Organic wine is more desirable to consumers, but only if they don’t know it’s organic

Interesting new research shows that organically-produced wines are generally ranked higher in quality and command a higher price than non-organic wines.  But the researchers also found that most organic wines aren’t actually labeled as “organic,” and that those wines with such a label command lower prices than comparable non-organic wines.  The study by UCLA Institute of the Environment/Anderson School of Management professor Magali Delmas and UCSB researcher Laura E. Grant, profiled in detail here, has been accepted for publication in the journal Business and Society, and is available (in pre-publication form) here.   It’s unclear exactly why consumers might shun wine labeled “organic,” but Dr. Grant notes that organic wine was thought of as “hippie wine” in the 1970s, and tended to turn bad more quickly than other wines, which may contain preservatives.  The researchers have other theories as well, detailed in the article.

labeling, Magali Delmas, organic, UCLA Institute of the Environment, wine