Consumer preferences for different red wine styles and repeated exposure effects

Abstract As the complexity of wine flavor is strongly linked with grape quality, depending on grape-growing practices and winemaking procedures, winemakers are concerned to anticipate some stabilization of consumer preferences for specific, intrinsic, wine characteristics. The objective of our experiment was to compare the impact of tasting wine over time at home, with first impressions in a single tasting session under laboratory conditions on the preference for certain types of premium red Bordeaux wines available on the market. To assess the consistency of evaluation at home, half of the participants tasted two contrasting wines (fresh/jammy fruit, low/high alcohol) on several occasions. In both cases, traditional sensory analysis and experimental economic techniques were applied to evaluate the preferences of French consumers (N = 184) and their willingness to pay. This observation of the effect of repeated exposure to wines with high alcohol levels (15% vol.), marked by jammy fruit flavors, on the stability of appreciation of these wines clearly revealed the fragility of short-term preferences and the importance of giving consumers time to evaluate wines in a familiar atmosphere.