From Sauvignon Blanc Fans To Terroir Enthusiasts Exploring The Psychology Behind Wine Purchases

There are many reasons why we buy wine, and different people buy different wine for different reasons. There are those that search store shelves for brands they recognise, there are those who search for brands they don’t recognise. Those who are lured by the award stickers adorning bottles, and those who are put off by the tinsel.

Some people buy wines based on the cultivar in the bottle (The Sauvy B brigade as an example), some are more focused on terroir and region specific wines. There are the price conscious buyers too; those who look for the least expensive bottle, and those that demand that the price of wine should be able to help feed a small country. Some drink wine for the aromatic and flavour experience, and some just want to experience the libation-ary effect that leads to them dancing on tables or weeping into their own hands whilst sat in a bath tub on a Tuesday evening.

Stuck on Stickers?

Before entering the wine industry, I must (begrudgingly) admit, that I found myself casting around wine shelves in liquor stores, locking my eyes on the pretty-pretty shiny-shiny that adorns wine bottles and thinking: “Well that’s got the familiar red of a Platters sticker on it, it should be good.” I know I’m not the only one. Award stickers on wine bottles have long been the shining beacon of (“ok, just choose for me”) light that rubs the slumped back of lazy consumerism. In a time before Vivino, shoppers who were otherwise overwhelmed by wine shelves stacked floor to ceiling with Chateau L’Indiscriminate, were helped along by the likes of Platters, Veritas and Decanter stickers. But to a layman, and I’m referring to myself at the time, I didn’t know that John was a Platter, let alone how he decided on his ratings. I just blindly trusted a sticker on a bottle that I (in the back of mind) related to some or other food and wine judging committee. I actually thought “Platters” was a rather quaint name relating to serving platters of some sort (shoot me for not knowing better).

However, now that I do know better, and have amassed a steadily growing pile of notebooks containing pages and pages of tasting notes, the allure of award stickers seems to have lost its edge. Having said that, I also consume wine differently now. Before, I’d guzzle a 4 star platter out of coffee mug like some knuckle dragging troll, but now, I’m a little more discerning. I want to polish my Riedel while I decant my wine. I want to try weird and wonderful varieties from producers I’ve never heard of, and I certainly won’t be buying my wine from supermarket liquor stores or ordering anything off the wine list of my local pizza chainstore. My point is, I don’t particularly want someone else (committee or individual) deciding how much I will enjoy a wine based off of how many points they give it. But a vast majority of South African wine consumers aren’t snobs like this. They drink wine because they like the taste of wine, not because they like to dissect bottles through various temperatures, food pairings, and levels of inebriation. But (and I have to keep reminding myself of this), I am not an island. So I decided to conduct a little social media survey through my blog (Virgin_Vines) and gather some data from some friends in the industry to see what the impact of an award sticker really is.

I asked consumers if they knew what various South African based award stickers meant. Including the Platter’s award, Christian Edes’ Wine Mag ratings and the Tim Atkin Best of South Africa rating. Participants of the survey (I say whilst wearing a lab coat and some outdated spectacles) were then given four options to select from. The first option was: “Yes, but they don’t affect what I buy” which drew an overwhelming 81% of the vote. The second read: “No, and they don’t affect what I buy.” Which had a unsurprising result of 0%.

The third option was: “Yes, and I base my wine purchases on them”, which claimed 14% of the vote, and lastly, we had: “No, but I base my wine purchases on them”, which took the remaining 5%. Now these stats are nowhere near conclusive. The sample group was not 100% comprised of consumers, in fact most of the people who chose the first option (around 80%of them) were wine professionals working around the country, which probably explains the massive bias. It seemed then, that the more exposure and knowledge about wine and the relevant awards a given “customer” had, the less likely they were to let the stickers make their decisions for them. 90% of the remaining 19% of other votes came from consumers (which is a testament to how badly I’m doing at social media, given that my fellowship has very few consumers on it – by comparison). So a completely useless study then (thanks for reading this far), but what’s interesting is the spilt between those who work in the wine industry verses those who don’t. A split based on exposure and wine knowledge perhaps? Industry professionals, for the most part, (aside from a few publications who produce award stickers much like the ones mentioned) , seemed to rebel against the stickers, whilst consumers used them as a guide for their purchases.

But, award stickers aren’t the only influencing factors on wine purchases for consumers. A Stellenbosch wine consumer survey (Saayman & Van der Merwe, 2015) ranked award stickers amongst other influencing factors like: Grape variety, brand/producer, vintage, low price, label/packaging appearance, production method and region of origin.

The results are as follows:

As you can see, whilst people felt justified in having the domestic argument of depleting the monthly food budget on wines with ratings on them, they would much rather ignore the budget in favour other factors. Namely, grape variety. The lesson here is that your Sauvignon Blanc doesn’t have to wear its awards on its neck to move off the shelf and into someones ice filled goblet.

Influences Beyond the Bottle

Wine at the end of the day, is a luxury product, and like any other luxury product, it’s seldomly purchased based on price comparisons, accolades, or intrinsic value of the product. Admittedly, I am talking about wines that fit into the premium category of South African wines. These are wines that are considered higher quality than basic wines (bulk wine sold at R5-R10 per litre), and are priced higher (around R200-R1500 for a 750ml bottle). Much like the difference between buying bulk cheddar bricks that fill you with gastro-distress and self loathing , verses buying extra matured cheddar that crumbles a little, and bursts warm and nutty onto your palate… Yes there may still be the inevitable rumblings of lactose intolerance, but it seems worth it for the indulgence of a mildly erotic eating experience. But I digress… Premium wine, as the wine merchants, sommeliers and wine sales representatives will tell you, is sold on stories. Whether it be on the story of the farm where the grapes came from, a story of brand identity, or the story of wine makers successfully fighting off large predatory animals whilst camping with their children (yes this happened).

So who tells stories? Well on a micro level, people like myself tell stories about wine. Whether it be through these opinion-editorials, my vaguely lurid reviews on my instagram page, the wine tastings I present, or the wines I recommend to people in a retail setting. Through all of that I find myself painting verbal pictures. Unless you’re buying your wine from a grocery store, or a wholesaler like Makro (which in fairness, is what most people do), there is normally someone in your favourite wine store, who is selling you a story based on your preference of grape variety, vintage or producer. In fact, it’s an exchange of stories. The great part about my jobs is that as soon as a customer walks into the shop, I’ve already made the sale. I’m just walking with them through the shelves. And this is when I get to know what their weekend plans are, who they’ll be entertaining, how much they like or dislike those people, but most importantly, what they’ll be eating and drinking. It’s the relationships I develop with my customers that sells one wine over the other. It’s the trust that is earned through good recommendations, and entertaining stories they can relay to their friends.

We also can’t talk about influence without mentioning winefluencers. Yes, the millennial mad men/women have entered the wine industry too. Wine influencers (if I judge this purely on how many of them I see at serious, invite only, tastings), have become furniture at the table, alongside critics, journalists, and wine buyers. The impact of mainstream media, which is basically social media, is undeniable at this point. And those who know how to use it effectively, should be the ones to relay the stories that sell wine. Influencers also appeal to a broader market of consumers that may or may not be interested in wine. A skilled influencer can convert people who don’t drink wine, into people who do, simply by aligning with a particular brand. Equally, misalignment with a brand could prove horribly detrimental to the brands bottom line.

A prime example of this would be what happened with Louis Roederer in the early 2000’s. The Champagne house was a favourite among the young, black, and talented hip-hop community of that era. They flaunted their Champagne purchases (specifically Cristal) in their lyrics, social appearances, and music videos alike. Drinking Cristal became an aspirational image among communities who had no interest in fine wine, let alone hyper- premium Champagne. Louis Roederer saw a boom in their sales across the USA and Europe during this period. The rappers who consumed and made Cristal the sensation of a status symbol it became, were arguably wine influencers too.

Louis Roederer definitely gained from the influence of hip-hop culture during this time. That is until Frédéric Rouzaud (managing director of Louis Roederer at the time) told the Economist that the Champagne house viewed the association with rap and hip-hop with “curiosity and serenity”. When asked if the affiliation with hip-hop would be detrimental to the Champagne brand, Rouzaud replied: “that’s a good question, but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business.”

The Hip-Hop community did not take kindly to the statement which saw a (still standing) boycott of Louis Roederer in 2006. Starting with Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, who viewed Rouzard’s comments as racist, implying that the Champagne house saw the affiliation with the Hip-Hop community as “unwanted attention”. Ironically enough, the likes of Dom Perignon and Krug, mongered after the attention of the Hip-Hop community, which saw their sales completely eclipse Roederer in the coming years.

As a teenager, I remember wanting to drink Cristal and then not wanting to drink Cristal before I even knew what Cristal was. Subsequently, I wanted to drink Ace of Spades from Armand de Brignac because of a lyric Jay-Z wrote for a song called ‘On to the next one’. Jay-Z had purchased this brand shortly after the Cristal debacle and has since sold 50% of it to the LVMH group. The importance of ‘influencer’ engagement with wine brands is undeniable here, and brand affiliations happening with micro influencers in the South African market, could prove to be very lucrative for producers looking to break through.

Boutique wine brands should leverage influencers, but should choose someone who aligns with, or at least understands, their brand. The right affiliation between the right brand and the right influencer, can be hugely beneficial to a wine brand. Social media is after all an endless scroll of very intricate billboards.

The Consumer

It is also important to note, that there are different types of consumers that behave differently in the market. Vigar-Ellis, Pitt and Caruana in 2015 developed a typology of wine knowledge around consumers. At the lowest rung, we find the Neophyte. This would be a someone who knows as much about wine as they do the outer-rim of the universe, and they know that they don’t know. A level up from there would be the Snob (which I thought was a character assessment, not an evaluation of knowledge). The snob thinks that they know more than they actually know. The type of person who hates Chardonnay, and only drinks Chablis. Then you get the Modest type; someone who thinks they don’t know Champagne from shampoo, but in fact knows far more than that. The type of person who could dissect the fine mousse on their palate, and tell you that origin is definitely a Head & Shoulders bottle. Lastly, we have the Expert; someone who thinks they know a lot about wine, and low and behold, they aren’t wrong. That annoying person at the table, that taunts you to google the obscure and reasonably unbelievable wine fact they just spewed to everyone, only to find out that they were exactly right.

Each of these people, in my experience, have different buying habits. The Neophyte and Snob would be more likely be influenced through clever marketing, influencers and award stickers. The Neophyte would look for recognisable brands, varietals and award stickers to make a comfortable purchasing choice.

The Snob will have reasons for a more ‘discerning’ purchase. Luxury branding, or perceived quality may be the hooking point here. The Snob will settle for the mere illusion

of quality, without knowing what quality tastes like. This type of consumer would be easily leveraged by a strong influencer representation of a brand. Basically; me with my Cristal / Ace of Spades shift.

The Modest type, would veer from award stickers and winefluencer marketing. This consumer wants to experiment, to try something new. They want to open up their palates to new experiences all together. For these buyers, its about exploration, about finding their drinking identity through spreading their buying choices across as vast of a range as possible.

The expert? They know what they like, and they know why they like it. This is where the story telling is important. How do you get a Cote Rotie drinker to drink Botrivier Shiraz? You tell them how the winemaker fought off a wild animal with their barehands, then pushed the car home, cut down a tree, built a bench, and generated actual steam from their ears. After that you tell them it’s a third of the price, for a wine of equal quality.

In conclusion

Yes, wine is a luxury product, and we should also be looking at other luxury brands to draw knowledge from. But, at the same time, wine is consumable, which makes it different from a brand like Louis Vuitton. No one buys a bag from Louis Vuitton at 5pm on a Friday, eats it, then buys another the next day. (Although if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t tell anyone, but there would be signs.)

Though there is no singular answer as we to why we buy the wine we buy. It seems that different wine is bought and consumed by different types of consumers for different reasons. Varying levels of consumer product knowledge dictate varying habits when it comes to buying and consuming wine. Why you buy your wine is connected what you want out of a wine, and what you want out of your wine is dependent on several factors. Brands/ producers looking for a one size fits all solution to take advantage of the market will search for an eternity. Perhaps it all comes down to identity. Perhaps its about giving your brand and products a strong identity that consumers can align themselves to. Those identities can be rooted in varying levels of luxury, exclusivity, quality, price point, winemaking style, public figure endorsements or relationships people have with their merchants. Something more specific than that, I think would be an over simplification of a very complex product, and an even more complex consumer preference