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> Repeated studies have shown that “wine experts,” when administered blind tests, are unable to distinguish between cheap and expensive bottles, or different va

by jb1991 5y ago

> Repeated studies have shown that “wine experts,” when administered blind tests, are unable to distinguish between cheap and expensive bottles, or different varieties of the same color wine, or even whether the wine they’re drinking is red or white. In the end it’s all just fermented grape juice. Wow that’s surprising.

nwallin 5y ago
It's actually false. Ish. Well, sort of. There was a famous study that asked its test subjects to describe the wine that they were drinking. There are certain words that are typically associated with red wines and certain words that are typically associated with white wines. They used red dyes to dye white wine red and a different chemical to turn the red wine the color of white wine. The administrators of the study found that the words used to describe the white wines died red aligned more closely with the descriptors used to describe red wines, and the words used to describe the red wines bleached white were more closely aligned with the descriptors used to describe white wines. Conclusion: wine experts can't tell the different between white wine and red wine. The problem: The "experts" were 18-22 year old college students who had just taken a class on wine tasting. They weren't actually experts, they were just people who had been taught the right words to say to pass the tests. They were taught what words to say. Then you tested to see whether they said them. There was another famous study where its test subjects were given a sampling of wines, with each wine having a short blurb about it, which included the price of the wine. The prices were fake. They were then asked to rate each wine. The administrators found that the fake price stated on the blurb was correlated with the rating. Conclusion: wine experts can't tell the different between expensive wine and cheap wine. The problem: the only thing you've actually proven is confirmation bias. Those two studies are quoted a lot. You'll quite often see those two particular quotes, wine experts can't tell the difference between red and white wine, and wine experts can't tell the difference between expensive and cheap wine. You don't see studies that show that wine experts can't tell the difference between merlot and cab franc, or the difference between stainless steel and oak aging on a chardonnay. You don't see those studies because those studies don't exist.
jillesvangurp 5y ago
Well you are not much of an expert if you can't tell a Riesling from a Cote du Rhone. One would be a freshly tasting, dry (i.e. not sweet) German white wine and the other a rather heavy red wine. I'm not an expert by any means but I've consumed plenty of both to be able to tell the difference by hangover alone. I guess there are a few grape varieties that are used for red and white wines that might pose some more tricky edge cases. E.g. pinot noir (a grape type) white wine is actually made with the same grapes as the red variety. The juice is actually color less; the skin has color. I guess it depends on how you process the grapes on what color wine you end up producing. And they'd obviously share a few of the same flavors because it is the same base ingredients that are used.

by jb1991 5y ago

nwallin 5y ago

It's actually false. Ish. Well, sort of. There was a famous study that asked its test subjects to describe the wine that they were drinking. There are certain words that are typically associated with red wines and certain words that are typically associated with white wines. They used red dyes to dye white wine red and a different chemical to turn the red wine the color of white wine. The administrators of the study found that the words used to describe the white wines died red aligned more closely with the descriptors used to describe red wines, and the words used to describe the red wines bleached white were more closely aligned with the descriptors used to describe white wines. Conclusion: wine experts can't tell the different between white wine and red wine. The problem: The "experts" were 18-22 year old college students who had just taken a class on wine tasting. They weren't actually experts, they were just people who had been taught the right words to say to pass the tests. They were taught what words to say. Then you tested to see whether they said them. There was another famous study where its test subjects were given a sampling of wines, with each wine having a short blurb about it, which included the price of the wine. The prices were fake. They were then asked to rate each wine. The administrators found that the fake price stated on the blurb was correlated with the rating. Conclusion: wine experts can't tell the different between expensive wine and cheap wine. The problem: the only thing you've actually proven is confirmation bias. Those two studies are quoted a lot. You'll quite often see those two particular quotes, wine experts can't tell the difference between red and white wine, and wine experts can't tell the difference between expensive and cheap wine. You don't see studies that show that wine experts can't tell the difference between merlot and cab franc, or the difference between stainless steel and oak aging on a chardonnay. You don't see those studies because those studies don't exist.

jillesvangurp 5y ago

Well you are not much of an expert if you can't tell a Riesling from a Cote du Rhone. One would be a freshly tasting, dry (i.e. not sweet) German white wine and the other a rather heavy red wine. I'm not an expert by any means but I've consumed plenty of both to be able to tell the difference by hangover alone. I guess there are a few grape varieties that are used for red and white wines that might pose some more tricky edge cases. E.g. pinot noir (a grape type) white wine is actually made with the same grapes as the red variety. The juice is actually color less; the skin has color. I guess it depends on how you process the grapes on what color wine you end up producing. And they'd obviously share a few of the same flavors because it is the same base ingredients that are used.