PurposeInvestigates the extent to which wine tour-operating companies are successfully using their websites to communicate persuasive and meaningful differences to customers in their quest to clearly position their product offering.

Design/methodology/approachText data are collected from 250 websites that promote wine tourism in five different countries' winescapes. Lexical, regression and hierarchical clustering analyses are used.

FindingsLexical analysis using DICTION can distinguish among websites from different countries' winescapes and French wines obtain the best mean review scores from customers while US, Napa Valley, websites obtain the lowest scores. DICTION dimensions allow for meaningful clusters and can also predict TripAdvisor’s mean review scores.

Practical implicationsThere is a need to pay better attention in the development of website content and the critical role that both syntax and semantics can play in facilitating the use of a firm’s website, specifically in terms of clear positioning.

Originality/valueUses lexical analyses of website narratives to understanding current positioning of firms.