Research at Curtin University of Technology’s Centre for Wine Excellence has given the industry new insight into the buying behaviour of wine consumers in Asia.

The research, undertaken by doctoral student Tom Egan, has confirmed that young and emerging wine consumers in Hong Kong prefer sweeter wine varieties in tasting trials, regardless of their stated preference.

Chair in Viticulture and Oenology at the Margaret River Campus, Associate Professor Mark Gibberd said the results of the study will benefit wine producers and wine marketers in Western Australia.

“Prior to this research, the industry has very much relied on anecdotal evidence as to what styles of wine to export to Asia.

“Thanks to this research, we now have concrete data on the wine styles preferred by emerging wine drinkers in Asia,” Associate Professor Gibberd explained.

The research utilised an approach which is able to separate stated preference and purchase cues (such as price, country of origin and packaging) from actual preferences as determined by blind tastings.

The results of the research found that semi-sweet white wines were significantly preferred over dryer wine styles, and sweeter red wines are significantly preferred over lighter bodied varieties.

In the case of red wines, dark coloured wines are significantly more preferred over lighter coloured wines.

“The fact that sweeter wines are significantly preferred over light dry styles is an important finding for the industry,” Associate Professor Gibberd said.

“This sends a clear message to producers that it is important to craft and export wine styles that suit the market.”

Asian markets are being targeted by Western Australian wine producers as an avenue to ease the oversupply of wine that has occurred in the past three years. Asian markets are being targeted because of their proximity, high economic growth rates, growing disposable income and increasing levels of wine consumption.