Wine tasting and appreciation experiences at wineries

Abstract

Wine tourism involves different service interactions critical to consumers’ satisfaction with their overall experiences, such as wine tasting and appreciation. Winery visits are a vital link in the service chain, offering visitors direct contact with wineries and their wines. The study outlined in this chapter sought to identify these experiences’ main dimensions using a netnography approach. The research context was wineries in the village of Azeitão, which is part of a broader wine region of Portugal called the Península de Setúbal and which produces well-known wines, including sweet Moscatel (Muscat) wines. The data were collected from 552 reviews on TripAdvisor of two large wineries: José Maria da Fonseca and Bacalhôa. The study relied on mixed content analysis (i.e., narrative and lexical) methods to identify the reviewers’ main themes and concepts. The analyses revealed nine themes that represent the general dimensions of Azeitão wine tourism experiences: wine, visit, guided tour, art, garden, price, recommend(ation), Moscatel, and friendly staff. The results also show that dimensions such as entertaining and educational elements are of utmost importance in winery visits. This research on wine tourism experiences extracted valuable insights useful to regional wine companies seeking to improve their wine tourism products.