Terroir tourism has been recently recognized to have the potential for developing a new tourism product. However, little research has investigated terroir tourism and its characteristics, differentiating it from wine tourism. For the purpose of this study, characteristics of terroir tourism were categorized into the constructs of territory, plant growing, advertising, and identity. Through content analysis, the researchers found that terroir tourism has 59 characteristics developed from the literature review on terroir and its relationship to wine and rural tourism. The findings will help future research to better understand the characteristics of terroir tourism and differentiate it from wine tourism. An outcome of this study validates the conceptual framework of terroir tourism and will help vineyards to develop further rural agritourism practices based on their terroir characteristics.

This article considers key determinants of terroir tourism in the context of organic vineyards in Oregon, US. Emerging from anthropology, climatology, ecology, geography and wine tourism, terroir tourism has been recently recognized to have potential for developing tourism in Oregon. However, research has sought to determine terroir tourism and its characteristics, differentiating it from wine tourism. This case of Oregon will investigate a wine territory through the examination of organic vineyards. The relative importance of terroir within the organic vineyard destinations of Oregon is examined. Determining the characteristics of terroir tourism from a review on terroir and the experience economy 4E framework on wine tourism develops the case into organic vineyards with terroir tourism characteristics. Ultimately, an attempt to further develop wine tourism destinations based on their unique terroir esthetic experiences, and the potential for terroir tourism within the experience economy, is developed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of extrinsic cues on wine consumer’s willingness to pay (WTP) based on a blind tasting experiment conducted in Hong Kong. Using data from a three-stage blind wine tasting experiment, the authors examine how an average consumer’s WTP for a bottle of wine changes as a result of knowing prior to tasting extrinsic information such as the country of origin or grape variety of an otherwise identical product. The findings of this study align with previous research that finds subjective utility experienced by tasters can be significantly influenced by the belief or information given prior to the tasting. Sub-group analysis using a stratified sample based on the frequency of wine consumption and the wine taster’s prior experience with wine (grouped into expert and novice categories) suggests that it is the novice consumers that have a stronger response to the pre-tasting knowledge when evaluating wine. Experienced wine consumers, on the other hand, do not seem to respond strongly to the pre-tasting knowledge of the extrinsic attributes in their evaluation of wine. The studies of taste preference and role of extrinsic characteristics in wine evaluation and consumption in the rapidly growing Asian market is increasingly important for the wine industry. The evidence from this study suggests the importance for producers and marketers to consider consumer heterogeneity and product differentiation when pricing and distributing their wine.

Oregon wineries have become increasingly reliant on tasting-room employees to increase wine distribution. Properly training tasting-room employees is essential to increasing sales of wine at wineries. In this study, the researchers explore the methods, techniques, and practices employed to train Oregon tasting-room employees. The results indicate managers perceive product knowledge as the most common form of training needed for tasting-room employees to succeed. Sales incentives were not consistent in the findings of the training programs. Three out of every four managers responded that job shadowing was the most popular form of training in their tasting rooms.