3 ms·

I've often heard that blind taste tests contradict these claims in the extreme ($30 bottle vs $100 bottle for example). Are there blind taste tests among any gr

I've often heard that blind taste tests contradict these claims in the extreme ($30 bottle vs $100 bottle for example). Are there blind taste tests among any group that back up such a claim? Or are we just knocking out the truly cheap bottles? I was told by a man who professionally tested wines around the world that I should generally not spend more than $20 a bottle, and I'm often happy with $15.

JesperRavn 11y ago
I was going by the article here, which didn't say what the price range being distinguished was, and didn't cite any studies. I was more concerned with the logic that (even provably) refined tastes just reflected an arbitrary preference for the qualities of expensive wine.
bshimmin 11y ago
Perhaps this is right - and I don't professionally taste wine, so your man should know better than I do - but from my own experience of sometimes drinking very good and very expensive wine, there really is a demonstrably worthwhile difference! My father, a lawyer, was once paid by a client with a case of good Château Margaux, including some excellent years ('82 and '85 in particular); we've drunk these together slowly over time, on special occasions for the most part, and they really have been phenomenal. I don't know what you could buy for $20 that would in any way compare with those bottles (which probably would sell for 20x that amount, if not more). But, as they say in Latin, de gustibus non est disputandum. My mother and my wife detest the Margaux that my father and I enjoy so much - my mother charitably calling it "a man's wine" and my wife calling it... something much less charitable. But I think both of them would agree that it is certainly very different - in taste, colour, and bouquet, even if they can't actually enjoy those aspects of it - to what you could buy in a supermarket.

JesperRavn 11y ago

I was going by the article here, which didn't say what the price range being distinguished was, and didn't cite any studies. I was more concerned with the logic that (even provably) refined tastes just reflected an arbitrary preference for the qualities of expensive wine.

bshimmin 11y ago

Perhaps this is right - and I don't professionally taste wine, so your man should know better than I do - but from my own experience of sometimes drinking very good and very expensive wine, there really is a demonstrably worthwhile difference! My father, a lawyer, was once paid by a client with a case of good Château Margaux, including some excellent years ('82 and '85 in particular); we've drunk these together slowly over time, on special occasions for the most part, and they really have been phenomenal. I don't know what you could buy for $20 that would in any way compare with those bottles (which probably would sell for 20x that amount, if not more). But, as they say in Latin, de gustibus non est disputandum. My mother and my wife detest the Margaux that my father and I enjoy so much - my mother charitably calling it "a man's wine" and my wife calling it... something much less charitable. But I think both of them would agree that it is certainly very different - in taste, colour, and bouquet, even if they can't actually enjoy those aspects of it - to what you could buy in a supermarket.