New Australian research has shown that we are much more influenced by wine label descriptions than previously thought. The descriptions can change our emotions, heighten our wine taste and encourage us to pay more for a bottle. The researchers conducted a study with Australian white wines and 126 regular white wine consumers. Consumers evaluated the same set of three commercially available white wines (Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc) under three information levels:a blind tasting with no information; a simple sensory description; and an extended/emotional description.
The presentation of the more extensive wine descriptions, including information about the history of the winery and positive wine quality, increased the consumer's assessment of the assigned wines. Further on, the results showed that if the expectations generated by the wine description were close to the actual taste of the tasting, consumers felt much more positive emotions than if it did not meet expectations.
