Price of wine affects taste

[karrie]

Researchers have effectively proven that even our sense of taste is subject to the placebo effect. Does anyone else kind of want to say 'Duh'?


WASHINGTON -- Want people to like your product more? Raise the price.
That seems to be the lesson from a new study in which people were asked to taste wines marked with different prices.
Researchers scanned the brains of the testers and found that the part of the brain that records pleasure lit up more for the more pricey vintages.
And that was true even when -- unknown to the testers -- they were sipping a wine that they had liked less when it had a lower price tag.


continue article....

 

[jimshort19]

I laughed when a dog product did not move, so the boss raised the price, and it sold. It was not scientific, but it made a point to me, and a commission. I was in sales at the time.

The homily, 'You get what you pay for' is generally true. That 'you got what you think you got' is always true, until you realise that you forgot to put your pants on and you are 20 miles from home.

 

[karrie]

The other good trick... take your slowly moving product, mark it up, then put the corresponding % OFF sign on it, and watch it fly off the shelf for the price it was originally.

 

[darkbeaver]

A sucker is born every second, buyer beware. You can't buy taste. Pricetags do not reflect value,they only cheapen taste.:lol:

 

[darkbeaver]

The other good trick... take your slowly moving product, mark it up, then put the corresponding % OFF sign on it, and watch it fly off the shelf for the price it was originally.

Imageine how old and widely applied that very old con is.

 

[jenn]

I can just see it.. a bottle of Baby Duck hitting 50 a bottle.. lol.

 

[karrie]

Friends of mine recently had a brown bag wine tasting in order to pick a wine for their upcoming wedding, and it was the rule that all the bottles needed to be under $13. Of course, they fudged it up by bringing a pricier one that was 'off limits' as far as their choices were concerned. Naturally, everyone felt that was the best one, and they had a hard time choosing a less expensive bottle.

 

[jenn]

oh backfired.. but a neat idea

 

[jimshort19]

Men's wear chain stores often have sales of products that are not regular stock. The goods were never sold at the 'regular' price. These inferior goods are sometimes sold on a no refund basis.

This is fraud and should be prosecuted. I ask the salesman, "How long have you been selling these shirts?" The salesman says they're "all new, just in". I leave and don't come back.

 

[iARTthere4iam]

The obvious way around this is to not look at the price. My wife and I belong to a wine club and have sampled hundreds of wines, new and untried wines arrive at our door every month and we have no idea when they arrive what they cost. Our all-time favorite wine is nine dollars a bottle.

 

[karrie]

One of my faves is Cassillero del Diablo, cabsauv, and it's only about $13.

 

[darkbeaver]

The obvious way around this is to not look at the price. My wife and I belong to a wine club and have sampled hundreds of wines, new and untried wines arrive at our door every month and we have no idea when they arrive what they cost. Our all-time favorite wine is nine dollars a bottle.

I can believe you have paid $50 for a $9 bottle many times, really. So I wonder who;s really responsible for all your extra expense. And you expect the public to take your advice when you haven't the sense to consider true cost. It's obvious that you don't look at the price of to much very deeply what.:lol:

 

[karrie]

I can believe you have paid $50 for a $9 bottle many times, really. So I wonder who;s really responsible for all your extra expense. And you expect the public to take your advice when you haven't the sense to consider true cost. It's obvious that you don't look at the price of to much very deeply what.:lol:

A bit of an odd topic to take it to such a personal place on don't you think? Or am I missing some inside joke?

 

[jimshort19]

I spent 5 years on Luzon, Philippine Islands. The smokers there prefer American cigarettes. The people are poor and the Philippine cigarettes are superior. What precious little status and luxury the people can be seen to afford, they will waste money on. I found that I could not give a Filipino a Philippine cigarette, even when they had none, but they would take two pesos and buy an American cigarette from the store for over twice the price, where cigarettes are sold one-by-one.

The desire for and delusion of (materialist) status is catered to by vendors, and they have little choice in the matter, they must compete for the ego of the buyer. Worn out jeans are better than new if they cost more. Dr. Suess (one of my favourite poets) wrote a story about a star machine, wherein the vendor made a profit selling exclusive stars that stuck like tatoos, selling until they were common, and then made a profit removing them as the fashion changed. This story is like Hans Christian Anderson's The Emperor's New Clothes, one of my all-time favourites, though the words are a little big.

 

[Toro]

To me, the difference between a US$5 bottle of wine and a US$15 bottle is very obvious. However, at US$50, I can't tell much difference between that and a US$15 bottle.

 

[karrie]

Someone bought a bottle for my hubby's birthday that looked like a nice wine.... we had no idea of the price... we opened it, drank a few sips, and just couldn't drink anymore. I ended up using it for a sauce a while later. It tasted like bad homebrew. It actually had a flavor reminiscent of brown bread. Man it was bad. I later spotted it in the store, and it was about a $10 bottle. So, not all cheap wines are 'just as good'.

But then, I haven't tried many expensive ones, unless you count the noble rot wine I had a little while ago. It was apparently pretty pricey.

 

[karrie]

juan reminded me in another thread of the most expensive wine I've ever bought myself. And I guess perhaps I'm immune to the price effect.

The most I've ever paid was $27 for Grey Monk' Pinot Gris. But it was their old vine Pinot Gris, both more expensive AND not as good as their less expensive Pinot Gris. But, the cheaper one sold out Canada wide, and I was at the vineyard, looking at the last two bottles of the old vine version. I just assumed... pricier, must be better. I wasn't impressed.

 

[#juan]

A few years ago I paid $70 for a bottle of Christian Brothers Cabernet Souvignon for our 30th anniversary. It was was at the William Tell restaurant in Vancouver. The William Tell used to be the best restaurant in Vancouver......One of only two five star restaurants in Vancouver according to the Michelin Guide at that time.

 

[darkbeaver]

A bit of an odd topic to take it to such a personal place on don't you think? Or am I missing some inside joke?

You're missing an inside joke. Personal taste is intimately connected to personality.Or are we required to view subjects through some "specific" personal taste, left to unwritten rules. I find it telling that you intervene in a personal manner and place to make your point, seemingly oblivious to the actual point you're making.

 

[darkbeaver]

To me, the difference between a US$5 bottle of wine and a US$15 bottle is very obvious. However, at US$50, I can't tell much difference between that and a US$15 bottle.

The buzz is clearly marked on the bottle. Add imagination and the whole bottle and you have a happy wino.:smile: