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Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better? Evidence from a Large Sample of Blind Tastings

Author

Listed:
  • Goldstein, Robin

    (Fearless Critic Media)

  • Almenberg, Johan

    (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)

  • Dreber, Anna

    (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)

  • Emerson, John W.

    (Yale University)

  • Herschkowitsch, Alexis

    (Fearless Critic Media)

  • Katz, Jacob

    (Fearless Critic Media)

Abstract
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.

Suggested Citation

  • Goldstein, Robin & Almenberg, Johan & Dreber, Anna & Emerson, John W. & Herschkowitsch, Alexis & Katz, Jacob, 2008. "Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better? Evidence from a Large Sample of Blind Tastings," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 700, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 24 Apr 2008.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:hastef:0700
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    5. Lecocq, Sébastien & Visser, Michael, 2006. "What Determines Wine Prices: Objective vs. Sensory Characteristics," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 42-56, April.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Caracciolo, Francesco & D’Amico, Mario & Di Vita, Giuseppe & Pomarici, Eugenio & Dal Bianco, Andrea & Cembalo, Luigi, 2016. "Private vs. Collective Wine Reputation," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 19(3), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Francisco B. Galarza & Gabriella Wong, 2017. "The Impact of Price Information on Consumer Behavior: An Experiment," Working Papers 106, Peruvian Economic Association.
    3. Carlo Altomonte & Italo Colantone & Enrico Pennings, 2016. "Heterogeneous Firms and Asymmetric Product Differentiation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 835-874, December.
    4. Julian M. Alston & Davide Gaeta, 2021. "Reflections on the Political Economy of European Wine Appellations," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 7(2), pages 219-258, July.
    5. de Meza, David & Pathania, Vikram, 2021. "Is the Second-Cheapest Wine a Rip-Off? Economics vs. Psychology in Product-Line Pricing," Working Papers 321852, American Association of Wine Economists.
    6. Almenberg, Johan & Dreber, Anna, 2011. "When Does the Price Affect the Taste? Results from a Wine Experiment," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 111-121, January.
    7. Sambucci, Olena & Sumner, Daniel A. & Goldstein, Robin, 2020. "Effect of taxes and costly regulations on the licensed and unlicensed cannabis markets," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304602, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Cross, Robin & Plantinga, Andrew J. & Stavins, Robert N., 2011. "The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sale Prices," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Babaioff, Moshe & Dobzinski, Shahar & Oren, Sigal, 2022. "Combinatorial auctions with endowment effect," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 255-273.
    10. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Stathis Klonaris & Georgia Papoutsi, 2016. "Do good things come in small packages? Willingness to pay for pomegranate wine and bottle size effects," Working Papers 2016-2, Agricultural University of Athens, Department Of Agricultural Economics.
    11. Maya Bar-Hillel & Alon Maharshak & Avital Moshinsky & Ruth Nofech, 2010. "Does a Rose by any other Name Smell as Sweet? A Cognitive Perspective on Poets and Poetry," Discussion Paper Series dp549, The Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
    12. Robin Cross & Andrew J. Plantinga & Robert N. Stavins, 2011. "What Is the Value of Terroir?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 152-156, May.
    13. repec:cup:judgdm:v:7:y:2012:i:2:p:149-164 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Zander, Katrin & Janssen, Meike, 2012. "Präferenzen Deutscher Öko-Konsumenten Für Wein," 52nd Annual Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, September 26-28, 2012 137175, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    15. Zander, K. & Janssen, M., 2013. "Präferenzen deutscher Öko-Konsumenten für Wein," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 48, March.
    16. Kyle Peterson, 2014. "The Snob Effect of Red Wine: Estimating Consumer Bias in Experimental Blind Wine Tastings," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 59(1), pages 76-89, May.
    17. Garavaglia, Christian & Marcoz, Elena Maria, 2014. "Willingness to pay for P.D.O. certification: an empirical investigation," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 5(1), pages 1-12, July.
    18. Barbara Groele & Dominika Głąbska & Krystyna Gutkowska & Dominika Guzek, 2019. "Mother-Related Determinants of Children At-Home Fruit and Vegetable Dietary Patterns in a Polish National Sample," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, June.
    19. Maya Bar-Hillel & Alon Maharshak & Avital Moshinsky & Ruth Nofech, 2012. "A rose by any other name: A social-cognitive perspective on poets and poetry," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 7(2), pages 149-164, March.
    20. Friberg, Richard & Paterson, Robert W. & Richardson, Andrew D., 2011. "Why is there a Home Bias? A Case Study of Wine," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 37-66, January.
    21. Rössel, Jörg & Beckert, Jens, 2012. "Quality classifications in competition: Price formation in the German wine market," MPIfG Discussion Paper 12/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    22. Enax Laura & Weber Bernd, 2015. "Marketing Placebo Effects – From Behavioral Effects to Behavior Change?," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 15-31, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wine; price/quality relation; expertise;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco
    • M30 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - General
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness

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