Challenging the status quo in wine stores

When I was doing the reading for today's class, I was struck by the discussion in chapter 1 about how wine retailers organize their wine to match consumer understanding. In the examples listed, it was so clear to me how wine retailers around the world alter their store organization to match the consumers. For example, the British store mentioned organizes their items by region right after by color and rating. The European market is very region-centric so this makes sense. This discussion got me thinking about how wine stores are organized and more importantly, how wine stores aren't organized. Why don't we organize our wine stores and online retailers by how the wines taste? e.g. red wines with medium body and earthy characteristics. Occasionally I have seen wine lists organized in this way but I have NEVER seen a store organized in this way. This begs the question of "why?"

If wine stores are really trying to reduce cognitive load and enable consumers to make easier purchasing decisions, I think that consumers would have an easier time buying wine if they were labeled by the characteristics that a consumer can best understand, how it tastes. Let's play this out in a wine-specific retail shop (because I imagine this wouldn't make as much sense in a grocery store). If a consumer comes in and knows nothing about wine, they will likely ask for a recommendation, at which point store organization doesn't matter much. If a consumer comes in and knows a little about wine, they likely know what color wine they like and what weight of wine they like. Isn't it harder for them to figure out what region & varietal maps to that tasting experience? I often find that I can remember a tasting experience even when I can't remember the attributes on the label. Finally, if a consumer comes in and knows a lot about wine, they shouldn't have trouble identifying where their wine would sit. Maybe this approach is most cumbersome for serious wine drinkers, but I imagine they are more patient and make up a smaller percentage of buyers.

So, why aren't wine stores organized like this?

• It's more cumbersome to the retailers?
• Retailers don't know enough about their wines to sort in this way?
• Consumers are used to one way of shopping and it would be impossible for them to change the way they shop?
• Consumers don't actually know what they like?
• Consumers know what they like but don't have the vocabulary to describe it?
• Consumers care most about the status associated with different wines and it's harder to discern this piece from the set up I suggested?

I'm curious what other people think about this idea!