The importance of landscape in wine quality perception: l’importanza del paesaggio nella percezione qualitativa del vino

The wine quality is a characteristic that is both difficult to define and communicate, because the quality attributes can be divided into intrinsic (objective, such as alcohol degree, acidity, colour, grape variety etc.) and hedonistic components (extrinsic) that is based upon a subjective evaluation. That means that the attributes that signal quality to consumers are not always objective, but also extrinsic, which impact on wine preference and is a study in progress. The wine area production seems to be a very important variable influencing consumers’ judgement, because it reflects the wine origin, its quality, its traceability (as variety, climate, soil morphology, wine law assessment). The landscape is an important component of the wine origin and it summarises several wine attributes: e.g. climate and soil for grape quality, the local history and the grape production traditions. The mountain viticulture landscape is also an expression of handwork and authenticity. With the aim to quantify the importance of landscape and frame of mind in wine quality perception and how much they can influence consumers’ decision to purchase wine, using a new statistical test, Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis – CBCA, we have evaluate the relevance of the attribute landscape at four different levels. The results pointed out a direct relation that tie a well conserved and scenographic landscape with the wine quality perception and confirm that landscape is an important factor of the extrinsic wine quality.