diff --git a/doc/sphinx/source/recipes/recipe_perfmetrics.rst b/doc/sphinx/source/recipes/recipe_perfmetrics.rst
index e1d27e9e15..0a966d648a 100644
--- a/doc/sphinx/source/recipes/recipe_perfmetrics.rst
+++ b/doc/sphinx/source/recipes/recipe_perfmetrics.rst
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ User settings in recipe
    * calc_grading: calculates grading metrics (default: False)
    * stippling: uses stippling to mark statistically significant differences (default: False = mask out non-significant differences in gray)
    * show_global_avg: diplays the global avaerage of the input field as string at the top-right of lat-lon plots (default: False)
+   * annots: choose the annotation style, e.g. ```alias``` which would display the alias of the dataset as title (applies to plot_type zonal and cycle_zonal)
    * metric: chosen grading metric(s) (if calc_grading is True)
    * normalization: metric normalization (for RMSD and BIAS metrics only)
    * abs_levs: list of contour levels for absolute plot
diff --git a/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/cycle_zonal.ncl b/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/cycle_zonal.ncl
index 7c4a11e6bf..62bcff1966 100644
--- a/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/cycle_zonal.ncl
+++ b/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/cycle_zonal.ncl
@@ -19,7 +19,11 @@ begin
     modidx := array_append_record(ref_ind, modidx(ind(modidx.ne.ref_ind)), 0)
   end if
 
-  annots = project_style(info_items, diag_script_info, "annots")
+  if (isatt(diag_script_info, "annots")) then
+    annots = metadata_att_as_array(info_items, diag_script_info@annots)
+  else
+    annots = project_style(info_items, diag_script_info, "annots")
+  end if
 
   ; Loop over datasets
   do ii = 0, dimsizes(modidx) - 1
diff --git a/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/zonal.ncl b/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/zonal.ncl
index ea052197a8..788c465625 100644
--- a/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/zonal.ncl
+++ b/esmvaltool/diag_scripts/perfmetrics/zonal.ncl
@@ -14,7 +14,13 @@ begin
   modidx = ispan(0, nDatasets - 1, 1)
   modidx := array_append_record(ref_ind, modidx(ind(modidx.ne.ref_ind)), 0)
 
-  annots = project_style(info_items, diag_script_info, "annots")
+  if (isatt(diag_script_info, "annots")) then
+    annots = metadata_att_as_array(info_items, diag_script_info@annots)
+  else
+    annots = project_style(info_items, diag_script_info, "annots")
+  end if
+
+  print(annots)
 
   ; Loop over datasets
   do ii = 0, dimsizes(modidx) - 1