>Tasters can't even tell reds from whites with a great deal of accuracy. [2]
Actually, this one is bullshit. While it may be true that the average person without blind tasting experience cannot do this, anyone who has actually done blind tasting seriously should be pretty accurate at this. Purely structurally, red wines generally have much more tannin and more alcohol than whites.
The famous study that led to this claim (which survives because people, especially the HN type, love feeling smug about expertise) doesn't really hold up. See eg http://sciencesnopes.blogspot.com/2013/05/about-that-wine-ex...
1. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-ta... 2. http://www.morssglobalfinance.com/the-ultimate-wine-tasting-...