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According to a report in the Sunday Times, people given two identical
red wines to drink said they got much more pleasure from the one they
were told had cost more. Apparently, much of the real pleasure is generated
by the high price paid rather than by the quality of the vintage.
"These results shed light on the neural effects of marketing,"
said Antonio Rangel, associate professor of economics at the CIT, leading
the research.
Such studies reflect the growing interest in the new discipline of neuro-economics,
one of the aims of which is to understand the subconscious appeal of luxury
products, designer labels and brand names that cost more but offer little
extra quality.
The Study
Antonio used functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe the brains
of 20 people as they were given the same Cabernet Sauvignon and told it
cost anything from £2.50 to £45 a bottle. The subjects were
asked to describe how pleasurable the wine was to drink. Most described
the higher-priced wine as much more enjoyable.
The researchers observed changes in a part of the brain known as the
medial orbito-frontal cortex, which plays a central role in many types
of pleasure. They found that the cortex became more activated by the "expensive"
wines than by the cheaper ones. This, said Rangel, showed that the increase
in pleasure was real, even though the products were identical.
Hugh Johnson , the acclaimed British wine writer, says:
"The same thing happens if people see a designer label. The psychology
is the same - it's not money; it's reputation. It's the prestige."
He maintains however, that wine experts would not be fooled by superficial
qualities such as price. He said: "Most people who drink wine
regularly know the real retail price and resent the big mark-up in restaurants.
I think it spoils it."
Rupert Wollheim, MW, an online wine retailer, said that the response
described by Rangel was well known in the wine business. He said: "Price
is just one of the elements, but if you served the same wine in better
glasses or a grander environment, that would also make people think the
very same wine was better."
Some restaurants have made a killing from this phenomenon. In Gordon
Ramsay's London restaurant Pétrus the wine list includes an 1899
Château Latour at £12,500.
Commenting on the findings Chris Scott, of a London wine tasting company,
said that wine often costs more due to the laws of economics and not just
because of its superior quality.
'People enjoy wine because it's about conviviality and atmosphere. Wine
turns from being a commodity into a luxury good. It's about the naughty,
decadent feeling of enjoying luxury,' he added.
Other researchers are critical of the study however and point out that
the subjects in the study were not paying for the wine. The pleasure they
derived from the belief that they were drinking expensive wine might have
been diluted if they had been picking up the tab.
In India, the 5-star hotels have already been raking it in, by promoting
such expensive wines at huge mark ups from the wealthy clients who can
afford to spend big bucks and to whom better wines mean more expensive
wines. I know of one big businessman in Delhi whom I once asked about
his favourite wine. His instant answer was,' any wine so long as it is
expensive'. I have often seen him relishing the cheap banquet wine at
parties. Editor
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