Search results

The status of icewine as a luxury item is largely undisputed in popular perception. Despite this, icewine has received very little attention in the management literature. This paper aims to close this gap by developing a theoretical framework to segment the luxury wine and spirits market with a focus on icewine.

This paper is conceptual in nature. The authors adapt Berthon et al.’s (2009) aesthetics and ontology (AO) framework for luxury brands to provide a theoretical lens for segmenting the luxury wine and spirits market into four distinct segments.

The main contribution of this paper is a theoretical framework for segmenting the market for luxury wines and spirits into four distinct segments: cabinet collectors, cellar collectors, connoisseurs and carousers. The authors then apply their framework to the icewine category and outline considerations for the marketing mix of icewine producers.

The AO framework for luxury wines and spirits is beneficial for icewine producers to help differentiate their current and future market segments. In addition, this paper outlines practical implications for icewine maker’s marketing mix that could enhance their competitive position today and in the future.

This is the first paper examining icewine in the context of luxury marketing.

Inniskillin Winery is at the forefront of an expanding wine tourism region in the Niagara Peninsula. This paper focuses on Inniskillin's efforts to adopt consumer‐led strategies to market Icewine to increasing numbers of Japanese tourists. Produced after the grapes have frozen on the vine, Icewine is an exclusive premium product. In a society where the price of the gift has become a barometer of the sender's sincerity, Icewine is well suited for the traditional Japanese custom of gift giving. This paper examines how Inniskillin's customer‐led marketing strategy matches with the psychological background of the Japanese target segment enabling the winery to sell 80–90% of all Icewine produced to its Japanese tourists.

Wine tourism has gained increased coverage in the last 4–5 years. Recognised as an effective aid to distribution and brand building, both industry and academia have developed research and strategies for increasing the effectiveness of how wineries manage wine tourism. This paper synthesises the findings from two recent conferences and argues that in order to be successful wineries will need to pay more attention to strategies that attract repeat visitors. This requires a relationship marketing strategy.

Long taken for granted in many wine regions of the world, wine tourism is now recognised as a significant component of the retail channels by which wineries get their product to the market. However, the potential benefits of wine tourism do not just accrue to small wineries. Increasingly, larger producers are also recognising the branding, education and promotional opportunities that wine tourism can bring, while at the regional level, government and industry networks are also seeking to take advantage of the visitor dollar (Hall et al., 2000).

Until the last decade British Columbia was not well known as an area that produced premium wines. In 1994 Mission Hill Wineries, located in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, won the prestigious Avery Trophy for the best Chardonnay, beating out entrants from all the major wine growing regions in the world. Since that time many other accolades and awards have followed. These achievements reflect an increase in the quality of wine produced and level of viticultural expertise since the ‘rebirth’ (Aspler, 1999) of the British Columbia wine industry brought about by massive replanting programmes in response to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which liberalised export markets and made the production and sale of wine significantly more competitive in both the United States and Canada (Hackett, 1998). To the growing awareness of domestic and international markets, the British Columbia wine industry has been able to reinvent itself as an international premium vinifera wine producer (Aspler, 1999).

Are radically novel practices more likely to attract recognition when the evaluating audience is composed of external evaluators? Our baseline argument asserts that radical novelty is more likely to be positively evaluated by an external audience and that peripheral (rather than core) producers have higher incentives to adopt novel practices that depart from tradition. Yet, because peripheral producers often lack the necessary support and legitimacy to promote novelty, audiences play a critical role in recognizing their innovative efforts. How can peripheral producers mitigate the challenges associated with novelty recognition? To answer this question, we explore how peripheral producers’ collaboration with acclaimed consultants affects the process of external audience recognition in the context of the Italian wine field from 1997 to 2006. Our findings suggest that radical novelty is positively received by an external audience composed of critics, although we do not find a significant difference between core and peripheral producers. However, external audiences are more open to recognizing peripheral producers’ use of novel practices when they collaborate with well-connected consultants. We find that the use of central consultants produces a “boosting” effect that accentuates the differences between evaluations of peripheral producers who embrace novelty and evaluations of those that follow the tradition. Our study thus advances theory by providing empirical evidence of the value of considering third-party actors such as consultants, who sit at the nexus between the agency required for innovation and external audiences’ recognition of novelty, when studying novelty evaluation and recognition.

In this paper, we seek to highlight how adherence to a dominant logic is an effortful activity. Using rhetorical analysis, we show that the use of rhetorical history provides a key mechanism by which organizations may convince audiences of adherence to a dominant logic, while also subverting or obscuring past adherence to a (currently) subordinate logic. We illustrate such use of rhetorical history by drawing on the case study of Ontario wine industry, where wineries use rhetorical history to demonstrate adherence to the logic of fine winemaking, while obscuring the industry’s past adherence to the now-subordinate and stigmatized logic of alcohol making. Implications for future research on institutional logics are discussed.

In this paper, we seek to highlight how adherence to a dominant logic is an effortful activity. Using rhetorical analysis, we show that the use of rhetorical history provides a key mechanism by which organizations may convince audiences of adherence to a dominant logic, while also subverting or obscuring past adherence to a (currently) subordinate logic. We illustrate such use of rhetorical history by drawing on the case study of Ontario wine industry, where wineries use rhetorical history to demonstrate adherence to the logic of fine winemaking, while obscuring the industry’s past adherence to the now-subordinate and stigmatized logic of alcohol making. Implications for future research on institutional logics are discussed.

This study aims to investigate the alignment of experience economy design priorities and perceptions of rural wine tourism suppliers (i.e. winery-farm owners, restaurateurs retailers, lodging providers, attraction operators) with tourists’ perceived experiences.

Adapting the 4E (educational, escapist, esthetic and entertainment) measurement scales of Oh et al. (2007), a cross-sectional survey design was used to gather data from 169 suppliers and 970 wine tourists. Factor analyses, t-tests and ANOVA tests were used to explore differences.

Supply-side cohesion among the four supplier groups appeared across all experiential design priorities and across three of the 4Es regarding their perceptions of the destination; esthetics was the exception. Significant differences between suppliers’ design priorities and visitors’ experiential perceptions were found on three experiential dimensions, and alignment on esthetics was revealed.

Unique attributes of the destination may have affected the results with further development of the supplier measurement scale recommended. Results of the tests that used surrogate variables should be approached with caution.

The study underscores the esthetic experience’s importance to wine tourists and suppliers alike. Results suggest where suppliers should focus their efforts to improve wine tourists’ experiences and what suppliers may expect to emphasize rather than those emphasized by destination managers, i.e. entertainment and education.

This is the first study to compare experience economy priorities of multiple supply-side stakeholders and wine tourists’ perceived experiences.

To propose a model for ethical behaviour based on product, production and marketing methods, and to make use of qualitative data relating to a specific product in order to test its validity. This model is termed the Ethical Cube.

The model was developed as a result of early examination of ethical practices. It was then tested using publicly available examples of marketing, production and product information concerning the wine industry.

The model was found to be effective, if basic. Proposals for improvements and extensions are put forward.

The examples used are largely those that are in the public domain. Facets of a product are classed as ethical or unethical according to the number of reported examples in each area of study – with a special emphasis on production and marketing.

This can provide a standard framework for assessing the ethicality of any product.

This paper is of value to researchers and marketing practitioners seeking to evaluate the public impressions of a specific product.