Monday, December 31, 2007

54 wine scholars fail to distinguish white from red

In the first (part II of the article), he gave 54 subjects (students in the wine program at the Bordeaux university, experienced with wine tasting, I believe) two wines, both at room temperature: a white wine and an identical white wine dyed red with flavorless food coloring. The vast majority of subjects described the white wine in typical white wine terms (e.g. pear, apricot, fresh, floral), while they described the red-colored wine in typical red wine terms (e.g. raspberry, black currant, plum, tannic). In the second (part II.2), Brochet gave 57 subjects two identical wines to taste (separated by a week); they were told that one was a Grand Cru and the other a table wine. In fact, the wines were identical. The vast majority of subjects described the supposed Grand Cru with laudatory adjectives (e.g. complex, well-balanced, full-bodied) and described the supposed VdT with critical adjectives (e.g. thin, flat, flawed).

1 comment: