"Vineyard and winery development is increasing in rural regions throughout the U.S., with the introduction of cold-hardy wine grapes amplifying the development of new wine regions in rural areas in the northern U.S. These grapes and wines are creating opportunities for wine production and wine tourism in areas where wine production was not previously feasible. For these new wine tourism operators to be successful and build sustainable wine regions, winery owners need to understand what wine tourists value and develop best practices in the tasting room to facilitate sales. Since these new wineries depend heavily on tasting room sales, it is important to learn how to best market and differentiate these new cold-hardy varietals specific to wine tourists with a focus on the tasting room as the main point of sale. To address this issue, a multi-methodological approach was implemented to 1) examine how information impacts wine tourists' willingness to pay (WTP) for cold-hardy wines using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) experimental auction method; 2) determine the extent wine tourists prefer specific wine attributes in relation to price using stated preference choice modelling (SPCM); and 3) describe how wine tourists' preference and utility is influenced by their level of involvement with wine using cluster analysis and SPCM. A total of 143 wine tourists participated in non-hypothetical BDM experimental auctions, which were conducted at a winery in a rapidly growing wine region in northern Michigan. BDM auction results show that while a "locally produced" message increased tourists' WTP for a wine, information about awards the wine had won had a greater impact on WTP. The SPCM study surveyed winery visitors in cold-climate wine regions in Wisconsin and Minnesota. With 338 completed surveys, logistic regression analysis was conducted and showed that wine tourists' preferred wines that had won an award and wines that possessed a geographic designation. In the final study, cluster analysis segmented wine tourists into two groups based on involvement (i.e., low-involved or high-involved wine tourists). Logistic regression analysis was conducted for both groups and identified preferences and utility for wine product attributes between the two groups. The groups also revealed different amounts of wine knowledge, as well as different wine purchasing and consumption behaviors. This study suggests that the level of involvement does impact wine tourists' preferences and specifically, their utility for wine attributes. Research findings across the three studies provide several implications for winery operators. Findings from all three studies indicate that winery operators should enter their wines into competitions, whereas support for winery operators to specifically brand their wines using a varietal name (e.g., Marquette) was found only in Study Three after respondents were segmented into high- and low-involved wine tourists. Additional implications are discussed, and future research is suggested specific to each study, as well as on the use of the multiple methods to address research specific to the wine tourism industry. Researchers and practitioners can utilize research findings to inform their marketing and promotional strategies in the tasting room."
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