By Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities

RICHLAND, Wash. 鈥� recently signed an agreement with to explore educational opportunities for international collaboration in the field of wine science.

Valdemar Family Wine Estates has in both Walla Walla, Washington, and Rioja, Spain. It is the first non-American winery to establish a location in Walla Walla.

鈥淲e are delighted to forge an agreement with Valdemar Family Wine Estates, as it will provide extensive learning opportunities for students,鈥� 黑料社 Tri-Cities Chancellor Sandra Haynes said. 鈥淭hese opportunities include internships, research and hands-on experiences that provide an in-depth look at the wine industry here and in Spain.鈥�

The agreement specifically encourages the exploration of:

• Ways that international students could participate in experiential learning such as internships at Valdemar Family Wine Estates in Walla Walla, Washington, and in Rioja, Spain
• Ways to recruit Spanish students to the Tri-Cities and vice-versa
• Joint research efforts including grape and wine production
• Opportunities for collaborative programs relating to wine business professional development and related research programs

鈥淭here are two things that excite us the most about this partnership, and those are the possibility of giving local students an international experience in Rioja, which is something that will enhance their career, as well as the project bringing Rioja grapes, such as Maturana or White Tempranillo, something that would enrich the grape diversity of Washington state,鈥� said Jes煤s Mart铆nez Bujanda Mora, CEO of Valdemar.

Andr茅-Denis Girard Wright, dean of 黑料社鈥檚 College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, said Washington is the new epicenter of wine, and 黑料社鈥檚 Viticulture and Enology Program fosters the state鈥檚 $4.8 billion wine industry with research, education and outreach.

鈥淧artnering with Valdemar Estates, who pioneered the first internationally-owned winery in Walla Walla, brings global connections that are truly exciting for our students, scientists and wine industry partners,鈥� he said.

Washington State University is a , featuring the state-of-the art and all-encompassing 鈥� one of only a handful of full-fledged wine science centers in the United States.

For more information about the wine science program at 黑料社, visit . For more information about Valdemar Family Wine Estates, visit .

By Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities

RICHLAND, Wash. 鈥� 聽Taste might have less to do with what consumers are willing to pay for wine than you think.

In fact, a series of tests showed that non taste-related factors may play a larger role in how much consumers are willing to pay for wine in Hong Kong, compared with their western counterparts.

The trend was revealed in a study by university researchers from Washington state, Minnesota, Hong Kong and Korea. The blind taste experiment was conducted in Hong Kong to analyze consumers鈥� willingness to pay based on several factors.

Project researchers included Byron Marlowe, a clinical assistant professor in hospitality business management at Washington State University Tri-Cities, and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Gyeongsang National University in Korea. Their results are presented in the fall issue of the聽.

Three stages of research

The test was administered in three stages.

Stage 1: A purely blind tasting test, in which participants received no information about the wine.

State 2: Participants were provided with the wine鈥檚 country of origin prior to the tasting.

Stage 3: 聽Full information on the wines, including attributes such as grape variety, region and winery of origin, were provided before tasting.

During each tasting, participants were asked to taste and rate each wine according to selected attributes and assign their 鈥渨illingness-to-pay鈥� for that particular wine. Six wines 鈥� three reds and three whites, with similar price points, from five different countries and six different regions 鈥� were served in each stage. The wine originated from the following areas:

• Western Cape, South Africa
• Iowa, USA
• Rheingau, Germany
• Rioja, Spain
• Wisconsin, USA
• Argentina

鈥淢ost of the wines did fairly well in the first treatment, when all of the individuals were completely blind to the wine details,鈥� Marlowe said. 鈥淏ut they do worse when revealed that the wines are from regions that they are not as familiar with or with varietals that they aren鈥檛 familiar with.鈥�

Pre-taste factors that impact willingness to pay

Researchers found that revealing the country and region of origin of the wines from Iowa and Wisconsin had a negative effect on how much participants were willing to pay per bottle.聽Customers indicated they would be willing to pay an average of $2.70 to $4.80 less per bottle than the designated stated retail price for the wines.

For example, if the wine鈥檚 stated retail price was $24, then the customer would be willing to pay potentially $2.70 to $4.80 less than that price, or $21.30 or $19.20 per bottle.

Marlowe said this is probably because those regions are not widely known as wine grape-growing regions, and also not for wine production.

鈥淎ll of a sudden, when participants know they鈥檙e drinking a wine from the Midwest, where cold and hardy varietals are grown, their immediate response is to rate it lower than wine from a more well-known region,鈥� he said.

Similar results were shown for the wines from Germany and Argentina, although further analysis found the two countries to be less effected by perception of region.

Researchers also realized that female participants in the study seemed to have higher willingness to pay than males. Younger consumers also appeared to have higher willingness to pay than older consumers.

Additionally, 鈥渘ovice drinkers鈥� or those who had wine rarely or less than once a month, relied mainly on country of origin information in their wine evaluations, as compared to 鈥渆xpert consumers鈥� or those who drink wine more than once a week and who relied more on sensory quality or taste, according to results of the study.

Asian vs. western market perceptions

Although results of Hong Kong participants follow similar trends as those who participated in similar studies in western countries, results also suggest that cues unrelated to taste play a larger role in the evaluation of wine in the Asian market, especially for novice wine drinkers, as compared to western societies.

Marlowe said these points warrant attention as wine consumption and popularity continues to grow in Asia, and specifically Hong Kong.

鈥淭eachers, wine scientists and marketers can use these details when marketing wines for Asian countries, as well as in educating individuals in those areas about wine origins and attributes,鈥� Marlowe said. 鈥淎 wine produced in the Midwest in the United States may be a premium wine, but if there is a perception that it is less than, we need to overcome those factors through marketing and business tactics to help promote those wines.鈥�