Organic vs local claims: substitutes or complements for wine consumers? A marketing analysis with a discrete choice experiment

This study aims to understand people's preferences concerning five different extrinsic characteristics of wine and among them organic production. Consumers' preferences were assessed by means of a choice experiment on a sample of people living in Friuli Venezia Giulia (north-eastern Italy). The wines considered in the hypothetical market were differentiated considering the area of origin, landscape features, production method (organic or conventional), wine denomination of origin label and price. According to our results, denomination of origin labelling is the most important factor considered by all respondents. More than one quarter of the sample is interested in purchasing organic wine and willing to pay more for it. In this respect, organic production combined with a good communication strategy in order to increase the knowledge about its benefits can be a good marketing diversification strategy. Therefore, organic production seems to be a necessary (for at least 27% of people) but not sufficient condition in characterizing wine quality: it should be supported by an appropriate promotion of the product characteristics.