What does it take to make the average (and even above average) wine lover drink swill? And pay more for it?
Not as much as you may think.
According to a study done by Australia’s University of Adelaide, it might be as little as a cleverly (and floridly) written label. The study, conducted by the university’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, took 136 wine drinkers and put them through three blind tastings of chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc, each a week apart.
At the first tasting, participants were given no information about the wines. At the second, they received only a cursory description. At the third tasting, however, they were given a longer and more evocative description. The result—surprise!—was that the third tasting’s more elaborate and evocative description substantially increased the participants’ expectations of the wines, also their higher ratings, greater satisfaction, not to mention their willingness to pay a higher price.
“These findings have important implications for wine producers and the hospitality industry in that descriptions require more than just wine tasting notes,” says Dr Lukas Danner, a co-author on the study. “Companies could even consider involving consumers in label description optimization.”
It remains to be seen if describing a wine as “really good shit” will drive higher sales and profits. But, hey, stranger things have happened.