Wine Enthusiasts! Student needs your input PLEASE!

Hi All,

I am a graduate student at the UCLA Anderson School of Management working on a group project/thesis on behalf of a New Zealand winery. Because we're still conducting market research, we would GREATLY appreciate your participation in a brief survey regarding your wine product preferences. Because it's better to give the survey to people who really know about wines, I'm hoping this is a good place to post this...

To complete the survey, please visit (it's a Qualtrics survey, no spam I promise):

http://ucla.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_3qJ ... &SVID=Prod

Thank you so much for your time and participation! If you have any input, concerns, or questions whatsoever, please feel free to email me at lea.boyd.2010@anderson.ucla.edu. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Lea Boyd

Welcome and good luck, I think it is normal practice to consult the forum owner/moderator before posting a thread like this.
If you have done so great.

Because it's better to give the survey to people who really know about wines...

I have not taken the survey yet, but I was thinking (always a problem for me) - Has the fact that this will not be a random survey been taken into account?

Great question, Jon. Yes, we have taken that into account. We are spreading the survey out among a controlled-group of Millennials (aged 21-29 - not necessarily into wine), Gen X (those in their 30's - not necessarily into wine), and wine enthusiasts (including respondents from this forum)...Thanks!
Lea

Lea,
I took the survey.
I did want to point out that it seems to be weighted toward whether a wine has won awards or not. You should know that I never take that into consideration when buying wine.
Moreover, I know a very large number a wine savvy people who don't either.
For us, producer is the most important factor.
Best, Jim

Lea,
I took the survey.
I did want to point out that it seems to be weighted toward whether a wine has won awards or not. You should know that I never take that into consideration when buying wine.
Moreover, I know a very large number a wine savvy people who don't either.
For us, producer is the most important factor.
Best, Jim

Lea, I agree with Jim on this point, and in particular with New Zealand wineries, which I know pretty well.

As a matter of principle, I don't answer surveys that ask for family income; if you add a choice of rather not say or words to that effect I'd be glad to participate.

Good luck with your project.

I tried to do the survey, but after having to lie about where I live and the income I earned to get to the next page, I found it just too heavy going. Would I buy Sauvignon Blanc from Australia regardless of label design or awards, at $22.99 a bottle, probably not.
With Rieslings, I like to get some idea of style. Do your labels tell you that?

Good Luck with your survey responses - but I think you are making it too difficult.

Cheers,
Sue

Would I buy a wine because the label says it won awards? Wines that are entered in competitions that grant awards are seldom the best of their types (the very best wineries don't need to risk bad publicity), and of those better than average wines that are entered the awards are often found to be statistically questionable; e.g., wines ranked highly in one competition are often ranked much lower in other competitions. I believe a recent posting on this board referenced a survey that indicated almost no consistency.

On the other hand, some of us do tend to pay some attention to wine point scores granted by recognized wine tasters, such as Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson, but point scores are found on shelf talkers rather than wine labels.

Another quibble: some of the varietal/geography pairings in the survey are too broad to have any relevance. For instance, Riesling/France. (Whereas Riesling/Alsace would be appropriate.)

I did my best to complete the survey but doubt that my input and others will be of much help in making management decisions.

[Jenise]

Welcome and good luck, I think it is normal practice to consult the forum owner/moderator before posting a thread like this.
If you have done so great.

She did, Bob, I gave her the okay,.

[Jenise]

Lea,

I took the survey. I found the constant emphasis on awards a bit irritating, as did others. I don't know if that's because you've built in the the assumption exists that awards sell wine, or if you're actually trying to test whether or not awards sell wine. I think you'll find that among the more expert wine tasters like the people who habituate this forum--people who buy serious wines and cellar them--and others like it, that awards don't sell wine, and in fact as Clint implies it can even work against a wine. If anything, we buy not because of but in spite of.

Some of the questions presented other problems--reisling for instance. Again, can't tell if it's naivete about wine or not, but you'll find in general that the average buyer on this or any other wine board will buy reislings from New Zealand and Australia because we know them to do well with that grape but we'll be buying based on knowledge of producer and the specific wine growing region within that country, and we'll buy based on what we believe to be a fair price for that quality of wine. $22 Aussie and NZ reislings would definitely sell better to us than $7.99 reislings from those countries, because we know going in that no producer whose wines are of the quality we require would sell his product that cheap. And as for California reislings, well, none of us are going to buy California reisling. California's too hot a climate for this grape. Your survey would have worked better--again, without knowing your exact purposes--with a grape that would have been a more even playing field; that is, where all three countries produce excellent product, like chardonnay.

Still, was happy to take your survey and I hope you get some viable results.

Jenise

Donalia, Hi...

I did not take part in your research as I am not a resident of the United States and that seems to be your target population.

I do, however, agree with what several others have said - that with more knowledgeable wine consumers prizes have little if any meaning and your questions are so worded that this might build in a bias to the responses.

At any rate, good luck with your research.

Best
Rogov

Hi folks! This is a conjoint survey -- which means that we input particular attributes that might weight a purchase decision (i.e. price, label, awards, flavor, etc) and a random statistically-regressed algorithm spits out "profiles" that you rate. Sorry if it appears heavy on the awards; it's the program, not us. Also, if awards DON'T factor into your purchase decision, then just don't consider a wine with awards as any more beneficial than a wine without awards (just as you would in real life). The whole idea/purpose is to get a REAL-LIFE pulse on what you consider important/unimportant. And for those who are uncomfortable with inputting demographic info (age/gender/income/etc), I understand and I'm sorry, but it's the only way we'll be able to segment the data from the responses. Don't worry, all responses are 100% confidential (which is why we don't ask for name or email) and for academic purposes only. This is NOT for direct marketing. Thanks for all the feedback and participation - it's greatly appreciated

Wines that are entered in competitions that grant awards are seldom the best of their types (the very best wineries don't need to risk bad publicity).

I really believe that is a load of rubbish, Clint - or it may apply to the USA - but in reality wine show awards are a marketing tool for a winery, just as Parker or Robinson points are. In New Zealand and Australia you do get wines that are the best of their types entering the competitions. Those that ride on the coat tails of high pointed reviews (and I question whether all those high pointed reviews come from blind tastings) often do not enter competitions

a because they do not need the extra marketing
b do not have the volume requirements
c has the winemaker as one of the judges
d would not like to fail in a wine show blind tasting environment
e know they would fail in a wine show blind tasting environment because the wines are wines best showcased with food.

Regards,
Sue

Sue, Hi.....

More than a few of the reasons you give for wineries choosing not to participate in competitions are valid but it remains undeniable that the vast majority of the very best wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace, the Rhone and the Loire are almost never entered into competitions. Neither are the very best of Tuscany, Piemonte or Veneto. Or, for that matter of Germany. And indeed the reason is that in such competitions they have nothing whatever to gain but a great deal to lose.

I think many of the best wineries think as little of the ability of top wines to come out as truly top in awards because of the very problematic social and stastical nature of many of these competitions.

Indeed true that my own objections to such competitions are many and strong. Should it be of interest I will either post here or send you by email a copy of a piece that I wrote some years ago about why I feel so strongly about the issue.

Best
Rogov

And for those who are uncomfortable with inputting demographic info (age/gender/income/etc), I understand and I'm sorry, but it's the only way we'll be able to segment the data from the responses.

Not to argue with you Donalia, but as a point of information. I've provided legal advice for a large number of market research studies. It is very possible to segment using a category such as "Rather not say" for income, usually the only sensitive demo info.

Most of the market research folks I worked with had a formula for assigning Rather Nots to one category or another, heavier to the above $100,000 segment in your example in your study.

A couple of work arounds can give you insights into the Rather Nots; for example, what's the most you've ever paid for a bottle (case) of wine? What's your annual budget for wine? etc etc [Marketing folks are very inventive in creating accurate insights in my experience, often by cross-checking the Most Paid category against the folks who answer the income question.]

In any event, just some general info for future marketing studies you may participate in.

Good luck, Bob

Sue, Hi.....

More than a few of the reasons you give for wineries choosing not to participate in competitions are valid but it remains undeniable that the vast majority of the very best wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace, the Rhone and the Loire are almost never entered into competitions. Neither are the very best of Tuscany, Piemonte or Veneto. Or, for that matter of Germany. And indeed the reason is that in such competitions they have nothing whatever to gain but a great deal to lose.

I think many of the best wineries think as little of the ability of top wines to come out as truly top in awards because of the very problematic social and stastical nature of many of these competitions.

True, Rogov, but she did say she was doing the research for a New Zealand winery and wine competitions tend to be very more of a New World thing than for those Olde Worlde wines/regions with centuries of winemaking heritage. That should be taken into account when talking about wine show awards, as mentioned in context with the survey.

I found the following very interesting:


http://www.wine-economics.org/journal/content/Volume4/number1/Full%20Texts/1_wine%20economics_vol%204_1_Robert%20Hodgson.pdf

John

Thanks, John. That's the study to which I was referring.

Wineries have long been aware of the inconsistencies in wine judging, which partially accounts for the absence of most well established top flight wines at competitions in Europe and the United States. For instance, many years have passed since I have seen such cult-level premium Washington State wineries as Quilceda Creek Vintners, Leonetti Cellar, and Andrew Will Winery entered in competitions here in Washington. (I last saw Andrew Will at a competition in 1994 and have never seen Quilceda, Leonetti and several others that are consistently recognized by wine geeks and acknowledged wine critics as the state's best.) Sue, who is our in-country expert, points out that comparable recognized outstanding wineries in New Zealand often do enter competitions, but one hopes the consistency of New Zealand judging far exceeds ours.

A key question is where the winery to sell their wine. If in the States, Canada or Europe, medals are really passe and a sign of weakness as far as I can tell. Never mattered to me, and never mattered to any wine consumer I've met.

In Australia and New Zealand, competitions and medals seem much more important. I was certainly impressed with the Janitor's report on the commitment of wine judges in Australia, not only wine, but spitting with respect to accuracy, distance and volume.

Any good market research will focus on the target market -- since I didn't get past the income screen, I can't judge this study as to its target market.
Bob

G'day.
Got as far as the question about which bit of the US I live in. I don't. I live outside the US.
Might be handy to know before starting the survey that only people from the US are required to participate.

best regards
Matilda

two things:
1. i hope no one is saying that if they were forced to pick wines from a wine list say - and two wines were the same price - and one of them received a gold medal at a competition and the other a bronze - that you would not use this info to help make a choice.
2. how can it be that we all trust our own opinions; but the minute we become judges at competitions our opinions are now worthless - even to ourselves? of course we can avoid this embarassment by refusing on 'moral' grounds be become judges and have to discuss matters of quality with several other equally poor tasters.

Sorry, tried it and gave up. Meaningless questions.

Not aimed at me anyway when drinking amount ranges from 1 glass a day all the way up to to 5 glasses per week!

two things:
1. i hope no one is saying that if they were forced to pick wines from a wine list say - and two wines were the same price - and one of them received a gold medal at a competition and the other a bronze - that you would not use this info to help make a choice.

The practical problem, David, is that I wouldn't know that the second wine won a bronze -- only that the first won a gold. [Unless the label was very clever in touting the bronze and explaining why -- something I've never seen.]

The gold medals on wine labels or wine lists just seem like pretty window dressing at point of sale -- they turn me off, frankly. I probably would choose the second wine in practice -- the labeling seems to say take me on my own merits. To this label reader at least.

1. i hope no one is saying that if they were forced to pick wines from a wine list say - and two wines were the same price - and one of them received a gold medal at a competition and the other a bronze - that you would not use this info to help make a choice.

Indeed I would not use that information. If I do not know the producers and had to choose only one of the wines I would much prefer to rely on the recommendation sommelier or wine waiter. If those seemed not knowledgeable and the wines of more than reasonable price perhaps a discrete phone call to a friend or to a wine shop at which I am known in order to inquire.

2. how can it be that we all trust our own opinions; but the minute we become judges at competitions our opinions are now worthless - even to ourselves? of course we can avoid this embarassment by refusing on 'moral' grounds be become judges and have to discuss matters of quality with several other equally poor tasters.

We as individuals may not lose the value of our opinons but the problem is with the organization and statistical problems inherent in nearly all competitions at which the "collective we" (the panel system) is open to many flaws. That is the major reason why I will not take part as a judge in competitions.

Best
Rogov