Study: Price Can Change Perception of Wine

By: Barbara Herring | WSAV-TV
Published: January 15, 2008

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Forget vintage, body or aroma. A new study suggests the average person's wine palate can be tricked with a price tag.

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology told people they were going to taste five different Cabernet Sauvignons while hooked up to brain scanners.

In reality, they were sampling three different wines. A $90 wine was served with its real price, and again with a $10 price tag. Another was presented at its real price of $5 and then also marked $45.

Researchers say the testers' brains showed more pleasure associated with the higher price bottle than the lower one, even when it was the same wine.

The study finds people's expectations of how good something should be can outweigh reality.