Regulatory policies and consumers quality perception in the wine sector

The paper analyses how dierent aspects connected with regulations can in uence consumer quality perception and the value that consumers attribute to wine sector products. In particular, aspects concerning labelling and presentation of designations of origin, which, in turn, mirror dierent regulations of production methods, are considered. Consumer preference can allow enterprises to comply with more restrictive rules and sustain higher costs for dierentiating their products and achieving higher quality. When choosing a product, consumers do not evaluate each single quality factor but the product as a whole, therefore the analysis has to be done with a methodology considering both the combination of all characteristics of the product, and the contribution of every factor to the creation of value for consumers. For this reason the value that consumers attribute to dierent characteristics is evaluated through an experimental economic analysis applying the method of the Conjoint analysis. The experiment was realized evaluating dierent labels of a protected designation of origin "Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC" wine, with two dierent groups of consumers: a group of inhabitants of the Abruzzo Region, the region of origin of the wine, and a group of Brazilian people (inhabitants of the Santa Catarina State).