A Taste of Wine

Wine lovers hear this; when food writer Robin Goldstein’s had 500 volunteers that included experts and every day drinkers, taste test 540 wines priced between $1.50 and $150. The group sipped more than 6,000 glasses of wine and compared the taste of the pricier brands to the low cost brands. They recorded their preference on a scale of; okay, good, great, bad. You may be surprised at what they found. This might antagonize a few wine snobs but most of us can rejoice, (the ones of us who don’t pay a fortune for a bottle of wine.) 100 wines that cost less than $15. consistently outperformed those costing higher prices.

A bottle of Domaine Ste.Michelle Brut priced at $9.99 passed hands down over a $150. bottle of Dom Perigon, and Two Buck Chuck won out over a $55. version from Stag’s Leap Artemis. Several box wines, looked down on in some circles, also cracked the top 100. “This is what happens when you get past the jargon and pomposity of wine writing.” said Goldstein, “People shouldn’t apologize for liking cheap wine.” His motto is; if you hide the label the truth comes out.

Scientists from Caltech and Stanford conducted a similar taste test in which volunteers were asked to taste Cabernet Sauvignon priced at $5. $10.,$45.,and $90. The fun part, there were only two wines, marked different prices. The $90. Wine was the real price; it was also marked down to $10. The $5. wine was also marked up to $45. As you might expect, the tasters liked the $90. wine best and the $5. wine least. When the wine tasters were given wine without knowing the prices, they preferred the $5.wine. Seems to me the lesson is don’t let your guests see the price of the wine and they won’t know the difference, Save that expensive bottle you received for your birthday and empty your cheap wine into it when you have guests. It will taste wonderful and everybody will be happy.