Current research
09/07/10
The method developed in the first GWRDC project is currently applied in a second project that tests environmental and quality control claims and communication devices in different international wine markets.

The results of the first stage, measuring consumer perceptions of Australia and other wine producing countries across five international markets, can be retrieved from the project team by members of the Australian wine industry.
Results presented at AWITC
09/07/10
The team presented project results at the 14th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference.

Plenary presentation: Filling the gap - how do sensory and marketing attributes interact in consumer choice (forthcoming in the conference proceedings).

Workshop: What most influences consumers' wine choices: the wine, the package or external presentation (selected presentation slides can be downloaded here)
Final project results
09/07/10
The results of the US project part were presented to the GWRDC, our Advisory Group and other wine industry representatives on 24 November 2009.
We encourage members of the Australian wine industry to contact us to receive a copy of the final project report.
Australian results published in WIJ
25/05/09
Two WIJ articles present results from our Australian project part.

The first article discusses the motivation for the development of a new method and its validity for predicting consumers' wine choice. It discusses which intrinsic and extrinsic attributes were found to drive the purchase for Shiraz wine.

The second article focuses on the impact of shelf display information in form of sensory descriptions, wine critics' scores and star ratings on consumers' wine choice.
Cask wine study
25/05/09
The choice method developed by our project has been applied to analyse:
- Who is the Australian cask wine consumer? and
- What drives the Australian cask wine consumer?
Comparing two sensory methods
25/05/09
Results of our study comparing Best-Worst and Hedonic Scaling for the measurement of consumer wine preferences are published by the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research.
US selected as overseas market
16/03/09
Two major metropolitan areas in the US have been selected by our Advisory Group for the overseas experiments. These two cities represent two promising and important export markets for Australian wine in the US which is expected to become the world's largest wine market within the next five years.
The US experiments will be conducted in the second quarter of this year and their outcomes will be reported to GWRDC by the end of the year.
Final results of project on international wine selection
16/03/09
The final results of the GWRDC project comparing on and off premise wine choice drivers in 11 wine markets have been published:
- article in the Wine Industry Journal
- comprehensive article version
Australian results presented
16/03/09
The results of the Australian project part were presented to the GWRDC, our Advisory Group and other wine industry representatives on 19 September 2008.
Press release

The members of our industry advisory group are sincerly thanked for their continuing support. We also wish to thank the wineries providing us with wines and photographs and provided them seperate project reports with detailed results for their specific wines.
GWRDC updated on first methods insights
06/06/08
On 30 May 2008 we updated the GWRDC, our Advisory Group and other wine industry representatives with an interim report on the first methodological insights of our wine marketing project. Detailed results will be presented to the Australian wine industry at the end of this year.
GWRDC approval and photographs
Summary of status report
Information release
Australian experiments finalised
06/06/08
At the end of April we finished the empirical phase of our Australian project stage to test our method to predict wine consumer choices based on packaging attributes, and sensory characteristics and wine components.
The role of wine packaging in: The Age - Wine Style
27/02/08
Some of the very first project results are included in Jane Faulkner's article on the role of wine packaging in wine-buying decisions in The Age - Wine Style Summer 2007.
International comparisons: What drives wine consumers' choice
17/12/07
What drives wine consumers' choice in retail and on-premise bying situation in Australia and key export markets? Recent publications in the Wine Industry Journal and The Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker by Steve Goodman, Larry Lockshin and Eli Cohen compare results for Australia, USA, NZ, Brazil, Austria, Italy and France.
Marketing methodology results at ANZMAC conference
17/12/07
For the development of our research method it was important to find out if respondents indeed use additional information provided in wine choice tasks. Simone Mueller presented results of this research at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) Conference 2007 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Results imply that additional information is rarely used and that respondents have to be provided with obligatory information in choice experiments.
Wine Industry Outlook Conference 2007
17/12/07
Larry Lockshin met members of the project's wine industry advisory group at the Wine Industry Outlook Conference on 27 November 2007 to inform about our recent progress and to discuss relevant questions.
Project results: Wine Label DCE Pre-test
19/11/07
We tested if visual wine characteristics have subliminal effects on consumers which cannot be captured with direct methods as used in our Best-Worst experiment. Results of a discrete choice experiment with graphical wine labels can be found here.
Project results: Sensory Scale Test
19/11/07
We tested if hedonic rating or Best Worst Scaling is better suitable to measure consumer sensory preferences for red wine. Results of our sensory scale test can be found here.
Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium Presentation
28/08/07
Simone Mueller presented sensory research results of the wine marketing project 'A Comparison of Best-Worst and Hedonic Scaling for the Measurment of Consumers' Wine Preferences' at the 7th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium in Minneapolis.
Insights into Consumer Preferences - Priority of new GWRDC Five Year R&D Plan
28/08/07
The new GWRDC Five Year R&D plan 2007-12 responds to the change in the wine industry environment by emphasising the importance of understanding consumer preferences and future market opportunities. Under this new plan 'Market and Consumer Understanding' become the first of five GWRDC research investment programs.
In its August 2007 R&D AT WORK publication the GWRDC explains its new research investment strategy into consumer research by presenting our wine marketing project.
Sensory research results at 13th AWITC
26/07/07
First sensory research outcomes related to the wine marketing project will be presented at the 13th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference (AWITC) from 28 July - 2 August 2007 in Adelaide.
Leigh Francis will present a workshop "'Brett' and Australian consumer preferences" discussing the influence of Brettanomyces on consumer liking of red wines. The conference poster "Wine style alters the sensory impact of 'Brett' flavour components in red wines" summarises the findings partially derived in the sensory scale test of this project.
Project status update presented to GWRDC
26/07/07
The research team of the wine marketing project presented a project status report and update with preliminary results to GWRDC and members of the wine industry Advisory Board on 24 July 2007.
Wine marketing insights at 40th AIFST Conference
26/07/07
Simone Mueller presented "Competition from the consumer point of view" in the session "The agony and ecstasy of the wine industry" at the 40th Anniversary of Australian Institute of Food Science Technology (AIFST) Convention on 26 June in Melbourne. Thereby she also introduced the wine marketing project to attendants and discussed some first preliminary results.
Cross-National Best-Worst Study
28/05/07
Information about a Cross-National research project to undertand the key influences on consumers when they select wine can now be found on this webpage.
Sensory red wine experiment starts on 9 May
05/05/07
A red wine sensory experiment to compare several preference measurement methods starts on 9 May at the AWRI. First results are expected in July 2007 and will be published here.
First published project results: Best-Worst experiment
01/05/07
Results of the first internet questionnaire from March 2007 are be available here.

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