Nieuw marktonderzoek toont aan dat een aantal vooroordelen over Zinfandel inderdaad kloppen 
- Zinfandel drinkers leven in Californie
- Zin drink je bij de BBQ
A unique new research project completed for Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) confirms some widely held assumptions about frequent Zinfandel consumers—they congregate on the West Coast, they drink Zin with barbecue—but also shows that core wine consumers in general would like better access to California’s heritage grape in restaurants, and that very few Zinfandel fans are concerned about its alcohol content.
The results of the multi-layered survey give ZAP members clues toward making and marketing their products more successfully, says Christian Miller of Full Glass Research in Oakland, Calif., who conducted the survey. His research targeted both wineries and consumers, including responses from 222 wineries that produce Zinfandel and 1,377 wine consumers, among them, the Wine Opinions "core wine consumer panel" and others drawn from current and former ZAP members and attendees of the 2006 ZAP Festival in San Francisco. Key findings about Zin consumers include:
•Zinfandel fans are willing to spend as much on Zin as they are on "more prestigious" varietals like Cabernet and Pinot Noir. So for the most renowned Zinfandels, pricing over $30 is not really a problem.
•High frequency Zinfandel drinkers tend to be from the West Coast and are underrepresented in the Northeast.
•Generally speaking, there were no gender differences between men and women in their perceptions of Zinfandel, although women were somewhat more disposed to purchase $20-plus Zin than men.
•Consumers want to see more Zinfandel on restaurant lists and by the glass. 63% of Wine Opinions core consumers agreed that they "would like to see more and better Zinfandels available by-the-glass in restaurants." Only 7% disagreed.
•Zinfandel’s strongest food consumption situation was "with barbecue and grilling foods;" however, more than half of the consumers interviewed said that Zinfandel "complements a wide variety of food."
•Wine enthusiasts and Zin buyers in particular are becoming attuned to the notion of terroir in wines. Half of all of the different groups interviewed said that "old vines produce better quality," and that quality and flavor depended on where Zinfandel was grown.
•While Zinfandel fans agreed that Zin was "heady and alcoholic" (40% of ZAP, 30% of high frequency Zin consumers) only a tiny number (less than 10%) thought that Zins were getting "too ripe and alcoholic."
Miller said he was surprised to learn that virtully no overlap exists between red Zinfandel and white Zinfandel drinkers. In other respects, Zinfandel consumers aren’t much different from other frequent wine consumers. "Zin is more about taste and attitude than a market niche," he said.
The producer survey showed that a large majority of Zinfandel makers also bottle Cabernet Sauvignon, while less than half make Chardonnay. Showing how important Zinfandel is to the producers’ bottom lines, more than half of the wineries that make Zinfandel said this varietal accounts for 30% or more of their sales.
Other findings about Zinfandel makers include these:
•Zinfandel producers are bullish, with over half expecting Zin sales to increase more than 5% and more than 25% expecting them to increase over 10% this year.
•Zinfandel makers are more product-oriented than market-oriented. They tend to focus on product quality and winery or appellation reputation rather than sales and marketing execution to sell their wares.
The wineries involved in the survey represent 35-45% of red Zin production in California, and about two-thirds of red Zin over $8 a bottle. When the full results are released Nov. 14 at a conference at the Trentadue Winery in Geyserville, Calif., topics will include types of varietals produced, size of winery and share represented by Zinfandel, Zin acreage owned, number of Zins produced, blending practices, ZAP membership, outlook on the Zin market and consumers, usage of designations such as old vine, appellations and vineyards, marketing practices and direct-to-consumer vs. distribution issues.
"The information can be applied to many activities," Miller said, "like deciding how to speak to consumers on back labels or websites, figuring out how to pitch Zin to mainstream core consumers vs. ZAP members or wine geeks, gaining more traction on-premise and so on."
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