Is there an association between consumers’ personality traits and the sensory characteristics they look for in wine?

This study investigates the link between the personality profiles and socio-demographic characteristics of wine consumers and the sensory characteristics of the wines they prefer. This was measured in terms of a self-reported list of the wines they like and buy. The 1176 Italian adults who participated were asked to complete an online form. Information was collected regarding certain socio-demographic details and the participants’ personality profile (established by means of the Big Five Inventory 2 by Soto & John, 2017). The participants were then asked to specify their favorite types of wines (open response: “Which wines do you like the most? Please list the wines that you like and buy”). The sensory profiles of the 258 wines in total listed by the participants were described by four of the experimenters (based on official reviews) in terms of eight variables: the degree of Alcohol, Acidity, Sweetness, Body, Tannicity, Sapidity, Persistence and Complexity of bouquet. Various associations were found between the sensory characteristics of the wines listed and the sociodemographic characteristics analyzed (gender, age and wine expertise), and between the sensory characteristics of the wines and the participants’ personality traits. For example, we found that extroverts prefer more acidic wines, sociable people like wines characterized by a high alcohol content and with a more complex bouquet, people with high emotional stability prefer tannic, persistent, full-bodied wines and open-minded people favor wines with a persistent flavor and high levels of tannicity while they don’t like sapidity. Almost all of these associations were consistent across gender. The study contributes to academic research on the relationships between consumers’ characteristics and their wine preferences, and it provides insights which are interesting for the wine industry and other wine distribution channels in terms of market orientation.