The wine industry has traditionally been male-dominated with 82 % of U.S. winemakers being male as of 2021, leading to a male perspective in strategising wines. Meanwhile, women drinkers have become an increasingly important market segment; more than 59 % of wine drinkers in the U.S. were women in 2021. However, the dominance of male influence in the wine industry persists.

As tasting before consumption is precluded in most settings, consumers’ expectations of the hospitality experience and products like wine primarily rely on extrinsic cues, such as labels and images. Wine labels are the first cue of the wine’s taste, flavour, and texture. Images presented on a bottle tend to gain the most attention and elicit more robust engagement than other elements. Nearly 80 % of consumers said their wine purchases are based mainly on wine labels such as colour and illustration. To pique interest and win consumers’ hearts, wine businesses invest heavily in label design. In recent years, many wineries have started to move away from the tradition of distinguished, stately labels to colourful, trending labels that incorporate various elements. Some brands include gender cues in their labels in the hope of attracting target markets. Despite the merits of gendered label design, little is known about how women consumers may react to gender cues in wine labels in the new age.

Gender marketing has been a ubiquitous trend despite the public controversies it generates. Gender marketing presumes that men and women may prefer different attributes of the same product. The assumption of gender marketing is associated with social norms, gender stereotypes, and gender identity, which have undergone dramatic changes in the past decades. Gender identity, as a core component of self-identity, has been significantly linked to various consumer variables ranging from shopping behaviour to leisure activities. Many businesses have become aware of trends regarding gender identity and strategised their marketing communications to adapt to the changed gender diagram. Some businesses try to navigate a delicate line by avoiding gender-related elements. However, it is noted that as more consumers than ever are comfortable expressing their self-identities, gender expression should not be devoid in a product because gender identity is performatively constituted through gender expression.

Wine labels are powerful tools in wine marketing communications. As innovation in the wine industry has increasingly focused on packaging and labelling, it is opportune that academic attention gear toward labels and marketing messages. Wine consumers are highly dependent upon wine labels to make purchase decisions.

The research being doe bears limitations that encourage future studies. First, focus on women consumers and their reactions to gender cues in hospitality marketing due to their increasing purchasing power which has been understudied previously. Future studies are recommended to explore the perceptions of male consumers and examine how they may react to gender cues. Such a study would bring new and substantial insights into the literature and the practice.