The scientific journal "Food Quality and Preference" has recently published a research conducted by some experts from the Universities of Verona and Macerata that has tried to investigate the possible link between the personality traits of the respondents and the wines drunk. Do the wines we consume depend on our personality? Do individuals with certain personality traits tend to consume a specific type of wine or do they tend to look for wines with certain characteristics? Can specific personalities be associated with specific wines?

Below, let’s see what emerged from this study.

What is the link between wine and personality?

Let’s start with some essential information about the participants and the methodology of the research. The study was conducted on 1176 people, aged between 18 and 87, through a special online questionnaire, designed to collect information on the wines preferred by the respondents. The wines were analysed on the basis of eight variables: alcohol content, acidity, sweetness, body, tannins, sapidity, taste-olfactory persistence and complexity/type of aromas. The participants were also asked to answer other questions related to their way of being and their socio-demographic characteristics. The so-called "five large dimensions", "Big Five", five macrocategories of personality tests, were used to describe the personality of the respondents. These 5 dimensions are:

1. extraversion, typical of sociable people, oriented towards social interaction and action;

2. agreeableness, typical of those who show a tendency to empathy, altruism and collaboration;

3. conscientiousness, typical of people who act with respect and self-discipline and who show seriousness, diligence, efficiency and organization;

4. emotional stability, characteristic of those who demonstrate a high tolerance to stress, anxiety and negative experiences;

5. openness to experience, typical of those who are curious and love to experiment and face new experiences and ideas.

Each of these 5 dimensions has the opposite counterpart that defines opposing personality traits.

Research has shown that:

1. extroverts prefer acid, lively and effervescent white wines, with a particular predilection for bubbles and sparkling wines. If you are an extrovert here is a selection of Italian sparkling wines that are right for you. These people also like red wines, always of good acidity, but also tannic ones.

2. people who place themselves in the dimension of agreeableness do not like too fresh and too acidic wines. For them no bubbles. They love wines with a high alcohol content, especially among red wines. If you are a selfless person in our online wine sales site you will find Italian red wines that certainly meet your tastes!

3. no association between wines and people of the dimension of conscientiousness has emerged! We hope however that the most careful and scrupulous are great wine lovers.

4. Those people with openness to experience love tannic and full-bodied red wines with a broad and varied bouquet of scents. They show a certain preference for those made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

5. open-minded people prefer wines with high levels of tannins and with a remarkable taste-olfactory persistence, while they do not like mineral and savory wines. This Valtellina Superiore or this Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are their ideal wines! On the contrary, the more traditionalists do not look for wines with body and tannins, but with sapidity and extreme agreeableness.

What kind of personality do you have? What kind of wines do you like? Do you find yourself in these associations?