Make wine tastier... use a high price tag
IF you have splashed out on expensive wine, it might seem a little vulgar to leave the price tag on the bottle.
But it will seem to make the contents taste better, a study has found.
Volunteers were given three samples of the same wine – but were told one was cheap, one mid-price and the other expensive.
And the more the wine appeared to cost, the better the volunteers said it tasted.
Researchers gave the experiment’s participants a small amount to sip.
At the same time, they used an MRI scanner to investigate what was going on in their brains as they tasted wine they were told cost £2.70, £5.40 or £16.35 a bottle – even though the actual price was £10.
Professor Bernd Weber, from the University of Bonn, said the placebo effect seems to alter our perception of taste.
He said: ‘It has so far been unclear how the price information ultimately causes more expensive wine to also be perceived as having a better taste in the brain.’
Of the 30 participants in the study, 15 were women and 15 were men, with an average age of around 30 years.
Each participant was given a millilitre of the respective wine via a tube in their mouths. They were then asked to use a button to rate how good the wine tasted on a nine-point scale.
Prof Weber said: ‘The marketing placebo effect has its limits. If, for example, a very low-quality wine is offered for 100 euros, the effect would predictably be absent.’