According to Wine Industry Advisor, the Wine Market Council (WMC) is hosting a special webinar to present findings from its latest Consumer Taste Preference Study. Titled Taste Matters: What Wine-Hesitant Consumers Want in Their Wine, the webinar is scheduled for May 27, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PST.
In this session, Liz Thach, MW and President of WMC, expressed enthusiasm about presenting research that explores the preferences and aversions of new or marginal wine consumers. The study uncovers opportunities for wine brands to align their offerings with what these consumers actually want.
Prior research has shown that difficulty finding wines that match personal taste, along with widespread misconceptions about wine flavor, keep hesitant consumers from buying. This new study sets out to unpack those perceptions — examining how expected flavor differs from the actual tasting experience, and what producers can do to close that gap.
The two-part study combines quantitative analysis from 3,386 blind wine tasting reviews with insights from a national survey of 1,000 wine-hesitant consumers. It identifies the specific sensory traits that either draw these drinkers in or push them away.
Conducted by WMC in partnership with Quini, a firm specializing in consumer sensory data, the study surfaces some striking findings. Roger Noujeim, CEO of Quini, noted that among hesitant consumers, the combination of high tannin and low perceived sweetness has an outsized effect on whether they’d recommend a wine — a sign that it’s specific flavor combinations, not single traits, that shape preference.
For wine brands and retailers, the takeaway is practical: tasting notes and shelf talkers built around single descriptors may miss the mark with this audience entirely. WMC says the full results, due for release alongside the webinar, will offer producers a clearer roadmap for winning over drinkers who have so far stayed on the sidelines.
