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Describes how and where we perceive the sense of taste, the traditional four basic taste sensations, and why different parts of the mouth are more or less sensitive to a particular one. Outlines types of compounds having a particular taste with some relationships between and anomalies of their chemical structure and the taste sensation they elicit, together with individual variation in tasting sensitivity and factors affecting this, such as adaptation. Summarizes interesting taste phenomena including: taste blindness; taste modification; the role of heavy metals in taste perception. Describes the additional taste sensations that have been proposed such as: umami; water‐taste; metallic; alkalinity and other gustatory effects such as pungency (burning sensation), cooling and astringency.

American wineries have taken marketing steps toward attracting consumers. They employ tasting scores to augment and solidify market share. According to Oster (1999) and Porter (1985), competitive advantage comes from either cost advantages or product differentiation. American wineries use tasting scores they receive from experts as the basis for product differentiation and raising prices. To achieve competitive advantage, the product must be seen as important and an improvement in the market, while simultaneously lacking imitation. This article looks at how tasting scores given by wine experts may affect American firms' competitive advantage, barring entry by importing rivals, such as Australian firms. If these tasting scores provide product importance and improvements, while delivering a product that lacks imitation, competitive advantage may result. If importers to the US realise this, these firms can undermine American advantages, increase competition, and gain market share through their own competitive advantages.

Taste is defined in a variety of ways, and arises from physiological processes which are influenced by social factors. Explanations of taste therefore require information from biological, sociological and cultural perspectives. Discusses the contribution made to our understanding of taste by the biological and social sciences, with reference to recent sociological and social anthropological research and writing. It argues that food is a particularly powerful medium for the realization of social relationships and the creation of individual identity. The social context therefore has an indirect but causal relationship with individual tastes. The cultural context is also crucial, as the socially constructed meaning of a food can influence taste perception itself. Explanations of taste therefore require an understanding of the social and cultural contexts of food‐related behaviour.

It was established way back in the middle of the last century that the sensory organs responsible for our appreciation of taste, as distinct from that of flavour, are located on the tongue. Since then considerable research has been carried out into the structure and mechanisms involved. It has long been recognised that the prime organs of taste are the taste buds. This name was originally applied to special cells which had been observed in the mouths of fishes. Early research soon established that certain raised portions, distributed over the surface of the tongue, the papillae as they became called, are the site of the receptor organs and that those areas of the tongue which do not bear the papillae are insensitive to the taste stimulus.

The paper has a twofold purpose: (1) to test the application of means-end theory to providers of hospitality goods and services, and (2) to explore this question in the context of winery tasting rooms when they had a unique opportunity to restructure their hospitality experience due to government restrictions in response to COVID.

A qualitative approach was adopted, and a convenience sample was used to conduct semi-structured laddering interviews. Forty interview transcripts were coded as means-end ladders, which were analyzed using a custom computer program to develop the implication matrix and the hierarchical value map.

This paper demonstrates that means-end is a useful approach to investigate the values and behaviors of the producer, specifically hospitality hosts. It finds that the principal goal of tasting rooms is to generate sales, and offering a compelling guest experience is the characteristic that contributes the most to achieving that goal. The staff and the atmosphere created for the guests are the two factors with the greatest influence on the guest experience.

This is the first paper to use means-end theory to study the hospitality host, or the producer of goods and services in general, and the first to study winery hospitality primarily through the lens of means-end theory. The study also helps fill a gap in research on tasting room sales focused on the winery’s goals.

Examines the influence of culture on food taste preferences and the implications for consumer research. The authors explore the roots of certain national and sub‐cultural food taste preferences and consumption. Examples are drawn from the work of Pierre Bourdieu in particular, in demonstrating how taste is in some respects an expression of cultural capital. Postmodernist interpretations of the fragmentation in taste preferences are also described. This exploration of the deeper layers of our food taste preferences based on cultural setting should alert food marketers to both marketing and marketing research issues and opportunities.

The purpose of this research is to investigate how biofortification claims impact consumer food taste inference and purchase intention. Based on the halo effect, the authors propose that food products with biofortification claims are inferred to taste better than regular foods. Due to this inference, biofortification claims subsequently improve purchase intention.

To examine these predictions, the authors conducted three between-subject design lab experiments featuring three staple foods: corn soup (β-carotene biofortification claim present or not), cooked rice (zinc biofortification claim present or not) and uncooked rice (zinc biofortification claim present or not). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two bioproduction claim conditions (present vs absent). Then, taste inference, purchase intention, consumer characteristics and confounding variables were measured.

In Experiment 1, the results showed that biofortification claims indeed appeared to evoke a heuristic halo effect, in which foods with biofortification claims were inferred to taste better than regular food. In Experiment 2, the results showed that participants had more intention to purchase foods with biofortification claims than regular food. The mediation effect of taste inference between biofortification claims and purchase intention was examined. In Experiment 3, the data further showed that this halo effect was more pronounced when consumers held a higher preference (vs lower preference) for the enriched nutritional element.

Biofortification claims have commonly been viewed solely as information about nutrition value for consumers. However, little is known about how biofortification claims impact hedonic consumer expectations. In this paper, the authors find that biofortification claims alone can impact consumer food taste inference, as nutritional information is not related to actual food taste. These findings extend the authors’ understanding of the psychological mechanism behind consumer attitudes towards biofortification.

This study aims to determine the threshold of salt taste recognition and to evaluate differences by sex, age and body mass index (BMI) among a sample of Moroccan population.

A simple-blind experimental study was conducted among 201 healthy subjects to determine the threshold of salt taste recognition and to evaluate differences by sex, age and BMI among a sample of Moroccan population. The threshold of salt taste recognition was determined based on the validated the three alternatives forced choice method. A total of 11 prepared solutions of sodium chloride at different concentrations ranging from 0–500 mmol/L were used.

The average of the total population was 14.6 ± 10.9 mmol/L. And, 84% of the total population recognized the salt taste at the concentration of 15 mmol/L. Women participants detected the salt taste at a lower rate (53% versus 38% at 8 mmol/L, p = 0.02, in women and men, respectively). The mean values of the threshold among women was significantly lower (12.6 ± 8.1 mmol/L) compared to men (16.7 ± 12.8 mmol/L), p < 0.001. No statistical difference was obtained among either age groups or BMI categories.

The present study showed that the average threshold of salt taste recognition is high, and that it is even higher in men compared to women. At a community level, a progressive reduction of salt in food items is recommended.

The aims of this paper is to determine, via an empirical study of beer consumers in Croatia, the influence of tasting on the validity of conjoint analysis (CA) under presence of familiar or unfamiliar brands.

The research comprised a face‐to‐face survey with 403 beer consumers. The respondents were divided into four groups regarding CA experiment (familiar/unfamiliar beer brand in combination with presence or absence of beer tasting). CA validity was measured with five criteria: face validity, convergent validity, internal validity, predictive validity and subjective evaluation of conjoint task. In addition to the CA experiment, a structured questionnaire was used consisting of a few questions regarding respondents' socio‐economic characteristics, beer purchasing, and consuming behaviour.

The research results confirmed that tasting as an additional presentation method has significant influence on validity of CA. However, the results of the study indicate that tasting should be used as a stimulus presentation method for CA with food and beverage products/brands, which are unfamiliar to the consumers. When testing familiar brands and brands with established perceptions, simpler and less expensive verbal stimulus presentation can be used.

According to the research results, it could be concluded that when performing CA with strong familiar brands, it is not necessary to use CA with tasting since tasting increases research complexity and costs and it does not achieve better results. However, tasting as a stimuli presentation method gives better results than pure verbal CA in the case of unfamiliar brands.

The paper is one of the first to deal with tasting as a presentation method in conjoint analysis and its results have direct implications for the future use of CA with food and beverages.

The purpose of this paper is to study the linkages between customer satisfaction (CS) and sales performance among wineries in New York State's Finger Lakes region.

A survey instrument was used to collect data from visitors to winery tasting rooms in the Finger Lakes. Responses from 457 visitors were collected from nine wineries during the period June 2010 through November 2010. The authors used a factor analysis to identify the primary drivers of CS. Then, the authors modeled the relationship between these drivers and overall CS and assessed the impact of CS on sales, purchase and repurchase intentions.

The authors found five principal drivers of CS: ambience, tasting protocol, service, retail execution, and tasting experience. Of these, ambience and service exerted the most influence on overall CS. Furthermore, as expected, CS significantly influences purchase intentions, the amount of dollars spent and quantity purchased.

The results provide valuable information to winery tasting room managers/owners on measures they can use to improve sales performance. Identifying attributes of the tasting room that generate a positive customer reaction can help winery managers/owners make profit-maximizing decisions.

While the links between CS and sales performance have been established in other product sectors, few studies have focused on a comprehensive assessment of CS and sales performance in wine tasting rooms.