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The purpose of this study is twofold: conduct a systematic literature review on relationship quality; and analyse the effect of wine brand prestige and wine consumer experience on consumer satisfaction, as well as the wine brand image and word of mouth as outcomes.

The authors employed a systematic approach to develop the literature review and a survey was designed and used to collect responses from 479 wine consumers and tourists. Partial Least Squares approach was used to test the proposed model and analyse the findings.

The systematic approach allows to determine the core constructs of relationship quality, main antecedents and outcomes, which help in the conceptualisation of the proposed model. The findings of the survey suggest that wine brand prestige is more effective in enhancing consumer satisfaction than wine consumer experience. Consumer satisfaction acts as a mediator between wine brand prestige and wine consumer experience and the outcomes, that is, wine.

This research sheds light on a strategic and communicational development of prestigious wine brands to enhance wine image and keep wine tourists captivated.

This study aims to fill various gaps detected in the literature on mass prestige (hereafter referred to as masstige) theory. The originality of the work stems from the multidimensional application of Paul’s (2015) model, the introduction of brand addiction as a construct from the consumer-brand relationship (CBR) theory within the context of wines and the exploration of a new and less studied sector in masstige strategies.

A structured questionnaire was distributed to collect data from masstige wine brand buyers in Portugal, of whom 166 completed the questionnaire correctly. A conceptual model was developed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The findings include that only two dimensions of Paul’s (2015) masstige scale affect brand addiction: brand knowledge and excitement and status. Brand addiction has a positive effect on brand loyalty and electronic word of mouth (eWOM), and brand loyalty has a positive impact on eWOM. Theoretical and managerial implications were explored.

This research added a CBR perspective to masstige theory and applied masstige theory to wine brands for the first time. These three distinctive aspects collectively contribute to the novelty and significance of the research, opening up exciting possibilities for future investigations and providing a valuable contribution to the academic community and the wine industry alike.

This paper aims to investigate the paradox of whether prestigious goods help or inhibit a consumer’s social affinity. The goal of this research is to explore whether pursuit of prestigious goods increases consumers’ social affinity or decreases their social affinity, and, more importantly, to understand the mechanisms that drive this process.

Three laboratory experimental studies and a social network study are conducted to show that consumers hold inconsistent beliefs about the social implication of prestigious goods.

In Study 1, the authors showed that prestigious goods evoked stronger social affinity for the self than for the other. In Study 2, the authors showed that people evaluated themselves high in social affinity when they brought a prestigious wine to a party compared to when they brought a cheaper, generic wine, but evaluated others low in social affinity when they brought the same prestigious wine. In Study 3, the authors showed the mediating effects of social image and boastfulness on social affinity. Study 4 utilizes social network study to further validate previous findings in a field setting.

For high-end retailers, the authors suggest framing their promotional messages to explicitly highlight how owning prestigious goods will benefit them (i.e. social image). It is important that these retail managers (and salespeople alike) make it more salient on how their prestigious goods socially benefit the consumer (the self). Thus, it is important to get consumers to think about how a prestigious item looks on them and not on others. However, marketers must be prudent when constructing these messages, as the link between prestigious consumption and network development is merely perceptual.

The findings demonstrate that consuming prestigious goods increases social affinity via positive social image for the self. When evaluating others, the authors demonstrate that consuming prestigious goods decreases social affinity via boastfulness. In sum, owning prestigious items may seem beneficial socially to the self, but people have negative perceptions (boastfulness) of those who own the same prestigious goods. Hence, there seems to be a discrepancy in how the authors evaluate themselves versus how they evaluate others with the same prestigious goods.

Despite the public profile of many luxury brands, little is known about the positioning and marketing of these products, or the consumer interpretations of each brand. This article reports on a two‐part study in an attempt to understand the dynamics of this market. The first study reports on the results of interviews with fine wine consumers, distributors, and retailers in Australia. Results reveal that the interpretation of these brands is a complex process, and that their positioning revolves around a number of product and marketing related features. The second study involves interviews with a number of leading producers of luxury wine brands. Results from these interviews examine the positioning of these brands, the evolution of each firm's strategy, and the challenges and benefits from operating in this market.

Wine exports from Australia are expected to double within the next five years and much of this growth has been forecasted to occur in the traditionally non‐wine drinking countries of the Pacific Rim. This paper, based on lengthy interviews with importers, agents, and buyers for various retail institutions in Thailand, uses a case study approach to argue that export strategies based on successful entry into the UK and US markets will be less efficient in the Pacific Rim. A detailed analysis of the market structure, including the types of wines and strategies of institutions from the top to the bottom end of the price spectrum is presented. The success of Australian producers entering the Thai market will be achieved only by changing the strategy they have used in the UK and US. A stronger focus on Australia must be made along with the use of fewer, but bigger agents and distributors. Marketing strategies for each type of retail institution are provided as well.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether or not the reputation of a region/country in the international wine market depends on a region/country’s efforts to specialize in a specific grape variety.

Data on 19,959 bottles of wine corresponding to six vintages across ten wine producing regions worldwide are used to estimate a hedonic price model that measures consumer valuations of the different wine attributes.

The results of this study show that although variety specialization has successfully underpinned the reputation of some New World regions, such as the Napa Valley (with its Cabernet Sauvignon) or Oregon (with its Pinot Noir); in others, such as Australia (with its Shiraz), this has not been successful.

Over the last ten years, the exponential growth of Australian bulk wine exports has seriously harmed the reputation of Australian wine. With respect to the Napa Valley wines, price discount received by Australian wines increases between the 1997 and 2007 vintage from 33 to 61 percent. Thus, in order to successfully build a collective reputation of an entrant (New World) country, an institutional framework that mediates differences of interest between the large and small vineyards and, above all, that regulates the free-rider problem in the wine market is required.

This paper empirically illustrates how cooperative (and non-cooperative) behavior between firms can help to build (and to destroy) collective reputation of wines that come from the same region or country.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar si los esfuerzos de una región/país por especializarse en la producción de una misma variedad de cepa sirven o no para construir la reputación de una región/país en el mercado internacional del vino.

Se utiliza un modelo econométrico de precios hedónicos sobre la base de 19.959 mil observaciones provenientes de 6 cosechas y 10 zonas productoras de vino del mundo.

Los resultados de este estudio muestran que aunque la especialización por cepa ha impulsado la reputación de algunas regiones del Nuevo Mundo, como la del Valle de Napa (con su Cabernet Sauvignon) o la de Oregon (con su Pinot Noir); en otras, como la de Australia (con su Shiraz), no ha sido una estrategia exitosa.

En los últimos diez años, el crecimiento exponencial de las exportaciones de vino a granel australiano ha dañado seriamente la reputación del vino de dicho país. Respecto a los vinos de Napa, el castigo de precios de los vinos australianos ha crecido desde un 33% en la cosecha 1997 a un 61% en la cosecha 2007. Así, si se desea construir con éxito la reputación de un país entrante (del Nuevo Mundo) al mercado mundial del vino, se requiere de un marco institucional que medie las diferencias de interés entre las grandes y pequeñas viñas, y que, por sobre todo, regule las conductas no cooperativas (free-rider) que surgen al amparo de la reputación colectiva asociada a los vinos que provienen de una misma región o país de origen.

Este paper ilustra de manera empírica cómo las conductas cooperativas (y no cooperativas) entre productores pueden ayudar a construir (y a destruir) la reputación colectiva de los vinos que provienen de una misma región o país.

The purpose of this paper is to show that the branded wine concept refers to a very heterogeneous category as regards wine made in France, but this sort of wine can appeal to certain types of consumers.

An initial qualitative study was carried out to explore consumer representation as regards branded wine. A second, quantitative, study enabled us, through a cluster analysis, to identify brand‐sensitive consumer segments in the wine field.

There is a divergence in consumer representation between novices and experts. The former considers A.O.C.s (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, a French official label of protected geographical indication) and regions as brands while the latter have a narrower vision of what a branded wine means. The “discoverers”, the youngest consumers (18‐29 years old), who are interested in wine and have little knowledge of it are most liable to be influenced by wine brands. The novices and routine consumers are also brand sensitive but to a lesser degree. The experts, on the other hand, are not influenced by brands.

The influence of the brand derives from the declarative. A more indirect measure which mixes the brand with other wine attributes would be preferable. The use of a sample of convenience means results can only be generalized with caution.

There indeed exists a place for branded wines on the French market but an association is needed with other attributes such as the origin and/or the grape variety.

Little research has been devoted to the French consumer's acceptance of branded wines.

This study proposes investigating the branding of small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) wineries in an Australian context. By taking a qualitative approach, the theory building research seeks further to understand branding from the perspective of the SME winery, and in doing so, go some way in addressing the current deficit in the literature.

Bhat and Reddy's conceptualisation of brand functionality and symbolism is used as a branding framework to underlie the research. A multiple case study design was adopted as a research method to provide case data on eight SME wineries. Data were collected through in‐depth interviews with the owner/manager of each winery, direct observation and document analysis.

The findings are presented in the form a model of SME winery branding, which, in addition to distinguishing two approaches to branding, highlights the functional and symbolic values inherent in the brand. The findings endorse the notion that brands can simultaneously have both functional and symbolic appeal. More radically, the emergent model suggests interdependence between the functional and symbolic properties of branding.

Practically, the findings highlight the importance of developing the symbolic values associated with the brand, which represent a more sustainable competitive advantage.

By establishing a tentative theory on SME winery branding, this study has begun to address the current deficit in wine marketing literature and has set a foundation for further research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and interaction effects of brand name (BN) of wine and country‐of‐origin (COO) on perceptions of the personality image of the wine, expected price, and willingness to engage with the wine.

A field experiment in which label information for a fictitious wine was presented to wine consumers with a questionnaire on wine perceptions and response measures. The label information was manipulated across subjects using four BNs and three COOs.

The study confirms BN and COO effects on perceived wine personality and responses to the wine. Findings also indicate the effects of BN and COO as well as a BN‐COO interaction effect on price expectations.

Findings link different personality dimensions to the two different cues, suggesting greater independence of the cues than originally expected. However, some BN‐COO incongruity effects are found particularly regarding price perceptions. A small set of wine BNs and COOs are tested and sample size/treatments are limited. With larger sample sizes, some weak effects might prove more significant. For more substantive support of these findings, the study could be repeated in different locations with different BN and COO examples.

The results suggest consumers are open to some fluidity in brand name use across wine‐producing countries with appropriate pricing strategies. They also highlight the importance of understanding consumer perceptions of wine personality in assessing consumer responses and price expectations.

The research addresses BN and COO direct and interaction effects on many aspects of wine evaluation and the central role of personality dimensions in wine assessments. The paper provides evidence of value in a rapidly evolving marketplace for wine and insights into the ongoing strategic changes in the wine market. It also contributes to theory and research on information cue use and cue incongruity effects.