http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis
"Colour affects our perceptions too. In 2001 Frédérick Brochet of the University of Bordeaux asked 54 wine experts to test two glasses of wine – one red, one white. Using the typical language of tasters, the panel described the red as "jammy' and commented on its crushed red fruit. The critics failed to spot that both wines were from the same bottle. The only difference was that one had been coloured red with a flavourless dye."
This article makes me feel better about being in the 1/3 of the class that wasn’t able to classify the two wines we had by price level!
ReplyDeleteAlso worth pointing out: the article’s description of the chemical complexity of wine, and the role that context can play in tasting. The image subtitle reads “More evidence that wine-tasting is influenced by context was provided by a 2008 study from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. The team found that different music could boost tasters’ wine scores by 60%. Researchers discovered that a blast of Jimi Hendrix enhanced cabernet sauvignon while Kylie Minogue went well with Chardonnay.“ The implication seems to be that, if you're having your in-laws over for dinner or want to impress someone with your new find from Cosco, make sure the sound system is running in the background. Or beyond that, don't depend on the wine itself to make the full statement -- be aware of presentation as well.
It's funny how much the visual stimulus can interrupt or prevent what we might otherwise feel, especially since it hits us first. I'm curious if someone tried other "non-wine" colors what people's reactions would be -- try a truly revolting shade of green or a totally black liquid, example.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should repeat this experiment in class. We've discussed doing so in years past...
ReplyDeletePriming is a big influence on your wine experience, too. Our own Baba Shiv demonstrated this in using price tags to test user experience in this study: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/baba-shiv-how-wines-price-tag-affect-its-taste. The higher the price, the better the taste, regardless of difference in the wine itself.
ReplyDeleteand possibly for some market segments, where wine is consumed as a luxury and positional good, the higher the price, the better the sales.
DeleteWhile the Brochet study gets a lot of press attention, its finding are a lot weaker than are generally reported. There are two big features of the study that often go unmentioned. First, the subjects in the study were undergraduate students, not really experts. Second, they weren't asked whether the two wines were the same. Instead, they had to pick descriptors from a list and were primed to choose the red wine descriptors for the dyed wine. A more detailed criticism is here: http://sciencesnopes.blogspot.com/2013/05/about-that-wine-experiment.html.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting to note the extent to which many journalists seem eager to jump on the "no one can tell the difference between wines" story without looking into the details of the study. Maybe there's some bias against the wine industry at play here.