Claire SULMONT-ROSSE1, Yves LEFUR1, Géraldine ENDERLI1, Annick LEBECQUE2, Corinne AMBLARD2, Cécile BORD2, Georges GIRAUD2

1 INRA, UMR 1129 FLAVIC, F-21000 Dijon, France
2 ENITA Clermont, France


Traditional foods are often associated with a “terroir”, namely a definite area where a know-how was developed since a long-time through interaction between local products, environment and people. In addition of protecting such products from imitation, labels such as Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) or Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) are often viewed as a tool that conveys link to original place of production in consumers’ rationale. However, one can assume that some knowledge difference may exist among consumers, which means that close to the area of production, they may have develop more familiarity with a given product, rather than those living far from this area.

The paper presents the results of a consumer study focusing on two products, namely cheese and wine. The study was split into two French regions, Auvergne and Burgundy. The first is well-known for its cheese production, the second is the genuine place of wines. Twelve Saint-Nectaire cheeses were selected from 4 categories – processed and ripened on farm, processed but not ripened on farm, processed in dairy factory with or without PDO. Twelve Chardonnay wines were selected among 3 categories – village appellations, regional appellations and wines without PDO. About one hundred consumers were recruited in each region to take part either in the cheese or in the wine study. Participants were asked to rate their liking for each sample. Then, they were asked to sort the 12 samples in as many groups as they want.

While PDO categories were not relevant for the sorting results obtained on wine, the expecting categories emerged from the sorting results obtained on cheese in both regions. However, consumers living close to the area of production made larger differences between samples than those living far from this area. Moreover, they preferred cheeses which were the most traditional ones.