Definition: choosing a wine

Despite having been in existence for 100 years, the concept of AOC is still poorly understood. Barely more than one in two French people (56%) can correctly name an AOC wine. The hierarchy of the AOC system is still far from being understood by consumers, as evidenced by these gems collected during the survey: "Bordeaux wine with AOC status is better than Bordeaux Supérieur wine." Consumers who are familiar with "AOC" are no longer very sure of themselves when they see "appellation d'origine contrôlée" written on the bottle. They wonder, "Isn't this a scam?"
Knowledge of local wines and grape varieties is even more limited: only 19% of consumers surveyed are able to name a local wine, and 15% can name a grape variety. As for brands, for which the questionnaire allowed for five possible answers, only 6% of the possible answers were correct. (Questionnaire submitted face-to-face to 4,000 individuals from a representative sample of the French population).
Other factors that may influence the choice of wine are the terms "oak barrel" and "bottled at the estate", which evoke the artisanal nature of the product. A survey of a sample of 1,000 wine buyers in supermarkets, interviewed at the checkout after purchasing at least one bottle, highlights the obstacle course that buying a bottle of wine represents for half of buyers: the "constrained", the "anxious" and the "everyday" do not change wines even if they would sometimes like to! Half of the buyers surveyed in the aisle do not understand the difference between AOC and local wine. In fact, 1 in 2 buyers admit that they do not know which regulatory category the wine they have purchased belongs to. The label, designed to protect producers from counterfeiting and imitations, is not understood by consumers, at least not in the way intended by the producer. Recent CREDOC surveys show that, in general, when choosing food products, French consumers are placing less and less trust in French origin and quality labels. This decline in receptivity to labels spans generations, but is particularly noticeable among younger consumers.
Finally, in a recent study on consumers of bag-in-box wines, wine consumers were asked in focus groups which wines could be packaged in BIBs without losing their status. These consumers spontaneously divided wines into two categories: exceptional and prestigious wines, and all others. This segmentation provides clues about consumer expectations, based on the implicit positioning of wines.
Source: Vitisphère 04.12.2007