> hence the infamous "dyed white wine described as you would a red by experts" experiment
That turns out to be somewhat of an urban legend.
http://sciencesnopes.blogspot.com/2013/05/about-that-wine-ex...
> The results of such priming experiments are notoriously varied though - reproduction is often unreliable.
Yes, this is why it's important for everyone to just do these experiments for themselves and decide what they like, and not bother with what anyone else thinks.
Re:How to get the wine you really want
by DonaldFisk on Friday November 04, 2016 @04:55PM
(#12876032)
I was challenged on this after repeating the misleading account of Brochet's experiment, and I, and everyone else with me, could easily tell the difference blindfolded. However, none of us was an "expert" wine taster, we knew that one glass was white and the other red, and our eyes were covered. It transpires that colour does affect your perception of flavour, the subjects in Brochet's experiment were deliberately deceived, and "experts" would have more to lose if they described a wine as white if it really was red.
Your expectations have a huge effect on your subjective perceptions. One thing I've found is that wine tastes better to me in a "proper" glass, i.e. one with a large bowl and thin walls. But I have no idea whether this is a "real" effect or all in my head because there's no way to do a blind comparison. On the other hand, does it really matter? You can suck all the pleasure out of just about any activity by overthinking it.
Another classic example is many people not being able to distinguish between the small of parmesan and vomit, how they rate the smell of either being affected by what they are told it is (in this case the key molecules that the nose picks up on are the same, or at least similar enough to activate the same receptors, so the subconscious bias caused by other verbal or environmental cues is enough to sway the perception one way or the other).
The results of such priming experiments are notoriously varied though - reproduction is often unreliable.