Wine drinkers are sought to help compare the 'value' of labels.

New research is comparing the value, if any, of various wine labels; that is, the actual labels on the bottles and the implied value of the associated vineyards and regions.

The Central Queensland University research involves developing a model, from both literature and past research, to produce an accurate measure of a wine's brand value, the vineyard brand and the region's brand.

Researcher Dr Angela Dobele from the Faculty of Business & Informatics, who is working alongside Associate Professor Phil Bretherton, said these are significant and important aims.

Dr Angela Dobele and Associate Professor Phil Bretherton

"For example, if product-country image affects can be shown at the regional level, this could have significant implications for regional economic development.

"It may be possible to brand products, particularly agricultural produce, with, for example, the ‘Central Queensland' brand.  For example, Rockhampton's beef, The Whitsunday's, Eungella Organic Yoghurts or Yeppoon Pineapples could become synonymous with ‘Scottish Beef' or ‘Lancashire' cheese."

Dr Dobele and Associate Professor Bretherton will conduct an online survey with the help of word-of-mouth invitations and an email invitation to various marketing mailing lists. All interested people over 18 are welcome to get involved, with details available at:

http://www.coowine.cqu.edu.au/

The online survey takes about 20 minutes to complete and asks questions about a person's responses to some wine labels and some other questions about drinking behaviour and purchase of wine.

Results will be published at a conference or in a journal, and curious respondents can request information from the researchers after the survey's completion.