The gastronomic experience of fine Australian wines of provenance and food pairings

Abstract

Wine has been consumed for centuries in Old World wine producing nations of Europe, where its characteristics and quality continue to be defined by geographical indications (GIs). As a result, consumers have learned to rely on GIs for quality assurance and are willing to pay a premium for wines coming from certain regions. In a similar fashion, Australia implemented a GI system to promote a link between its fine wines and provenance. However, for this approach to be successful, it is necessary to understand consumer perceptions of what constitutes a fine wine. Beyond provenance, the sensory experience of fine wine is often linked with their consumption with appropriate foods. The complex nature of food and wine pairing is not yet fully understood but experts agree that appropriate pairings can enhance desirable flavours of both food and wine, and could be an innovative and profitable strategy to meet consumers’ demands. On the other hand, fine Australian wines of provenance (FAW) are rarely examined in food pairing context and no specific studies have addressed how wine sensory attributes and food-wine matching affect the overall dining experience. For this purpose, studies were undertaken to understand consumer perceptions of what constitutes a fine wine, what sensory and chemical factors define fine Chardonnay and Shiraz wines from various regions, what sensory attributes drive appropriate food and wine pairings, and how these relate to consumer behaviour and memorability of the dining experience. The studies presented within this thesis’ chapters have been drafted as manuscripts that have been submitted for publication or have already been accepted in peer-reviewed journals. The manuscripts are presented in chapters as outlined below after an introductory chapter and prior a concluding thesis summary chapter. The first study examined consumers’ definitions and associations with FAW. After several focus groups to inform the development of questions, an online survey was conducted with Australian wine consumers (n= 349) to define FAW as a function of sensory attributes, grape variety, wine region, label information, and food pairing, and examine how the definition differs by consumer wine involvement. Further, the study investigated Australia’s single most important red and white varieties, Shiraz and Chardonnay, in a fine wine context. Consumers were segmented using the Fine Wine Instrument (FWI) to discuss the results in the context of their wine involvement. Overall, all consumers valued provenance, however, highly involved wine Enthusiasts appeared to utilise more information and had broader sensory vocabulary than Aspirant and No Frills consumers. The identified sensory attributes, regions and preferred food pairings for fine Australian Chardonnay and Shiraz wines can help the wine and hospitality sectors to tailor services, and the tourism industry to incorporate fine wines in their regionspecific marketing. The manuscript detailing this work has been accepted by International Journal of Hospitality Management and is currently in press. Further building on consumers’ association with FAW, the second manuscript presents the sensory and chemical composition of Chardonnay and Shiraz wines from fine wine regions. Previous research on regional typicality mainly involved unoaked experimental wines, which were little reflective of the retail wine market. The regional typicality of commercially available FAW was therefore explored, based on the hypotheses that sensory and chemical compositions of varietal fine wines would discriminate by region, and further nuances within region could be explained by drivers of intraregional typicality. Chardonnay wines from Margaret River (MR, n=16) and Yarra Valley (YV, n=16), and Shiraz wines from Barossa Valley (BV, n=16) and McLaren Vale (MV=15), were selected for descriptive sensory analysis and underwent profiling of volatiles by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). For both grape varieties, large variability was observed among wines from the same GI and wine styles mainly due to viticultural and winemaking techniques applied by wineries. As a consequence, human intervention seemed to be an important component of regional/intraregional typicality, which therefore cannot be determined solely on geographic origin. Perhaps, wines made with less oak influence or underwent extended maturation in bottle would convey regional typicality and serve as a tool for regional wine marketing. Undoubtedly, any variation emerging across wine regions, vintages, and viticultural and winemaking practices needs to be further explored but this work created a preliminary sensory and volatile map for future research. The manuscript detailing this work is currently under review at Food Research International journal. Subsequently, the gastronomic potential of FAW was examined, to help identify the sensory attributes important to the most appropriate food and wine pairings and relate these to balance, liking, sensory complexity, and expected price of the wine according to consumers. Drawing from consumer responses to the survey presented in paper 1, seven food samples were selected and evaluated by a descriptive analysis panel (n=8). Four warm climate Shiraz wines (BV = 2, and MV = 2) from paper 2 and four from cooler Australian wine regions (Adelaide Hills, Canberra District, Eden Valley) were evaluated by the same panellists. Finally, the panel evaluated four distinct food samples and four wine samples as pairings, yielding 16 wine and food combinations. Based on the sensory profiles, distinct food and wine pairings (n=6) were selected for consumer preference tests, which comprised a pseudo-three course meal with two wines, representing a real life dining scenario. According to American consumers (n = 108), in the most appropriate pairings, the intensities of food and wine flavours increased and wine taste attributes changed in relation to the individual components. Appropriate pairings had a positive relationship with liking, sensory complexity of the pairing, and expected price to pay for the wine, and a negative correlation with balance due to a preference for wine to slightly dominate the pairing. Most importantly, the pairings had an increase in liking and sensory complexity over the individual wine but not the food component. To account for the large individual variability, consumers were segmented by their liking of the pairing. The key drivers of successful pairings across consumer clusters were similar to the average consumer results, however, the pairings they liked differed by cluster. The findings suggest that the quality of food and wine pairings might be more effectively measured with a combination of direct (dominance/balance, appropriateness of pairing) and indirect methods (sensory complexity, liking), instead of a single scale, and appropriate consumer segmentation may better account for the variability of results. The outcome of this study enhanced the understanding of the relationship between consumer behaviour and food and wine pairings. The manuscript detailing this work has been submitted to Food Quality and Preference is currently under review. The fourth study extended the findings of paper 3 and explored food and wine pairing evoked emotions, and memorability of the dining experience. In addition to the six wine and food pairings examined in paper 3 an additional 2 pairings with the same two wines but spicy salami were subjected to consumer tests (n = 151) under blind and informed (provenance) conditions. The tastings explored Australian consumer perception of liking, appropriateness, sensory complexity, and emotional profiles of pairings, and expected price to pay at restaurants. One week after the tasting, consumers completed a follow-up survey to capture vividness of memory, remembered liking, memorability and loyalty (repurchase intention) of the wine they rated in food pairings. Significant pairing effect on all measures and an information effect on sensory complexity were found but no significant sample by information level interactions were evident. Food items within the pairings were more important overall than wine items, as they significantly influenced consumers’ perceived liking, appropriateness of pairing, sensory complexity, emotional responses, and memorability. This finding suggests that restaurants operating with fixed wine lists (e.g., winery restaurants) may achieve more appropriate pairings by pairing the food to the wine and not the other way around. Appropriate pairings may be important for positive consumer behaviour and the memorability of dining experience, which can provide businesses with knowledge that could be translated into higher customer satisfaction and spending. The manuscript detailing this work has been prepared to submit to Food Quality and Preference.