A whole host of factors can affect our view of a particular wine. Now, US research suggests that even the label on the bottle could influence our purchasing intentions and shape our perception of the wine within.

Clues such as colour or smell already help us form an idea of the wine we’re about to drink. But the sensations experienced during tasting are also known to vary according to the context in which we sample a wine: not only the time of day, but also the people we’re with can influence our perceptions, just as the background music can also impact our sensitivity to certain flavours.

Previous research has demonstrated this phenomenon, observing in particular that wine tasted in a “powerful and heavy” musical atmosphere seemed to have the same characteristics.

But external influences appear to be at play before a wine even finds its way into our glass – when buying wine, our perception of the contents has likely already been shaped by the label, especially when it features images.

And research suggests that this can have a real influence on our purchasing intentions, as outlined by scientists at Washington State University in a study published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management.

The paper examined how gender cues in wine labels “affect women consumers’ purchase intentions through sensory expectations, sensory evaluation, and attitudes towards wine labels across three experimental studies”, the researchers outlined.

Masculine vs feminine

The scientists firstly set about defining what could be considered a “feminine” label and what would amount to a “masculine” one.

While bunches of grapes or images of castles were perceived as neutral symbols, the researchers used feedback from 90 women to establish that representations of wolves or deer were masculine symbols, while animals considered cute or pictures of flowers were feminine.

With this in mind, the researchers demonstrated that female buyers tended to prefer wine labels with these so-called feminine images, even when they were knowledgeable about wine. “The gender-cue influence was so strong, it trumped the effect of that knowledge,” noted co-author Christina Chi, a professor at WSU’s Carson College of Business.

Meanwhile, a greater number of female consumers felt that bottles bearing supposedly feminine labels would be characterised by redcurrant and blueberry notes. And for so-called masculine labels, mineral flavours were more likely to be associated with the wines.

In the end, when it came to tasting, the bottles with feminine labels proved more disappointing than the others. According to the researchers, this could be due to a mismatch between the idea people have of a wine and what’s actually in the bottle.