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Attempts to identify consumer perceptions about wine and wine attributes in Greece. In addition, a brief presentation of the development of wine routes in Greece is considered. According to the results, wine emerges as a staple kind of drink in everyday meals, and seems to be more preferable compared to other alcoholic drinks. Furthermore, taste, clarity, appelation of origin, aroma and label are the most important wine attributes expressed by Greek consumers. Taking into account that Greece is one of the most important wine producing countries in the EU, an effective wine promotion policy needs to be organised. In the light of the interdependence between the new activities introduced by regional wine enterprises and the consumer level of information about “typical wines”, further market research could improve wine promotion both in Greek and the European markets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer attitudes and behavior towards organic products and products produced under the system of integrated management (SIM) and to compare the socioeconomic characteristics and attitudes that affect consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for these two different certification systems.

The study is based on cross‐sectional data collected through a questionnaire survey. Respondents' attitudes towards the organic and SIM certification systems are examined. A principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was primarily applied to provide a more manageable set of variables relevant to attitudes. Those attitudes together with socioeconomic factors and variables relevant to respondents' motivations to food consumption were used for the estimation of the WTP for organic and SIM products.

Findings suggest that consumers' level of awareness and information towards the studied certification systems is rather low especially for SIM products. This can be mainly attributed to the inadequate promotion and the low availability of certified products in the Greek market. The study also reveals that the WTP for organic products is higher among consumers who place much importance on health, consume organic fruits/vegetables and get information about food/nutrition issues from doctors/nutritionists/health institutes and magazines. WTP for SIM products is affected mainly by married consumers, regular buyers of organic products and those who consume frequently fruits/vegetables.

This paper provides an outline of the level of awareness and trust of food quality certification systems by Greek consumers, a topic that has not been widely discussed in Greece. The findings can help all the involved bodies to avoid the impediments and develop an adequate marketing strategy for the effective promotion of certified food products.

The aim of this paper is to identify consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards organic products in Greece.

This paper draws on a non‐probability quota sample of 660 respondents to explore the attitudes and behaviour of Greek consumers towards organic food products.

Greek consumers seem to be informed about environmental and health issues. They seek information about the nutritional value of food and demand more products free from chemical residues. The results show that most consumers associate organic consumption mainly with fruit and vegetables. Although demographics seem to affect attitudes towards organics, their value in explaining actual behaviour is minimal.

It is recognized that the data gathered in this study focus on the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, Greece. The specific area though, is considered to be representative of the total Greek population. The results confirm that health, concern for the environment, animal welfare and support of the local economy are drivers of organic consumption. However, there is an indication that the importance of motives and barriers may vary for different product categories and perhaps future research should focus on product segmentation.

Although certain similarities in consumers' attitudes towards organic food products have been identified, this paper records the variation in behaviour towards organics among the various consumer groups examined in Greece, and highlights the gap between attitudes and actual behaviour. Given the complexity of consumer decision making, future research should explore the other value trade‐offs that consumers make.

This paper attempts to provide evidence on the relatively under researched area of organics attitudes and behaviour in Greece.