Willingness to Pay for a Regional Wine Brand

The paper explores the "country of origin" (Coo) and "region of origin" (Roo) effects as related to the wine sector. We have focused on case study of the appellation of Brunello di Montalcino and its perceived familiarity for consumers originating from the Usa, Canadian, Australian, German, British, Belgian, Swedish and Italian country markets. In particular, the paper aims to answer the following research questions: what is the importance of the country/region of origin assigned by consumers when evaluating Brunello wine? What is the role of wine knowledge within the decision-making process of the consumer? Does the image of Brunello influence the willingness to pay a premium price in the analyzed markets? Is there a difference in product perceptions and buying behavior that could be identified between consumers originating from «Old vs. New World»? The analysis was conducted on a total sample of 4,190 consumers. The results confirm the relevancy and importance of the Coo framework and especially the Roo frame of reference in the process of purchasing wine products. In particular, the results shows an evident New/Old World consumer different behaviour in terms of the willingness to pay a premium price for Brunello di Montalcino.