A Person's Wine Choice May Reveal a Lot About Them

(datelists.com - February 2, 2005) The Australian Wine Bureau and Match.com, a global leader in online dating, has released key findings from their recently commissioned Zoomerang survey of single Americans, revealing their attitudes, perceptions and preferences toward wine and romance. The survey results were released in conjunction with Australian Wine Bureau's Seventh Annual Australia Day Harvest Festival in New York.

Match.com polled more than 2,300 single men and women nationwide and found that 62 percent believe that their date's choice of beverage provides insight into their lifestyle, and 52 percent felt that it is indicative of their personality.

"A lot of what we understand about a person is communicated non-verbally," says Match.com dating expert, Kristin Kelly. "People often make quick assumptions based on how they've interpreted these non-verbal cues, and our research confirms that the type of beverage we choose is no exception to this rule."

Single Americans overwhelmingly choose wine to reflect their personalities and lifestyles on the all-important first date over any other beverage; including beer, specialty cocktails, sparkling water and soda. Specifically, single people are two times more likely to order wine over a specialty cocktail or soda and four times more likely to order wine instead of beer. More than seven in 10 survey respondents (72 percent) agree that knowledge about wine makes a member of the opposite sex more attractive.

When asked what wine-inspired characteristic best describes their ideal partner, Americans responded that they are most looking for someone who is fun (63 percent), a trait respondents felt best described Australian wines over any other United States' import. Accordingly, singles chose wines from Australia as the imported wine that best reflects their style of partner with nearly 64 percent indicating they would be interested in dating someone from Australia.

"Australia is typically associated with adventure, excitement and romance, so there is no better way to communicate these qualities than by ordering an Australian wine," said Jan Stuebing, director of Australian Wine Bureau. "And selecting an Australian wine to complement every stage of romance, from the first date, to the wedding day and then throughout life together, is easy because Australia produces great wines for every palate, wallet, and occasion."

Personality perceptions associated with the top U.S. imported wine countries:

-- Ordering a wine from Australia conveys the message that a person is adventurous (62 percent) and fun (32 percent).

-- A person that drinks French wine is viewed as pretentious (76 percent) and high-maintenance (65 percent).

-- Sexy (40 percent) and stylish (37 percent) were personality traits used to describe a person who orders a wine from Italy.

Additional survey findings:

-- The type of drink someone orders has the potential to pique the interest of their prospective partners. When asked which person they would be the most interested in meeting, respondents overwhelmingly chose someone who orders wine from Australia (53 percent) over someone who orders a vodka from Russia (18 percent), a beer from Belgium (15 percent) or a Port from Portugal (14 percent).

-- Eighty-three percent of singles agree that a glass of wine can make an already special moment even more romantic.

-- Ordering a glass of wine for that special occasion does not have to be expensive. Fifty-nine percent of women and 47 percent of men are not willing to spend more than $25 on a bottle of wine on a first date.

-- Overall, men were more likely than women to indicate that they have a great knowledge of wine.

Survey Methodology
The results of the Match.com/Zoomerang survey were conducted online with a random sample of 2,300 singles. The error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.