consumption, gift giving, or special occasion. Wineries and retailers of wine will find that closure type does impact consumer perceptions and its relevancy to market segmentation.

This contribution focuses on RFID performance in wineries. Specifically, it deals with the problem of readability of the RFID tags attached to wine bottles when packed in boxes. The results of a measurement campaign around cardboard boxes of six glass bottles, individually labelled with an RFID tag, are analyzed to stablish the conditions under which RFID is a valid technology to track wine bottles. The consequence is a guide of good practices to implement RFID tracking systems in wineries and warehouses, when we want to track individual bottles packed in boxes.

Monetary transactions in which consumption is temporally separated from purchase naturally lend themselves to multiple frames and to alternative accounting schemes, which nonetheless maintain a modicum of discipline and authenticity. We investigate some of the relevant accounting rules, and find that advanced purchases (e.g., a case of wine) are typically treated as ‘‘investments’’ rather than spending. At the same time, consumption of a good purchased earlier and used as planned (a wine bottle opened for dinner) is often coded as ‘‘free’’, or even as savings. However, when it is not consumed as planned (a bottle is dropped and broken), then the relevant account, long dormant, is resuscitated and costs associated with the event are perceived as the cost of replacing the good, especially if replacement is actually likely. Related phenomena and assorted implications are discussed.

As an Old Testament professor, I struggled with how to teach the Book of Proverbs and the genre of Wisdom Literature in general to my seminary students. As I read and re-read Proverbs, however, I saw it contained many character stereotypes. It is a very contemporary book, for it shows the qualities that contribute to success or failure in life over a long period. The characters in Proverbs, exaggerated as part of the genre, make important choices about how to live. I grouped verses about the types of people one sees daily in life's marketplace and wrote a vaudevillian-style play called “Life's Choices: A Play Based on Eight Characters in Proverbs.” The actors, all university students, wear nametags. The set is minimal: ladders, tables, chairs. The time is morning on Main Street in the local university town. Simple Youth, a First Year student and the play's hero, faces many choices, On Main Street he meets Sluggard, who nuzzles a teddy bear and tries to sleep all day; Drunkard, who totes a big wine bottle ...

Is it better for you to own a corkscrew or not? If asked, you as a human being would likely say “yes”, but more importantly, you are somehow able to make this decision. You are able to decide this, even if your current acute problems or task do not include opening a wine bottle. Similarly, it is also unlikely that you evaluated several possible trajectories your life could take and looked at them with and without a corkscrew, and then measured your survival or reproductive fitness in each. When you, as a human cognitive agent, made this decision, you were likely relying on a behavioural “proxy”, an internal motivation that abstracts the problem of evaluating a decision impact on your overall life, but evaluating it in regard to some simple fitness function. One example would be the idea of curiosity, urging you to act so that your experience new sensations and learn about the environment. On average, this should lead to better and richer models of the world, which give you a better chance of reaching your ultimate goals of survival and reproduction.

Background: Cork oak (Quercus suber) is one of the rare trees with the ability to produce cork, a material widely used to make wine bottle stoppers, flooring and insulation materials, among many other uses. The molecular mechanisms of cork formation are still poorly understood, in great part due to the difficulty in studying a species with a long life-cycle and for which there is scarce molecular/genomic information. Cork oak forests are of great ecological importance and represent a major economic and social resource in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. However, global warming is threatening the cork oak forests by imposing thermal, hydric and many types of novel biotic stresses. Despite the economic and social value of the Q. suber species, few genomic resources have been developed, useful for biotechnological applications and improved forest management. Results: We generated in excess of 7 million sequence reads, by pyrosequencing 21 normalized cDNA libraries derived from multiple Q. suber tissues and organs, developmental stages and physiological conditions. We deployed a stringent sequence processing and assembly pipeline that resulted in the identification of ~159,000 unigenes. These were annotated according to their similarity to known plant genes, to known Interpro domains, GO classes and E.C. numbers. The phylogenetic extent of this ESTs set was investigated, and we found that cork oak revealed a significant new gene space that is not covered by other model species or EST sequencing projects. The raw data, as well as the full annotated assembly, are now available to the community in a dedicated web portal at www.corkoakdb.org. Conclusions: This genomic resource represents the first trancriptome study in a cork producing species. It can be explored to develop new tools and approaches to understand stress responses and developmental processes in forest trees, as well as the molecular cascades underlying cork differentiation and disease response., This project was funded by "Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia" (FCT) within a National Consortium (COEC - Cork Oak ESTs Consortium) that supported 12 sub-projects (SOBREIRO/033, 035, 014, 034, 015, 017, 038, 019, 029, 039, 030, 036/2009). The authors further wish to acknowledge FCT for ten doctoral (BD) and post doctoral (BPD) fellowships (Tania Almeida: SFRH/BD/44410/2008, Tiago Capote: SFRH/BD/69785/2010, Ines Chaves: SFRH/BPD/20833/2004, Ana S. Fortunato: SFRH/BPD/47563/2008, Marilia Horta: SFRH/BPD/63213/2009, Liliana Marum: "SFRH/BPD/47679/2008, Andreia Miguel: SFRH/BD/44474/2008, Margarida Rocheta: SFRH/BPD/64905/2009, Tatiana E. Santo: SFRH/BD/47450/2008, Monica Sebastiana: SFRH/BPD/25661/2005). Andreas Bohn, Nelson J.M. Saibo, Rita Teixeira were supported by the Programa Ciencia 2007, financed by POPH (QREN) and Isabel A. Abreu, Susana Araujo, Dora Batista, A. Margarida Fortes, Jorge A.P. Paiva, Sonia Goncalves by Programa Ciencia 2008, also funded by POPH (QREN). A Margarida Santos was funded through iBET (PEst-OE/EQB/LA0004/2011). Maintenance of the CorkOakDB is supported by the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia.

QR Codes are a good fit for almost any product, but for wine they have a particular benefit. When buying a bottle of wine, many consumers do not simply buy the product on the shelf for its particular use; they buy its heritage. Importantly, considering the arguments made in our last sections about matching the correct platform with the appropriate information and the precise audience, these ‘customers’ or ‘people’ who purchase wine must be carefully located and analyzed.

The objective of this study was to explore the effect of red wine bottle aging at 4° and 18°C, both on antioxidant capacity and on the flavor profile of ruby Cabernet Mexican wine. Wine from the same batch was bottled, and half the samples were stored at 4°C and the other half at 18°C. The color was measured and the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) test performed every 15 days for a 6-month period. At the end of the maturation period, volatiles were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS, while sensory evaluation was carried out by QDA. Results showed that antioxidant capacity was higher in wine aged at 18°C, while color, volatiles, and sensory profile showed some differences among wines from each maturation temperature.

A Semillon wine was bottled using 14 different closures: a screw-cap type, two grades of conventional natural cork, two 'technical cork' closures (natural cork with a synthetic component), and 9 closures manufactured from synthetic polymer material. Closure performance was evaluated for physical aspects (e.g. extraction force and energy, change in closure diameter, and ease of closure reinsertion), and for wine composition and sensory properties. Wine under the screw cap closure retained the greatest concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ascorbic acid and had the slowest rate of browning. For other closures the trend of SO2 loss relative to the screw cap closure was apparent from an early stage of testing, and was most evident in the group of synthetic closures, intermediate in the conventional corks, and least evident in the technical cork closures. The loss of SO2 was in general highly correlated with an increase in wine browning (OD420) and the concentration of SO2 in the wine at six months was a strong predictor of future browning in the wine, particularly after eighteen months. Neither the concentration of dissolved oxygen at bottling (0.6-3.1 mg/L), nor the physical closure measures were predictors of future browning. For several closures upright storage tended to accelerate loss of SO2 from the wine, but in many cases this effect was marginal. The closures differed widely in regard to physical characteristics, and in general synthetic corks appeared least 'consumer-friendly' in terms of extraction forces, energies, and ease of closure re-insertion, but there was a trend for natural cork closures to exhibit larger variability in physical characteristics than technical cork and synthetic closures. Sensory analysis indicated large differences in wine flavour properties, with closures which tended to result in the best retention of free SO2 having wine sensory scores for 'citrus' that were generally high whilst scores for the attributes 'developed'/'oxidised' were low. The situation was reversed for wine under closures that performed poorly in the retention of free SO2. It was found that below a critical level of free SO2 remaining in the wine, closures exhibited substantially higher 'oxidised' aroma. Whilst trichloroanisole-type (TCA) taint was a noticeable problem for some cork and technical cork closures, any plastic-type taint appeared not to be a problem with most synthetic closures.