Keywords

1 Introduction

Greece has a long tradition of producing wines, being from ancient times. With reference the year 2022, Greece is ranked 19th in the world in wine production, 26th in terms of exporting and 45th in term of importing wines [1].

The Prefecture (regional unit) of Drama (3468 sq. km.) consists of an area in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (with capital the city of Drama), bordering with Bulgaria (north), the prefecture of Xanthi (east), the prefecture of Kavala (south) and the prefecture of Serres (west). Of its total area, 402 sq km are lowland, 629 semi-mountainous and 2437 mountainous. According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority [2], the population of Drama prefecture is 86643 (2021 census).

The economy of the prefecture of Drama is mainly agricultural-related and is one of the well-known wine production regions in Greece. Though, wine production in a systematical manner is performed in the area the last 40–50 years, i.e., the late 70’s and early 80’s [3].

Today, in the Drama prefecture eleven wineries function, cultivating 27 different grape varieties, while the produced wines are marketed both on the domestic market and for export. Karapetsas et al. [3] state that major varieties cultivated in the area are the white varieties Sauvignon Blanc and the red varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Of the Greek varieties, Assyrtiko white and the Agiorgitiko red are cultivated, and the total annual wine production is estimated at around 3 million bottles.

Due to the existing competition among wineries and wines, in order to differentiate their products, wineries are more and more attaching their products to the terrain of the area that produces the wine, i.e., its terroir [4].

Teil [5, p. 481] state that “Terroir is a complex blend of local agro-climactic characteristics and events, viticulture and wine-making practices and choices that give a wine its distinctive taste, its “terroir typicity.” According to the International Organization of Vine and Wine [6], definition of Vitivinicultural “terroir” has as follows: “Vitivinicultural “terroir” is a concept which refers to an area in which collective knowledge of the interactions between the identifiable physical and biological environment and applied vitivinicultural practices develops, providing distinctive characteristics for the products originating from that area. “Terroir” includes specific soil, topography, climate, landscape characteristics and biodiversity features” [6].

Based on the significance of the wine production for the Drama prefecture, this research has as its aim to explore if wine consumers have knowledge about the wines and PGI wines of the prefecture of Drama, Greece, and whether they seek terroir elements when searching information online for a wine. Specifically, it explores the following:

  1. 1.

    Are consumers familiar with the wines of Northern Greece and specifically those of the prefecture of Drama?

  2. 2.

    Are consumers familiar with the PGI wines of the Drama prefecture (PGI wines of Drama, Agora and Hadriani) and have they had any previous experience with them?

  3. 3.

    Where do they search online for information about a wine?

  4. 4.

    Which terroir elements do they search for online, and

  5. 5.

    Whether there are gender differences in knowledge and experience with PGI wines of Drama prefecture, as well as the terroir elements that they seek online information for.

This scientific research efforts to minimize the gap in the extant academic literature in relation to the terroir elements of wines sought by consumers and gender differences in knowledge of PGI wines in the prefecture of Drama Greece.

2 Literature Review

As wine terroir is a multi- facet construct, some of the terroir elements that were recorded in academic literature were “Area of wine production”, “Vineyard -winery terrain”, “Vineyard terrain geology”, “Landscape architecture”, “Grape varieties”, “Climate of the area”, “Traditional wine (grape varieties, processing, territory, method of storage-aging of wines, etc.)”, “Wines with geographical indication”, “Method of production and processing”, “Wine authenticity”, “Place attachment”, “Cultural identity” “Ritual of production or consumption”, “Production area’s Know-how in Viti viniculture”, “Historical aspects (varieties, vini viticulture of winery or territory, method of storage, etc.)”, “Connection with gastronomy”, and “Way of harvesting the grapes” [eg., 3, 5, 7, 8].

A search of scholar.google.com using the keywords “gender differences” “PDO wines” and “gender differences” “PGI wines” (30-5-2023) yielded two and three articles respectively, none of which addressed gender differences towards PGI wines. On the same day, the search terms “gender differences” “wine terroir”, returned six articles. Again, there was no direct association between the two search terms, and terroir or/and gender differences were in the reference section.

On the contrary, when searching “gender differences” “wine” and different terroir elements there was a considerate number of studies (when added together). For so, some that are relevant to the topic of research are presented. Within these results, a large volume of studies deals with gender differences and wine information search procedures [e.g., 9], wine choice [10], wine preference under different occasions [11], and gender differences and extrinsic cues such as labelling, price, and medals [9]. Some also address gender differences and region of origin, from different points of view [10, 12], others focus on wine production, such as organic, sustainable, etc. [13], grape varieties and wine type [14].

3 Materials and Methods

A questionnaire was developed for data collection which was based on previous academic publications on wine terroir and its elements [e.g., 7, 8, 15], and the existing online search engines, social media and apps. The question referring to the 17 terroir elements were rated on a yes–no dichotomous scale and included the elements of terroir presented in the literature review section. A post-questionnaire development qualitative research validated the items of wine terroir and a small scale (excluded from the final sample) pilot test established face validity. Due to time and economic constraints, data collection was conducted online and the sample was convenient. Criteria were set in order for an individual to take part in the study, i.e., be an adult (18+), drink wine, have access to the internet, and provide with consent to use his/her answers for the research. In this manner 917 valid answers were used for analysis with the SPSS ver.28 statistical program. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and chi-square tests. Hypotheses were set at a = 0.05. Based on the above procedure and analysis, the sample’s profile is as follows. Male subjects (55.4%) were overrepresented compared with female subjects (44.6%) and the samples’ age ranged from 18 to 76. Additionally, most participants were married (49.7%), lived in the city (71.5%), had at least a university degree (45.5%), received a monthly salary (61.5%), and as to net monthly family income in euros, up to 1000.00€, was reported by 41.2% of the sample, while 34.4% reported an income of 1000,01–2000,00€, and 24.4% had a net family monthly income of more than 2000,00 €.

4 Results

4.1 Consumers’ Knowledge and Previous Experience with PGI Wines of Drama Prefecture, Wine Information Search and Terroir Elements in Online Wine Information Search

All respondents were aware that the prefecture of Drama produces wines. As to the PGI wines produced in the area, i.e., PGI wines of Drama, Hadriani, and Agora, 53.3% know the PGI wines of Drama, 29.0% know the PGI wines of Hadriani, and 23.8% know the PGI wines of Agora. Regarding previous experience with PGI wines produced in the prefecture of Drama, 48.0% have previous experience with the PGI wines of Drama, 24.3% with the PGI wines of Hadriani, and 20.2% with the PGI wines of Agora.

Referring to where consumers search for information about wines online, the three online platforms most frequently used by consumers were the winery's website (77.0%; N = 706), Google + (60.2%; N = 602), and Facebook (46.7%; N = 428). From the 17 terroir elements related to wines and wineries the three terroir elements that consumers seek for when searching online for wine information are area of wine production (74.8%), grape varieties (73.1%), and wine authenticity (65.8%).

4.2 Gender Differences and Hypothesis Testing

Gender differences were analyzed through chi-square statistical tests. Three main hypotheses were developed and tested to determine gender differences:

Hypothesis No.1: There is a relationship between wine consumer’s gender and their knowledge of PGI wines of Drama prefecture (α = 0.05). This hypothesis has three sub hypotheses, one for each area of the prefecture of Drama that produces PGI wines.

Chi-square tests revealed that there is no association between wine consumer’s gender and their knowledge of the PGI wines of Drama prefecture. Specifically, χ12 = 0.617, p = 0.432 for the PGI wines of Drama; χ12 = 3.644, p = 0.061 for the PGI wines of Agora, and χ12 = 1.251, p = 0.273 for the PGI wines of Hadriani. Therefore, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected.

Hypothesis No.2: There is a relationship between wine consumer’s gender and their previous experience of PGI wines of Drama prefecture (α = 0.05). This hypothesis has three sub hypotheses, one for each area of the prefecture of Drama that produces PGI wines.

As to hypothesis No.2, chi-square tests revealed that there is no relationship between wine consumer’s gender and their previous experience with the PGI wines of Drama prefecture (p = 0.05), whereas χ12 = 1.251, p = 0.263 for the PGI wines of Drama; χ12 = 1.163, p = 0.281 for the PGI wines of Agora, and χ12 = 3.724, p = 0.063 for the PGI wines of Hadriani. Therefore, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected.

Hypothesis No.3: There is a relationship between participant’s gender and their online information search of wine terroir elements (α = 0.05). The hypothesis No.3 is based on the 17 above mentioned elements of the wine terroir. Therefore, in total 17 sub hypotheses are formed and examined, whereas results are presented in Table 1 only for the cases that sign. < 0.05.

Table 1 Gender differences in terroir elements consumers seek in online wine information search
Full size table

As Table 1 illustrates, referring to the hypothesis No.3 with the 17 sub hypotheses, only four cases produced statistically significant differences. Specifically, gender affects wine consumers online search for the following elements of wine terroir (i.e., the relation between these variables is significant): winery terrain, landscape architecture, place attachment, and the way of grape harvesting. For the rest of the hypotheses tested, in all cases sign. p > 0.05, and therefore the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. Also in all cases, the male subjects searched online significantly more (in percentage) compared to the female subjects for the above elements of wine terroir.

5 Discussion and Implementations

One result that this research revealed is that wine consumers are well aware that the prefecture of Drama produces wines. While this knowledge exists, about half of the sample knows about the PGI wined produced in the area, (i.e., PGI wines of Drama, Hadriani, and Agora). Specifically, this sample was knowledgeable of the PGI wines of Drama, while their knowledge of PGI wines of other areas of Drama prefecture fell under 30% of the sample and even less had prior experience of the products. This clearly implies that communication marketing is needed to increase awareness of the PGI wines of Drama, Hadriani, and Agora and to motivate consumers to experience them.

When asked where wine consumers look online for information about wines and wine characteristics, they stated that the winery’s website, Google + and Facebook were the main information search vehicles for the majority of the wine consumers. With more than 77.0% of wine consumers searching the winery’s website, this implies that information search is targeted and specific, based on their previous knowledge and experience. This outcome also implies that awareness campaigns should be implemented. Additionally, since winery websites are the most common search channel for consumers, consequently sale promotions (such as SMS or push notifications) on mobile phones can be implemented [16] to arise terroir awareness and develop website loyalty, as well as wine purchasing [17].

Seventeen wine terroir elements were presented and requested from the participants to point out which of them they seek online information for a wine. Aatkin et al. [9] assert that when a wine consumer does not have adequate information, he/she relies on the wines’ region of origin. Lockshin and Corsi [18, p. 51] in their review of published papers referring to wine consumers behavior found that grape varieties were of interest for the consumers, while Quester and Smart [19] in their study found that “less involved consumers rate grape variety as being more important than do highly involved consumers”. As to authenticity, Skuras and Vakrou [20] in their study found that Greek wine consumers with a higher educational level are willing to pay a higher price for wine authenticity and region of attributes of the wine.

Gender differences in three hypotheses were examined. No gender differences were found in the first and second cases, in which gender differences in knowledge of PGI wines of the prefecture of Drama (Drama, Hadriani, and Agora wines) and in prior experience were examined. As to the third hypothesis, regarding gender differences in seeking wine terroir element information online for wines, four wine terroir elements gender differences were observed. These were for the terroir elements place attachment, vineyard terrain, winery landscape architecture, and grape harvesting. In all cases men were significantly more than their female counterparts that search for these terroir elements. One reason could be that these are specific terroir elements that require knowledge of wines and their characteristics, and as previous research recognizes males have advanced wine knowledge compared to women [21, 22]. Another reason could be that women prefer to gain wine information “on the spot” as compared to men [9]. Though, direct comparison with our findings one per one (for the four cases) is not possible, as we did not find any published work addressing gender differences and these four terroir elements in the online wine search situation.

These findings in a general sense help wineries develop a terroir and gender-based communication strategy that appeals differently or equally to men and women (depending on the terroir element) based on inferred gender differences. As with place attachment, for example, landscapes with their history can be effectively used and communicated to develop emotional ties with the winery and its area of production. As Kavoura [23, p. 37] states that the “symbolic presence of monumental landscapes which include features of myths, tradition, continuity, religion and legend, as well as political and nationalistic aspects are related to the emotional ties of people to specific sites”.

6 Conclusions and Limitations

This research enhances our understanding of an important wine region by providing information from a consumer perspective about a wine territory that even though is well known for its wines, it has not effectively communicated its wine terroir elements, and thus knowledge of its PGI wines is limited. Additionally, this research enhances academia theoretically from the terroir perspective, by providing with the wine terroir elements that Greek consumers search for on the internet, as well as the information channels that they seek this information from. Therefore, it provides with insight that wineries may use to develop a marketing communication strategy for their products. Main limitations of the study form the sampling procedure (non-probability; online; whereas results cannot be generalized) and the small sample obtained due to time constraints.

Ethical Approval: “There are no ethical issues involved in the processing of the questionnaire data used in the study. The necessary consents have been obtained by the persons involved, and the anonymity of the participants has been secured. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the International Hellenic University research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards”.