Designing Wine Tasting Experiences for All: The role of Human Diversity and Personal food memory

2025-10-01

AI Summary

This study addresses cross-cultural inclusivity challenges in winery tasting experiences, particularly those faced by Chinese tourists due to divergences in sensory interpretation, food memory associations, and cultural contextual framing. Employing multi-site ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and contextual observation—grounded in user experience design theory—the research proposes an inclusive tasting design model structured around the “Abilities–Needs–Aspirations” (ANA) framework, which systematically integrates personal food memories as mediators of cross-cultural sensory understanding. The model prioritizes experiential authenticity and user subjectivity, moving beyond conventional standardized tasting protocols. Its contributions include: (1) a practical, localized design pathway for wine-tourism integration; and (2) a theoretical expansion of inclusive experience design, offering a novel methodology for cross-cultural sensory practice and intercultural mutual learning.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Analogy
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Preferences

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Mining multimedia, multimodal, multilingual, cross-lingual Web data
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Multilingual and cross-lingual Web search

Abstract

This study investigates the design of inclusive wine-tasting experiences by examining the roles of human diversity and personal food memory. Through field studies conducted in various wine regions, we explored how Chinese visitors engage with wine-tasting activities during winery tours, highlighting the cross-cultural challenges they face. Our findings underscore the importance of experiencers' abilities, necessities, and aspirations (ANAs), the authenticity of wine tasting within the context of winery tours, and the use of personal food memories as a wine-tasting tool accessible to all. These insights lay the groundwork for developing more inclusive and engaging wine-tasting services, offering new perspectives for cultural exchange and sustainable wine business practices in China.

Problem

• Designing inclusive wine-tasting experiences for diverse participants
• Addressing cross-cultural challenges in wine-tasting activities
• Utilizing personal food memories as accessible tasting tools

Innovation

• Incorporating personal food memories as tasting tools
• Addressing experiencers' abilities, necessities, and aspirations
• Designing authentic cross-cultural winery tour experiences