"The Independent" newspaper has published this rather interesting article which deserves to be read.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/wines-elaborate-descriptions-taste-better-appear-study-labels-a7776966.html.
This short article confirms my suspicion that the power of suggestion has an undue influence on the opinion of a wine. If a wine is elaborately described with positive comments about its flavour, smell and structure, along with exciting descriptions about the location of the vineyard etc. then it will be rated more favourably than the same wine tasted under "blind" conditions. The same applies when a wine is believed to be more expensive than the same wine tasted under "blind" conditions. All this is a marketing ploy.
This same principle applies to the other industries especially the hi-fi industry and the cosmetics industry. This is why some hi-fi manufactures can sell enthusiasts cables, which cost thousands of pounds per metre, that do not perform any better than well constructed ordinary cables which costs no more than a few pounds per metre. They have no scientific evidence to back up their claims. No results of peer reviewed double blind listening tests are ever revealed to the public.
I was once in a cosmetics shop in France with my wife. Part of the advertising campaign was for a face lifting cream which would defy the laws of gravity. Newton and Einstein might have had something to say about that but such claims are believed and make cosmetic manufacturers a fortune for creams and lotions that are produced in huge vats in a factory for a few pence a litre. Once again, no results of peer reviewed double blind tests are ever revealed to the public.
I have probably been a victim of the power of suggestion regarding wine myself. But, after attending wine courses and blind tastings I have taught myself to do my best to ignore the power of suggestion, and I endeavour to do this is these pages to the best of my ability. I also endeavour not to be prejudiced. If you do not take an objective and scientific approach to wine tasting and selection you can quite easily be fooled into buying a wine that is not worth the money - caveat emptor.
