Am I tasting dirt?

Oenophiles are people who know a lot about wine. They can recognize flavors like gooseberry, lychee, and dirt. They rely on their discerning palates to judge wines. But that’s not always the whole story. Sometimes they lead themselves to believe that a wine is extra delicious just because it has a foreign or unusual name.

Frédéric Brochet at the University of Bordeaux conducted an experiment where he served wine experts a mediocre Bordeaux from two relabeled bottles. One carried the name of a cheap table wine and the other a high dollar French heavyweight. Brochet found that the experts’ changed their descriptions markedly: “complex replaces simple, balanced replaces unbalanced under the simple effect of the label.”

It’s about perception. Humans are really good at tricking themselves, turning preconceived notions into reality. If the experts can’t tell which end is up, what’s on the bottle matters more than what’s in it. Anticipate deliciousness with an exotic, adventurous and smart name and the brain will follow suit.