The Relevance of Wine Branding: A Bibliometric Analysis of Wine and Brand

Wines are complex products. They historically have been identified by country and/or region of origin as well as by the producer or, in recent decades, marketed using grape varietal descriptions that gained 'generic brand status' (Spawton, 1999). Spawton (1990) supports a multi-faceted view of a wine brand. This brand hierarchy includes country of origin, region or appellation, variety of grape from which the wine is made, domain, bodega, or estate, and producer label. It may also include family heritage, production facility and equipment, winemaker, specific vineyard, soil type, climate, and even regional tourism characteristics and cuisine (Lockshin et al., 2000). Because of its agricultural nature, the wine industry has many brand-building sources to draw upon that go beyond primary product attributes. The proliferation of means of identifying wines leads to various product variants and types and a complex buying situation for consumers; this is a significant difference between wine and other consumer goods.