Monday, January 14, 2008

Maybe You Should Pay More for Your Wine

Wine & Spirits DailyJanuary 14, 2008
What's New in Wine & Spirits

EXPENSIVE WINE INCREASES CONSUMERS' ENJOYMENT

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology found that pricier wine increases a person's enjoyment of the wine. Antonio Rangel, associate professor of economics, led a research team to test how marketing shapes consumers' perceptions, according to an AP article in Theage.com. The findings come to us during an interesting period when trading up is at an all time high.

The volunteers were told the price of the wine, or so they thought. The researchers served two of the wines twice, once with the true price and another time with a fake price. By monitoring the volunteers' brain, the study found that inflating the price of a bottle of wine enhanced a person's experience of drinking it, as shown by the neural activity. Volunteers consistently gave higher ratings to more expensively labeled wines. We don't find these results surprising, especially given the fact that consumers are drinking more expensive alcohol than in years past.

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