Effects of Immersive Context and Wine Flavor on Consumer Wine Flavor Perception and Elicited Emotions

Abstract

Food studies have shown that emotional responses can be influenced by food alone and by its environmental context. The influence of context on perception and liking of red wine flavors and on the emotions evoked is poorly understood. The primary aim of this research was to examine the effect of wine flavors and context by immersive environment on consumer-perceived intensities of green and floral flavors, liking, and emotions elicited during wine consumption. Red wine consumers (n = 105) tasted three Cabernet Sauvignon wines: an unaltered control wine (CW), green wine (GW; control wine spiked with 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine), and floral wine (FW; control wine spiked with rose water), in both a “floral” room (FR) and a “green” room (GR). The wine consumers were asked to taste and rate the intensity of green and floral flavors, hedonic liking, and the emotions elicited. The results showed that in both rooms, FW was rated consistently higher in floral flavor and GW was rated higher in green flavor. CW and FW were significantly (p < 0.001) more liked than the GW. Based on wine liking, three clusters were identified. CW and FW evoked significantly higher positive emotions than GW (p < 0.05), while GW evoked significantly higher negative emotions than CW and FW (p < 0.05) in both rooms. The effect of immersive environment did not influence flavor perception, hedonic liking, or emotional responses. Consumers were also separated into three clusters according to their liking of wines tasted, and despite clusters having identical liking for certain wines, the associated emotions differed.