CHEAP IS GOOD
Wine that costs a bomb tastes better than a weeknight quaffer just because of the price, researchers have found.A California Institute of Technology team showed a person's enjoyment of wine skyrockets if they are simply told it is an expensive one.Twenty-one volunteers were asked to sample different bottles of cabernet sauvignon and rate the ones they preferred.
The only information they were given was the price of the wine but in a number of cases, they were not told the real price.In one case, the volunteers were given two identical red wines to drink and were told that one cost much less.Most described the higher priced wine as much more enjoyable.
Researchers also passed off a $100 cab sav as an $11 bottle and presented a $6.50 wine as being worth $50.The volunteers' brains were scanned to monitor the neural activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex the area of the brain associated with decision-making and pleasure in terms of flavour.Higher ratings were given to the more ``expensive'' wines.
Antonio Rangel, who led the research team said the experiment showed ``expectation can affect the actual encoding of the pleasantness of the experience''.Oliver Johnson, CEO of the UK-based Wine Society, said:``It can work two ways. Some people will enjoy the wine simply because they know it is expensive (but) there are those who will be disappointed''.