Price Influences Wine Taste

In news that confirms that I'll never be a wine snob, a new study out of California has shown that "the sensation of pleasantness that people experience when tasting wine is linked directly to its price". This means that it's likely that a $10 bottle of merlot will taste more like a $90 bottle of merlot if someone tells you it's $90.

This further convinces me that the price of wine is somewhat irrelevant to the average person. I've had decent $7 bottles of cab and I've had crappy bottles of $30 wine. I challenge anyone reading this to send me a $200 bottle of wine and I'll let you know if I can tell the difference.

--Spanno

Comments

[Chris on January 14, 2008 at 09:25 PM]

I agree wholeheartedly; the same experience here, therefore no $200 wine bottle attached.

All the best from the bottom of a bottle of California wine.

Chris

[SilentStorm on January 15, 2008 at 05:04 AM]

I'll be sure to send you one from my private stock, once I get delivery of my McLaren F1...:-P

I do agree with this as well. My favorite wines tend to be from the local wineries that exist in the western half of Pennsylvania. It tastes just fine, and I get to support a local business as well.

[Chris on January 15, 2008 at 01:03 PM]

I disagree with this line, with a qualifier. It's far too easy to agree with this kind of thing (this so-called "snobbery") while claiming independence from being considered said snob, BUT- there are often reasons any bottle in particular is priced higher than others. Demand, crop yields, aging, etc. play huge roles, especially for the pricier bottles (see: 2005 Bordeaux Futures, Oy.)

Tasting the wines together, and particularly blind, is the best way to find the truth. And, ya know, the most fun. It's just too easy to say "hey those people are snobs and I don't like to blow entire paychecks on a bottle of wine so, ya know, IT'S THE SAME- THEY just THINK it's better cause it costs more."

Nine times out of ten, even beginners would be able to perceive & identify the difference between the high end and the high volume, if they're tasted together.

Yo dos pesos.

[Mark Buehner on January 15, 2008 at 01:14 PM]

Folks that follow the audiophile 'industry' can attest to this phenominon (the honest ones anyway). While some components can demonstrably make a measureable difference in sound quality (speakers, D/A converters, etc), people are paying literally thousands of dollars for 'special' speaker cable and interconnects and all kinds of gagetry they claim makes their music sound better. Of course none of it can be measured with existing technology aside from their supposedly golden ears. The catch is even they can't tell the difference in double blind testing, which is the only reliable way to prove the real from the placebo. Sucker born every minute when it comes to the human senses.

[Dr. Kranky on January 15, 2008 at 01:36 PM]

The easiest way to sort out quality of wines is to throw a large party with many different types of wine. By the end people will naturally have gravitated toward the better wines- which USUALLY correlates with price. Even neophytes know what they like.

Of course you have to factor in the fact that there are people in this world who select a wine based on its color, others who choose one based on how "cute" the label is, etc.

Still, this has been a consistent finding at parties I throw.

[LNER4472 on January 15, 2008 at 01:55 PM]

In my experience along these lines (I'm a professional beer writer), people of almost all stripes and levels of expertise will easily distinguish between a $4-5 bottle of wine and a $12-15 bottle. Do it right, and those folks will never go back to the cheaper stuff. The big problem becomes telling the differences between a $15 and a $75-100 bottle, and that takes experience and probably both good taste buds AND a good nose, in part because so much of the taste experience does come from aroma. (The above, of course, assumes you're tasting the same varieties, and not going from white zin to tawny port.)

[Mike on January 15, 2008 at 01:56 PM]

I believe you may be misreading this study. The premise is not about the quality of $10 vs $90 bottles of wine. What the study is saying is that given the same bottle of wine, people extract more pleasure out of it if they believe it is $90 then if they believe it is $10. This isn't really a surprise. Most people tend to assume higher price = higher quality before ever experiencing the item..whether it is a bottle wine, a car, or a stereo. It's certainly interesting that the brain takes this perception and turns it into a greater pleasure response...but shouldn't be surprising. But this study says absolutely nothing about the relative 'real' quality of differently priced wines.
From personal experience I've had good underpriced wines and bad overpriced wines. But on average, the better wines are higher priced. Simple supply and demand.

[Dougger on January 15, 2008 at 02:00 PM]

There is not information in the article to be able to judge the validity of the study. For instance did they always start by tasting the inexpensive wines first, then move on to the more expensive ones? If so, it may just reflect that the subjects only started paying attention to the varied qualities of the wine when they were expecting an exceptional tasting. When they thought they were being served a cheap wine, they could have just not given it as thorough of an assessment. Also were the tasters wine drinkers, or people with less experienced palates?

[KenB on January 15, 2008 at 02:06 PM]

I have heard lawyers compared to wine. People perceive a $300/hour lawyer as being better than a $150/hour lawyer. So the message to lawyers is to raise their rates.

[BDT on January 15, 2008 at 02:08 PM]

Try Cava. I drink the Cristalino brand. Brut is best. I buy it for 6.50 a bottle at the regional box store. Its very good.

[gabriel on January 15, 2008 at 03:09 PM]

I love doing blind tastings, especially with wine snob types. I've been able to pull off 10 and 15 dollar bottles against 100 dollar bottles and have them win. Though I will say, the difference between a say a Sterling Cab vs a Silver Oak is immediate and noticable, the difference between that same Silver Oak and a chateau haut brion isn't nearly as noticeable. The diminishing returns on taste are exponentially higher.

[Chris on January 15, 2008 at 04:49 PM]

One last note, speaking of blind tasting fun:

I've heard one of the tests to become a Master of Wine has involved being able to blindly distinguish certain red wines from white, by taste and nose alone.

Sounds ridiculously easy doesn't it?

Try it sometime. Set up a blind tasting party with friends, don't tell them what you're serving, have them close their eyes or put on blindfolds, and see how many are fooled between (say) a full bodied Chardonnay or Sancere and a fresh Beaujolais or a light-bodied Willamette pinot.

It's amazing how influential the eyes- as well as our wallets- can be on our palates.

:)

[fixedgear on January 17, 2008 at 05:56 AM]

Isn't this a pretty well documented phenomenon? Hasn't this been demonstrated with other goods? I think Mike nailed it, it's not realy about the flavor profile of the wine, it's about the perceived value.

[Auren Hoffman on January 17, 2008 at 07:49 PM]

Completely agree.

people are hard-wired to believe that things that cost more MUST be better. like a Rolex watch must be better than a Seiko watch (it isn't) or a low-end Mercedes must be better than a Toyota (it isn't either). but the brand makes you feel better. and that's what people are paying for.

I have a friend who owns a very successful club in San Francisco. The number one drink ordered is a Kettle One (high end vodka) and Red Bull. Now most vodka come from the same stock and there isn't any proof that one vodka is more likely to prevent hangovers than another vodka (unless maybe if it is infused with vitamins). So I can understand if you are going to buy a high-end vodka if you claim it tastes better ... but you can't actually taste the vodka when mixed with Red Bull. So people are buying the brand, the "experience" (whatever that means), the split second when they order that it makes them feel rich and can try to impress the bartender that they are willing to spend 50% more for the same experience.

i admit that i fall for these things all the time. Over the holidays we went to Kerala (India) for a couple of days to sit on the beach. we wanted to go to a great resort and since we had never been to Kerala before , we picked the resort that was the most expensive (was approx $500/night). and it was really nice and we had a great time -- but my guess is there could have been just as nice a resort for $300/night if we knew enough to look.

people bank on price. because price is usually a good predictor of quality and if you don't know any better, that's all you have to go on. it makes sense.

in a hotel, price often equals quality (except in an Ian Shrager hotel where the quality and service is quite bad but the brand is strong). in a vodka, people pay more because they feel better ... they feel they have a nicer experience (even though Absolute probably ranks just as high as the 2x priced Grey Goose). in a wine, people truly believe a $200 bottle bests a $20 bottle (i've done tons of taste tests that showed people cannot tell the difference) .. and they like the experience of buying the best stuff.

my blog on this:
http://summation.typepad.com/summation/2008/01/higher-wine-pri.html

[BostonBarrister on January 18, 2008 at 04:13 PM]

I think this tends to work because most people are uncertain of what they know about wine quality and look to the price as a guide to what they "should" be experiencing. Combine that with the highly subjective nature of taste, and you can see how this effect happens. It wouldn't translate as well to more concrete items that people understand better - for instance, the average person would likely be highly negative in his evaluation of his experience with a Ford Festiva if you attempted to price a Ford Festiva like a Ferrari. Even with something a subjective as fashion there are certain indices of quality people trust above the price, and people who overpay for cheaply made suits generally feel ripped off as opposed to feeling that the suit is a good one.