Perspectives on wine marketing research

Conducting marketing research in the wine industry is like hugging a porcupine. It’s hard to wrap your arms around, and you better know what you’re doing or else you can get hurt. The challenge is endemic to wine itself. With what other product do consumers get so overwhelmed by something so pleasurable where they doubt their own taste buds and defer to the opinions of “experts” to tell them what they should and shouldn’t like, and are often made to feel inferior for liking what they like (e.g., something sweet)?