How the country-of-origin impacts wine traders’ mental representation about wines: A study in a world wine trade fair

Using data collected at a world wine trade fair, we study how the country-of-origin impacts wine traders’ mental representation about wines. In the analysis we use traditional exporters in Old (France) and New (Argentina) world wine countries in comparison to non-traditional exporters in Old (Switzerland) and New (Brazil) world wine countries. Three main findings are reported. First, the country-of-origin of wines was more important on guiding participants’ representations, than the category of countries the traders came from. Second, participants’ evocations were more precise and specific for traditional wine-exporting countries than for less traditional wine exporting countries. Finally, the lack of traders’ knowledge of wines from non-traditional wine-exporting countries produced associations and beliefs related to the image of the country itself. Our findings have important implications for the marketing and export activities of the wine industry.
This work was funded by the University of St. Gallen & the Swiss Leading House for Latin America, Switzerland and by The Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil (Finance Code 001). Authors want to warmly thank IBRAVIN (Diogo Bortolini and the Diretor Sr. Carlos Paviani), EMME Brazil (Rico Azeredo) and Professor Carlos Eugenio Daudt for all logistical support. EFL acknowledges the financial support of Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero for his postdoctoral fellowship. MPSN acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) for her contract (project AGL2017-87373-C3).