A growing number of consumers demand natural foods, and this is also the case for wine. Although wine consumers are increasingly interested in natural wine, what defines natural wine is still unclear, with a lack of universal standards regulating the production of this type of wine. Scholars argue that natural wine characteristics might be vague and, therefore, natural wine perception can be heterogeneous among consumers. This study questions whether the perception of what is natural or not may affect consumer wine choice behaviour, by focusing on those attributes consumers may use to infer its naturalness. A survey conducted in Italy on 340 red wine consumers, allowed to determine drivers of wine consumption frequency and wine preference structure. By means of a choice experiment, this research investigate the effect of a natural wine claim (‘objective naturalness’) and the effect of personal perceptions of naturalness (‘subjective naturalness’) on consumer evaluation for attributes that are generally linked to natural wine production, and their marginal willingness to pay for those attributes. Results show that consumers mostly associate natural wine with “artisanal” wine-making techniques and that wine choice behaviour can be affected by whether a wine is perceived as natural or not. However, there are contrasting results when controlling for the effect of ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ wine naturalness. Finally, results show that respondents are willing to pay a price premium for the attributes linked to natural wine production, such as ecological certifications and wine-making techniques, but not for the “natural wine” claim. Further research topics are suggested.
