Re:Does expensive wine taste better?
by gumby on Monday January 25, 2021 @12:05PM
(#25905672)
I think wine pricing is bullshit but to be fair there are two factors that can make a difference and which apply in other domains as well.
One is the "fat part of the bell curve" of taste. Consider music: people listen to music for a lot of reasons, like lyrics, lack of lyrics, beat, ability to fade into the background... Many options will satisfy, and the simplest signifiers are adequate. That's why popular headphones emphasize bass these days, for example.
And there's nothing wrong with that! In the case of wine, people who aren't really into it will simply look for signifiers for what they're in the mood for (I'm in this group): more acidic, more sweet, bubbly-and-I-don't-care-otherwise which will naturally cause the popular wines to "cluster" around one of these factors. The product is essentially a commodity.
There will be a small number of people who really get into it ("sophistication" is the technical term but unfortunately it has terrible connotations) and can parse out the differences, and who might seek out a second order factor they like. But those people are always, by definition, going to be in the minority.
The second factor of course is Vleben. This also applies well beyond wine, such as the whole "prosumer" segment, "SUV"s build on automotive chassis, etc.
One is the "fat part of the bell curve" of taste. Consider music: people listen to music for a lot of reasons, like lyrics, lack of lyrics, beat, ability to fade into the background... Many options will satisfy, and the simplest signifiers are adequate. That's why popular headphones emphasize bass these days, for example.
And there's nothing wrong with that! In the case of wine, people who aren't really into it will simply look for signifiers for what they're in the mood for (I'm in this group): more acidic, more sweet, bubbly-and-I-don't-care-otherwise which will naturally cause the popular wines to "cluster" around one of these factors. The product is essentially a commodity.
There will be a small number of people who really get into it ("sophistication" is the technical term but unfortunately it has terrible connotations) and can parse out the differences, and who might seek out a second order factor they like. But those people are always, by definition, going to be in the minority.
The second factor of course is Vleben. This also applies well beyond wine, such as the whole "prosumer" segment, "SUV"s build on automotive chassis, etc.