Would You Pass the Pricey Wine Taste -Test?

Oenophile….or sucker? 

The New York Times reports that American wine drinkers are more and more being portrayed as easily manipulated "dupes and twits" in the wine marketplace.  The Times points out a recent Newsweek article, which focuses on a taste-test that resulted in a $10 bottle of Washington sparkling wine beating out a $150 bottle of Dom Perignon, and a $55 bottle of Napa Cabernet being defeated by the infamous Charles Shaw "Two Buck Chuck."  But turn the tables, and inform the "average oenophile" how much a particular vino costs, and taste-testers are typically reported to score higher marks to the pricier bottle.  Could it be (as studies by the California Intitute of Technology would indicate), that the more expensive a consumer believes a wine to be, the more pleasure he will derive from it?

The answer?  Sure! (But doesn’t that apply to nearly all things?)

"Its not just about wine, its about everything!" says Professor Dan Ariely, Behavioral Economist.  Regardless of the situation, Ariely states, suggestion has a powerful effect on perception and belief. “If you expect not to get something as good, lo and behold, it’s not as good. We think of it as an objective reality. We don’t see how much is created by our mind.”