The evidence is mounting.
In this study, carried out over four years between 2006-2009, expert judges were given the same wine three times. In 90% of cases, judges assumed they were drinking different wines, and gave each sample different marks out of 100, sometimes just minutes after tasting the last one.
Source: wine-economics.org / via: guardian.co.uk
Study two, carried out in 2001: Experts were given the same wine, but with different labels. The language they used to describe each one varied, depending on whether the label signalled expensive or cheap. They described the supposedly posh wines as “complex” and “balanced”, while deploying words such as “weak” and “flat” for the wines presented as plonk.
Via: daysyn.com
In a blind test, 578 volunteers could only tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine around 50% of the time.
Via: guardian.co.uk
A study of 6,000 blind tastings by Robin Goldstein in the Journal of Wine Economics concluded thus: “For individuals with wine training, we find indications of a positive relationship between price and enjoyment.” Indeed, this seems to be hardwired. In this brain-scan study conducted by CalTech, Stanford suggests that the firing of neurons in the brain is affected by how much the subject thinks the wine he/she is being served cost.
Via: ageconsearch.umn.edu
