The Role of denomination of origins in the competition of the wine sector

The geographic expansion of the frontiers of agricultural markets and the growing liberalization of commercial trade determine rapid changes in the competitive international framework, thus generating threats and new opportunities for the national wine industry. In the evolution of economic settings, the change in food consumption is characterized not only by the urgency of fulfilling basic needs but mainly for the research of quality and variety in the very same food supply (Malassis L. Ghersi G.1995). Such a tendency facilitates the rediscovery of typical agro-food production, above all wine, that is, those products having a strong link with the territory of production. The estimated globalization process implies, amongst other things, the presence of new operators that, being able to bet on macro-entrepreneurial dimensions, attack the market adopting means against which our operators have difficulty in defending themselves especially when they act in isolation. Pondering over such a situation, the following query comes up: are typicality and the relationship with the territory still important elements for competition amongst the enterprises operating in the complex wine sector? The answer is found in the scientific method adopted by Popper according to which initially a hypothesis was formulated and then it proceeded towards its falsification (test of reliability)(Popper 1979) . The start is herewith represented by the positive answer to the above question, on condition that the relationship “wine-territory enterprise” may have the quality that the brand theory pointed out as being fundamental (Aaker 1997; Vicari 1995; Keller 1993;Perrier 1997). Therefore, adapting such a concept to the territory, it is possible to confirm that, considering the aspects that interest us, a large part of its value is related to prestige, that is, the identification that its factors possess externally. It is evident, however, how, in the relationship of the grape-wine sector - territory of origin, the identification of the territory value can be used by the consumer to attribute, ex ante, in the absence of specific know-how, a value to its product. As a matter of fact, the following analysis consists in the simple assertion according to which the wine consumer/client sometimes purchases the product on the basis of his knowledge of the territory of origin rather than on the basis of the producer’s knowledge (in this way the denomination of origin can be an important element for the competition of enterprises). In this way the need for territory prestige comes into being as well as the need that this prestige may correspond to the prerequisites emphasized in the studies on country brand effect (Bilkey W.J. – Nes E. 1982).