Consumers in both the US and the UK are easily comfortable with some concept of regionality, with New World regions the biggest sufferers, according to new research conducted by Wine Intelligence using the Vinitrac system in both countries.

Just 10 percent of US respondents had heard of the Barossa Valley, and only 12 percent of Marlborough; among UK wine drinkers, the figures were 38 percent and 27 percent respectively.

The survey also asked all 3,000 respondents to write down the first word that came into their minds when shown the name of a wine region. When Marlborough was shown, the most popular response was "cigarettes"; for Chianti, the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs was one of the most frequently repeated.

"Don't know" was a popular choice for Barossa, but so was Shiraz and Australia less often. "Spain" came up often on the US participant's list of responses.

In fairness, the general responses for both the UK and US respondents for Champagne were "celebration", "expensive", and "my wedding".

The differences for recognition for Napa were understandably skewed: the folks in the UK put down American most often, with Australia, Italy and France showing up as well. For the US respondents, they overwhelmingly listed California, with other descriptors such as "good", "high quality", "grapes" and "USA" appearing as well.