Support for local wines in The Netherlands: opportunities for the hospitality industry

Abstract

This article reports on a research project to measure the current intrinsic competitive value of Dutch wine in comparison to wines from renowned  wine countries based on a taste and olfactory evaluation, and to explore the sustainable benefits that local Dutch wine can offer and wines made  from fungus-resistant grape varieties (FRG). Both factors aim to measure the unique selling point of Dutch wine and explore if adoption in The  Netherlands can be strengthened in the future. A blind tasting experiment with four different tasting groups (n = 54) was conducted. Participants  evaluated (blind) two Dutch wines (white and red), a New Zealand wine (white) and a Bordeaux blend (red), which were matched according to their  flavour components and popularity in The Netherlands. The outcome of this research shows no significant difference in overall scores between  groups when comparing Dutch wine to wines from renowned wine-producing countries when tasted blind. However, the Dutch white wine was  significantly more likely to be purchased according to participants. Results show that the competitiveness of Dutch wine in comparison to other  renowned wine regions is evident. Dutch wine has increased in quality over the last years, therefore it is more likely to be purchased now. This offers  opportunities in marketing and sales to increase efforts towards a more sustainable food and beverage programme among restaurateurs in  The Netherlands.