West versus East: Measuring the development of Chinese wine preferences

Abstract

Sensory science and marketing are two disciplines, which measure and predict consumer preferences toward product features. However, whilst sensory science mainly deals with intrinsic product characteristics (i.e. sensory attributes), marketing focuses mainly on extrinsic product characteristics, such as packaging, price, and communication. The purpose of the paper is to highlight some of the methods used in marketing in combination with sensory science techniques to understand changing consumer preferences. The paper focuses on charting the development of preferences and consumption situations for grape-based wine in China. Five different studies using different analytical techniques are summarised. The methodologies include Check-All-That-Apply (CATA), Best–Worst Scaling (BWS), Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs), using blind tasting as the dependent variable for wine training, and latent growth modelling (LGM). In many cases novel uses of the techniques are illustrated, such as using CATA for measuring the positioning of countries of origin in Chinese wine consumer’s minds. The results show that the combination of marketing techniques with sensory evaluation can improve decision-making and provide valuable information to producers and marketers.