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Wine choices are not always fully understood by academic researchers or the industry. This paper aims to outline and test a theoretical model proposing that wine consumption may be dependent on differences in consumer expertise, the hospitality situation, characteristics of the wine itself and an interaction of these variables.

Three empirical studies (total sample size = 356) tested these theoretical propositions. Consumers with varying levels of wine knowledge were presented with experimental vignettes showing videos of wine opening and pouring and were asked to pair wines with hospitality situations.

Study 1 found that consumers with low product knowledge were more sensitive to hospitality situations and extrinsic product attributes (closures) than were the experts. Study 2 found that wine hospitality situations fall into three predicted categories, namely, food, friends and formality, although contrary to prediction, the presence of food was the weakest predictors. Study 3 demonstrated the robustness of the three-dimensional structure of wine hospitality situations.

These studies provided important practical information because targeting various market segments requires the industry to know what product attributes are favored by different groups of consumers different situations.

Previous researchers have discussed the difficulty of measuring consumption situations. By limiting these studies to wine consumption within hospitality situations, the authors learned much about how consumers’ characteristics, product attributes and the situations interact to influence not only product assessments but also choices.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how origin information for wine products influences retail sales. The growing variety of products and the generally singular origin of wine products makes this market particularly sensitive to origin information. The origin of wine is often perceived as an indicator of quality and is used as the basis of decision making when purchasing wine products. This study empirically tests a portion of Johansson's framework for the use of origin information through both a market survey and a field experiment to determine the predictive value on market position for a group of wine products from the Texas region. The results of the survey and the field experiment were consistent and found that emphasizing the origin of Texas wine significantly influenced retail sales. These results also indicate that special displays and increased retail shelf space do not always have a positive effect on sales of the displayed products. Therefore, it is important for retail managers to first identify whether the image of the wine's origin is perceived positively or negatively before using origin information in store displays.

Wine tasting is an integral method for engaging consumers. Producers go to great lengths to educate consumers on evaluating quality based on taste and aroma. Understanding the sensory and perceptual processes of wine tasting may offer insight into how consumers at different levels of wine expertise use their senses to evaluate wine.

This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to examine processing in the frontal lobe of the brain during wine tasting and aroma evaluation. Sixty subjects evaluated the tastes and aromas of wine samples with various levels of sweetness, whereas 16 defined areas of their frontal lobes were measured with functional near infrared measurement.

The subjects’ orbitofrontal cortices were activated during both olfaction (smelling) and tasting. Further, larger areas of the frontal lobes showed significant activation during the olfaction task than during the tasting task. The level of the subjects’ wine knowledge did not predict differences in neural processing when participants evaluated aroma of wine; however, subjects with higher wine knowledge did show significantly higher activation in specific frontal lobe regions when tasting. Differences in levels of product involvement among the subjects were not significant for the tasting task, but were significant for the olfaction task.

Developing a better understanding of the biological processes involved in tasting may lead to understanding the differences in consumer preferences for wine. This, in turn, may assist tasting room managers to adjust their tasting procedure to be tailored to consumer-specific needs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how brand equity influences brand survival in the wine industry. Specifically, the aim is to investigate the influence of two key facets of brand equity (brand awareness and perceived quality) on brand survival.

Two types of data were used: consumer survey data and longitudinal data on brand survival over a 16‐year period. Perceptions of quality and brand recognition data were collected via survey at the beginning of the time frame (1991), longitudinal data regarding the brand survival were obtained for the years through 2006 and survey data were again collected in 2006. Twenty‐seven brands from wineries of a specific region were used for the study. Brand survival (measured in years) was analyzed using logistic regression with brand recognition and perceived quality as the predictors.

A slightly positive relationship between consumer ratings of perceived quality and the probability of brand survival was found. However, a strong positive relationship was found between brand recognition and probability of brand survival.

The results offer insights into long‐term brand management and what marketers can do over time to reinforce brand equity and brand survival. Specifically, brand awareness is a better predictor of brand survival than perceived quality for these emerging brands.

The current study is an initial attempt to segment the wine market in an emerging region and examine local residents’ attitudes towards local wines.

The study was conducted using data collected from US households through a telephone survey. Consumer attitudes towards local wines were operationalized through assessment of local wines; recommendation of local wines to others; and rating of quality of local wines. The K‐means clustering algorithm was applied to classify the respondents into clusters.

The developing wine market was segmented into four clusters: “local enthusiasts”, “local detractors”, “local advocates” and “local non‐advocates”. Socio‐demographic and wine consumption profiles for each segment are developed. Of particular interest was the difference in recommendation behavior between two of groups of consumers with similar relatively high‐quality ratings and assessments of the local wines. Despite the similarity in attitudes, local advocates are willing to recommend the regional wines to other people, whereas non‐advocates would not recommend them.

By better understanding how information is transferred from one person to the next will assist marketers in their efforts to establish new products or introduce new brands or regional wines.

The market segmentation approach taken in this study is based on local residents’ attitudes towards local wines. The study sets the starting point in investigating new markets consumer characteristics and reasons for their behavior. Of particular interest for future research is consumer recommendation behavior.

This article investigates whether a negative country of origin bias facing imported wine can be offset when it is distributed in marketing channels alongside already accepted complimentary products. Specifically we consider the case of Mexican wine being introduced to consumers in a Mexican restaurant versus a more general themed contemporary restaurant. An experimental design was employed to investigate consumers' perceptions and future purchase intentions after tasting Mexican wine in a proposed restaurant with one of the two themes. Findings suggest that the best method for introducing Mexican wine to US consumers may be through Mexican restaurants although adoption of the wine for consumption at home may be slow.

This paper aims to examine the different types of communication mechanisms in motivating the use of halal-based apps among Brunei Muslim students in higher education institutions abroad.

Using a convenience sampling procedure, 100 online structured questionnaires were accumulated from various higher education institutions abroad with a 60% response rate from Brunei Muslim students. Descriptive analysis, Binomial Logit and the Binomial Probit model were used to test different types of communication mechanisms in motivating the use of halal-based apps among Brunei Muslim students studying abroad. Demographic profiling such as gender, age, university programs and length of the program was also considered in the study.

Based on the statistical analyses, the word-of-mouth (WOM) mechanism is significant and more effective in influencing halal-based app usage among Muslim students abroad. Moreover, halal-based app usage with the combination of WOM mechanism and social media platform play a vital role in spreading halal awareness.

The sample was taken from random higher educational institutions abroad and respondents were selected using convenience sampling. Therefore, it may not be fully representative of the population of Brunei Muslim university students studying abroad. Second, there may also be missing variables that have not been considered in the study.

This study generates important insights from Muslim consumers on halal-based app usage. Stakeholders can integrate halal-based apps with digital word-of-mouth and social media interfaces to promote halal awareness and halal-based app usage effectively.

This research adds to the current limited knowledge of halal-based app usage among Brunei Muslim university students abroad.

The purpose of this study is to unearth antecedents of regrettable dining experiences related to the information source, action and inaction perspectives, dining companion influence and interactions among information source, the focal customer’s valence and the dining companion’s valence on regret, leading to sequential behavioral outcomes.

Using a scenario-based experimental study, 344 qualified questionnaires were collected. Univariate ANOVA and multiple linear regression analyses were implemented.

The results of this study reveal that action regret is more intense than inaction regret during the choice-making phase; dining companion negative feedback intensifies focal customer’s regret. The significance of the information source on regret disappeared when only one party reported negative feedback; conversely, when two parties in the co-consumption experience revealed negative feedback, the relationship between information source of choice and regret was sustained.

The nature of scenario-based design may lack realism. Thus, more field experiments are encouraged to test the propositions further. This research enhances our understanding of gastronomic experiences in a negative disconfirmation context, drawing upon action/inaction regret theory, attribution theory and the expectancy disconfirmation model.

From a triad relationship perspective, this study provides valuable input on who or what will be attributed to the issues when encountering a food and wine sensory failure. Additionally, insightful recommendations are supplied on avoiding the possibility of inducing the experience of regret and how practitioners can increase the potential for a memorable dining experience.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that enriched the existing knowledge of regrettable dining experiences relating to information sources and social influence.