Fancy wine labels: would you pay more for a wine you can't pronounce?

A recent study by Antonia Mantonakis, an Associate Professor of Marketing at Brock University's Faculty of Business, suggests that consumers are willing to pay more for wine with names that are more difficult to pronounce. To test her theory, Mantonakis assembled two groups of test consumers and each group was given two bottles of identical wine. One of the bottles was labeled with a more easily pronounced name (Titakis Winery) and the other was labeled with the harder-to-pronounce name (Tselepou Winery).

Both wine names are Greek, begin with a T, and have three syllables. Tselepou, however, is harder to pronounce and has more unusual letter combinations. The test consumers consistently rated the Tselepou Winery bottle higher. Additionally, after the tasting, the groups were given a survey to assess their wine knowledge. Those with more advanced wine knowledge showed more of a willingness to buy the wine from the hard-to-pronounce winery. One would think the opposite, as a well-versed wine connoisseur should be able to discern that the wines are exactly the same. As Mantonakis points out:

It’s interesting how consumers perceive things. Something like the sound of a name can elicit a thought, and that thought can influence the perception of how something tastes.

This same theory is true for high-end, gourmet cheeses. Previous studies have shown that consumers rated cheeses with difficult-to-pronounce names in Brush Script font as more valuable and gourmet.

Mantonakis is continuing her studies of this phenomenon. She is currently working to determine if wine labels themselves have a similar impact. Early research shows that test consumers are more likely to think a wine is award winning if there’s a photo on the label.

Savvy vintners appear to be taking note of the effects that fancy-sounding wine names and labels can have on consumer choices. For example, Vincent Arroyo Winery in Calistoga is using tin labels for its Napa Valley port, which retails for $22 per bottle. The theory is that the tin label gives the bottle a prestigious look that consumers are willing to pay for. With the tin labels priced at less than $1 per label, this may be an inexpensive strategy for enticing consumers to purchase the wine.

Screen printing labels directly onto the bottles is another way wineries are trying to distinguish their labels from others. According to label printer, Monvera, less than 1% of wine labels are screen printed today. Monvera markets their screen printed labels as a great want to make wine labels stand out from their paper counterparts. Screen printed labels can extend the length of the bottle because they aren't limited by the paper square on a traditional label.

Some wineries, however, take advantage of a different type of marketing to appeal to consumers. Instead of a marketing strategy that alludes to a product's prestige, these wineries attract customers because of their fresh and funky feel. Recently, more and more wines are being released under names such as "Fat Bastard," "Monkey Bay," and "Smoking Loon." These wines seem to be gaining popularity and seem to call into question, at least in part, the application of Mantonakis's research to consumer purchasing habits. Perhaps consumers are "willing" to pay more for wines with harder-to-pronounce names, but when it's time to make a purchase, they go for the "Goats-Do-Roam."