Do more expensive wines taste better? Evidence from a large sample of blind tastings

Arbeitspapier

Individuals who are unaware of the price do not derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine. In a sample of more than 6,000 blind tastings, we find that the correlation between price and overall rating is small and negative, suggesting that individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less. For individuals with wine training, however, we find indications of a positive, or at any rate non-negative, correlation. Our results are robust to the inclusion of individual fixed effects, and are not driven by outliers: when omitting the top and bottom deciles of the price distribution, our qualitative results are strengthened, and the statistical significance is improved even further. Our results indicate that both the prices of wines and wine recommendations by experts may be poor guides for non-expert wine consumers.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance ; No. 700

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Information and Product Quality; Standardization and Compatibility ; Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco; Wine and Spirits ; Marketing and Advertising: General ; Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness
• Subject: Wine ; price/quality relation ; expertise ; Wein ; Produktqualität ; Preis ; Wissen ; USA

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Goldstein, Robin ; Almenberg, Johan ; Dreber, Anna ; Emerson, John W. ; Herschkowitsch, Alexis ; Katzy, Jacob
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Stockholm School of Economics, The Economic Research Institute (EFI)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2008

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/56069
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET