Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of wine closure types on the quality perception of wine consumers in a traditional wine market, combined with the willingness to pay for red and white wines in bottles closed with screw caps compared with that for wines in bottles with a cork closure.

Design/methodology/approach

An online experiment with 436 Austrian wine consumers was conducted in a two-by-two between-groups design. To assess the quality of Austrian red and white wine, quality indicators such as origin, grape variety, awards, the content of residual sugar, vintage, geographical indication, ageing potential, organic certification, vineyard designation and brand (producer) have been applied. Furthermore, different involvement levels as well as willingness to pay were taken into consideration.

Findings

Contrary to earlier findings, results confirm that Austrian consumers do not generally perceive wines (both red and white) in a screw cap bottle to be lower or different in quality from those in a cork-closed bottle. However, consumers expect red and white wines in bottles with a cork closure to be higher in price than wines in bottles with a screw cap. Among established quality indicators, the present analysis shows that price is the strongest cue for quality when it comes to wines and indicates that wines in bottles closed with corks and bearing a higher price tag are considered to be of higher quality.

Research limitations/implications

This research comes with limitations, such as the absence of sensory differences. Moreover, the research design is based exclusively on the description of wines and a limited set of quality indicators and does not involve the actual tasting of wines.

Practical implications

Outcomes suggest that in the strategic positioning of wines, the difference in wine consumers’ quality perceptions between wine bottles with screw caps and cork closures plays a smaller role than anticipated. Findings are relevant for practitioners, particularly in old-world wine markets where cork is still seen as the closure of choice for higher-quality wines.

Originality/value

The results of this survey contribute to understanding consumers of an established old-world wine market and their attitudes towards alternative bottle closure types such as screw caps. It adds new insights to the research stream of the quality perception of wines.

中文翻译：

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螺丝与软木塞？从奥地利葡萄酒消费者的角度看品质观念的新方向

目的

本文的目的是检验葡萄酒瓶盖类型对传统葡萄酒市场中葡萄酒消费者质量感知的影响，并结合螺旋盖瓶装红葡萄酒和白葡萄酒的购买意愿与在带软木塞的瓶子。

设计/方法/方法

一项针对 436 名奥地利葡萄酒消费者的在线实验采用 2×2 组间设计进行。为了评估奥地利红白葡萄酒的质量，应用了产地、葡萄品种、奖项、残糖含量、年份、地理标志、陈年潜力、有机认证、葡萄园名称和品牌（生产商）等质量指标。此外，还考虑了不同的参与程度以及支付意愿。

发现

与早期的调查结果相反，结果证实，奥地利消费者通常不会认为螺旋盖瓶中的葡萄酒（红葡萄酒和白葡萄酒）与软木塞瓶中的葡萄酒质量较低或不同。然而，消费者希望软木塞瓶装红葡萄酒和白葡萄酒的价格高于螺旋盖瓶装葡萄酒。在既定的质量指标中，目前的分析表明，价格是葡萄酒质量的最强线索，并表明用软木塞封闭并带有更高价格标签的葡萄酒被认为质量更高。

研究限制/影响

这项研究有局限性，例如没有感官差异。此外，研究设计完全基于对葡萄酒的描述和一组有限的质量指标，不涉及葡萄酒的实际品尝。

实际影响

结果表明，在葡萄酒的战略定位中，带螺旋盖和软木塞的葡萄酒瓶在葡萄酒消费者质量认知上的差异所起的作用比预期的要小。调查结果与从业者相关，特别是在旧世界的葡萄酒市场，软木塞仍被视为优质葡萄酒的首选。

原创性/价值

这项调查的结果有助于了解成熟的旧世界葡萄酒市场的消费者以及他们对替代瓶盖类型（如螺旋盖）的态度。它为葡萄酒质量感知的研究流增加了新的见解。