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The purpose of this paper is to explore how gendered wine-drinker identities are constructed through stories of wine consumption in Kenya.

The data comes from a corpus of 19 in-depth semi-structured interviews collected in Nairobi, Kenya. Taking a narrative approach, this paper uses positioning theory as a fine-grained linguistic methodological tool to analyze stories of gendered wine consumption.

A key finding of the study is that wine consumption can enact, and be enacted by, wider normative societal gendered discourses of what men and women should and, should not, be drinking. In short, in some societies (Kenya being an example here) men drinking wine is subject to the normative gaze of their peers; and if men drink wine, they are not considered “real men.” This is so even when chatting up women, in which case male wine-drinkers are ascribed to the subordinate male identities of either the “new man” or the romantic man. However, male wine-drinkers can retain a real man identity if they are wealthy (and powerful) enough not to care what other men think.

The study provides new insights for targeting consumers in emerging export markets. Wine companies need to be aware that the purchase drivers in established markets may not be central to consumers in developing markets. In developing markets, wine consumption may be influenced by the normative gaze of peers which enacts, and is enacted by, societal gendered discourses. Crucially, a thorough understanding of consumer behavior leads to a more critical consideration for focused marketing strategies aimed at establishing relationships with customers in developing markets.

The study offers an original contribution to the barely existent body of knowledge on wine consumption in sub-Saharan Africa and gendered wine-drinking identity construction. Additionally, from a methodological perspective, no previous study on wine consumption has used a narrative identity approach to the fine-grained linguistic analysis of transcripts of stories elicited during research interviews.

We define diffusion as the spread of something within a social system. Diffusion is the most general and abstract term, and it embraces such processes as contagion, mimicry, social learning, organized dissemination, etc. (Strang & Soule, 1998). While the home territory of diffusion is innovation (see Rogers, 2003 for an authoritative review), more recent macro-diffusion research has developed, based on social movement and institutionalization arguments (Ansari, Fiss, & Zajac, 2010; Wejnert, 2002).

Identity is often used in wine territory narratives but its meaning is rarely explored with industry actors. This paper aims to present the development and application of a four-step iterative process for engaging an industry in a complex and deep reflection about its shared identity: understanding identity; identifying commonalities and differences; developing a shared narrative and sharing best practice.

The authors have engaged with over 50 wineries between 2016 and 2018 on the identity of the British Columbia wine territory through workshops, interviews and other conversations. Complementary methods include documentary review and observations.

The work shows the applicability of the four-step process. Success depends on building relationships with and across the industry; creating independent, safe learning environments and facilitation by an independent party; allowing for feedback between the steps, continuous reflection and reiteration of steps and making the time for complexity.

The application of the process in British Columbia shows that success depends on building relationships with and across the industry; creating independent, safe learning environments and making the time for complexity.

The paper presents the application of a unique process for industry to explore the identity of a wine territory. It focuses on British Columbia, about which little has been written. Through the process, the industry can better understand identity, what it is, why it matters and how it impacts businesses. The paper’s insights can inspire researchers and industries in their thinking and practice about identity.

Both Hungary and Germany belong to the old-world wine-producing countries and have long winemaking traditions. This paper aims at exploring and comparing online branding strategies of family SME (small and medium sized enterprises) wineries at Lake Balaton (Hungary) and Lake Constance (Germany), as two wine regions with similar geographic characteristics.

This paper, based on a total sample of 37 family wineries, 15 at Lake Balaton and 22 at Lake Constance, investigates the differences in brand identity on the website, brand image in social media and online communication channels deployed in both wine regions. The study applies a qualitative methodology using MaxQDA software for conducting content analysis of texts in websites and social media. Descriptive statistics and t-test were conducted to compare the usage of different communication channels and determine statistical significance.

At Lake Balaton, the vineyard, the winery and the family, while at Lake Constance, the lake itself and the grape are highlighted regarding family winery brand identity. The customer-based brand image of Hungarian family wineries emphasizes wine, food and service, with the predominant use of Facebook. In the German family wineries, the focus of brand identity is on wine, friendliness and taste and includes more extensive usage of websites.

The paper deploys a novel methodology, both in terms of tools used as well as geographic focus to uncover online branding patterns of family wineries, thereby providing implications for wine and tourism industries at lake regions. It compares the share of selected most-used words in the overall text in websites and in social media, and presents the key findings from this innovative approach.

The brand identity–image gap is a well-known marketing field. However, very little academic work has been done within the wine industry regarding collective brands. With the aim of filling this gap, this paper analyzes and describes the relationship between identity and the image of Bordeaux wines. It is intended as a collective wine brand.

From a positivist–functionalist perspective, a 45-question survey has been administered online to N = 53 internal brand operators (winery owners or managers) and to N = 655 external consumers (mainly focusing on 18–25 year-old segment). Nonprobabilistic sampling techniques have been used. Questions were structured within a semantic opposition.

Data analysis has shown that the nine-dimension model (physical, personality, culture, self-image, reflection, relationship, positioning, vision and heritage) is capable of collecting a richer and more pertinent set of information concerning the brand identity; statistically significant gaps have been found in 25 out of 45 items; counterintuitively, the consumers have a very different opinion about the brand compared with existing ideas. Direct implications are that internal brand operators may suffer from imposter syndrome; information asymmetry may play a central role in brand perception; and the brand lacks symbolic and inspirational functions.

Providing an original model to analyze and evaluate the brand identity–image gap, specifically adapted for collective wine brands, this work contributes to the literature by increasing the knowledge about brand identity issues.

This paper aims to investigate how producers of biodynamic and sustainable wine portray their brand identity online.

The study uses an inductive approach to qualitative content analysis of wine producers’ websites. The authors use a theoretical starting point based on the categorizations literature related to institutional scripts and identity projection.

Producers adopt identity templates similar to the provenance and glory templates established in extant research. They demonstrate templates of community, quality, spirituality and sustainability, but there is a break in the templates, and they adopt a pseudo-rationalist template, avoiding detailed descriptions of practices and underpinning philosophy, leaving any references to them opaque and ambiguous. This may be due to concerns over scientific skepticism or spiritual suspicion, or anticipation of a lack of consumer knowledge.

The geographical location of the sample poses limitations to the results of the study. However, the study provides an examination of the nuances of self-categorization as it relates to identity projection, prompting further investigation into its positive and negative potential.

Research on the connection between quality perceptions and experience and credence attributes suggests producers should do more to emphasize the philosophy underpinning biodynamics.

The study contributes to research on marketing for inherently sustainable producers who may suffer potential negative reactions in general and biodynamic wine producers in particular. This study provides nuance to the understanding of negative reactions to novel and innovative wine production practices.

Wine and accessories bought partly or fully out of a perceived need to repay services received at a winery are defined here as gratuity purchasing. The purpose of the research is to identify factors that predict gratuity purchasing at wineries. Specifically, the study seeks to investigate the role of gratitude and obligation, along with other consumer characteristics, in purchasing.

Winery visitors were sampled from six Texas wineries. A total of 357 questionnaires were analyzed. Hierarchical multiple regression, correlation and factor analyses were employed.

Gratitude and obligation were found to be strong predictors of purchasing at wineries. Visitors who feel grateful to personnel and/or obliged to buy wine are likely to spend more money at wineries. Involvement and knowledge also appear to be related to purchasing.

Since gratitude and obligation appear to be strong predictors of buying decisions, winery managers need to find ways to enhance visitor feelings of appreciation. Although developing a sense of obligation may have an impact on sales, obligation may also create feelings of not wishing to return. It is important for managers to consider the extent to which they would like to have people feeling obligated or guilty about making a purchase.

The research offers new insights into an understudied area of consumer behavior – the role of reciprocity in purchasing behavior. An innovative feature of this study is the development of a new instrument to measure gratitude and obligation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potentialities of cross border projects to develop and promote wine culture, and consequently tourism and hospitality; paying particular attention to the process and actions supporting the development and refinement of cultural attributes, traditional values and regional identity.

Methodologically, it is a deductive reasoning exploratory research, based on the findings of an extensive undergoing project across ten countries, spanning from Italy to Eastern Europe, and theoretically founded on an extensive literature review.

The findings identify the spectrum and nature of opportunities and constraints of cross border collaborations in developing the wine industry and reaping of its wider economic and cultural benefits. Further to the scholarly value of the findings, the paper identifies and presents the descriptive managerial/industrial implications, along with prescriptively explicit directions toward practical implementation.

The research is exploratory and therefore, by nature, in need of further empirical validation.

The research constructs a viable framework for an integrative approach involving the improved definition of regional cultural image and identity, proper strategic industry-region and cross-border collaborations, and socio-economic development.

To promote cross border countries and cultural territorial values and identity.

The research's value lies in its multi-perspective outlook which keeps the wine business at its focus, but investigates its development outside the strict confines of its own industry to present potentialities through strategic collaborations with the tourist industry and other regions/countries in integrative synergistic approach and with strong cultural elements.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method by which to audit winemakers' communication of regional wine brands and to illustrate the method's conceptual basis through its empirical application to the Swiss wine Merlot Ticino.

The audit is comprised of two parts: one captures producers' intentions regarding the communication of the regional wine brand while the other determines what wineries actually convey through their formal communications. Data about intentions were collected through qualitative interviews and a survey of producers, while data on what wineries convey was based on a content analysis of wineries' communication materials.

The application of the audit to the brand Merlot Ticino shows that the proposed method provides several insights into the brand's personality, possible gaps between producers' intentions and actual communications, the potential target of the communication, the level of consistency of communication content and style, and the expressiveness of wineries in communicating the regional wine brands.

The content analysis adopted in this research focuses on formal communications issued by wineries. Adding oral contents and consumer perceptions would considerably improve the audit tool.

This paper provides winemaking regions with a useful tool with which to determine the effectiveness of their brand projections in the collective promotion of their regional wine brands. The paper is of value for academic research because it illustrates that results may be obtained in the wine brand field using methods traditionally used in corporate communication research, like projective techniques and communications audits.

Wine culture is an increasingly important reality for the development of wine regions that can foster a sense of cultural identity (CI). With the aim of guiding marketing in the wine market and segmenting demand, this study aims to introduce the moderating role of wine-related cultural identity (WCI) in a Cognitive-Affective-Normative (CAN) model to explain purchase intention for innovations.

This quantitative study was conducted in Spain, the country with the largest acreage of vineyards in the world. Specifically, a personal survey was applied to a sample of 1,126 potential buyers of a wine innovation in Rioja, the Spanish wine region with the longest tradition.

(1) WCI moderates acceptance of a wine innovation; (2) WCI levels generate new segments: Enoculturalists (44.67%), who have a strong WCI, Intermediate Enoculturalists (38.90%), with an intermediate WCI and Non-Enoculturalists (16.43%), who have no WCI; and (3) the CAN model strongly explains the behavior of Non-Enoculturalists (R² = 0.81).

The originality of the research lies in the opportunity to test a technical innovation in wine production in a region characterized by a strong wine-growing tradition. Despite growing interest in local products, no study has yet examined the moderating role of CI in a new food acceptance model as proposed here. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications, as they identify new groups for targeting innovation-related actions and reactivating wine consumption in keeping with new consumer trends.