Monday, January 14, 2008

Price and wine


The Associated Press reports on a study done by Antonio Rangel and others at California Institute of Technology on the perception of wine as related to price. The study was intended to measure pleasure, and price was factored in.

The study took 20 participants and asked them to taste various Cabernet Sauvignons. The researchers took a $45 bottle and a $5 bottle and had the participants taste three times. The kicker was that one of the wines was repeated, this time with the price changed.

So what do you think happened?

It turns out that the price essentially determined the pleasure, and in particular, the $5 wine scored best when labeled as the most expensive.

This was attributed to the relative inexperience of the participants, but it struck me as funny, as Nick of the Veranda Lounge has threatened to open a $5 wine the next time we order a $100 bottle!

(img courtesy of Slate.com)

1 Comments:

Blogger Nick Barth said...

I would never do that, or would I.

10:20 AM  

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