Package Styles in Wine Marketing: A Case Study of Valpolicella Wines

The role of packaging as communication tool has not been deeply analysed in the wine marketing literature in the Old World, also considering the denomination of origin. Recently, the interactions between collective and corporate brands are generating new communication elements, which should be explored to give new marketing inputs to wine producers. This research aims at analysing the package styles to understand the communication choices of the wineries from Valpolicella. Valpolicella is one of the biggest and most famous typical production areas for red wines in Italy, with a wide range of product/market combinations, targets prices and a high export propensity. An extensive survey has been carried out to understand the package style elements actually used. An ad hoc survey scheme has been applied to 377 wines of the 59 wineries which are members of the consortium of Valpolicella wines producers. The main “package style profiles” that represent the different communication strategies adopted by the Valpolicella wineries, have been determined. The research also highlights the roles of the collective brand and corporate brands in winery communication strategies.