The Travel Chica

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My Little Wine Experiment: Can You Tell the Difference?

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I have been to several wine tastings in Buenos Aires.

After attending a tasting specifically for cheap wines, I got the idea to host a “blind” wine tasting.  Basically, you don’t know which wine you are drinking or how much it costs.  The goal of my little experiment was to see if people really can taste the difference between cheap, moderately priced, and expensive wines.  Plus, this was my chance to be a hostess and bring together friends, which I love doing.

Photo of me pouring the secret wines

Panel of Experts

Ayngelina didn’t really have an option, since she is my roommate.

Chance is an expat from the US who has been living here for four years.  He is an expert on all things Buenos Aires, and he is also the one who introduced me to wine tastings at 0800 Vino.

Rease is an expat from the US who has been living her for a year.  She is the hostess with the most-est, and I love attending her potlucks.  This was my chance to host her.

Jorge is an expat from Colombia.  Remember he is the one that made the most gluttonous night of my life possible.  I will always be indebted to him for this.

Photo of group of wine tasters
Chance learns his lesson about making funny faces when a blogger takes your photo.

All four were willing participants in my little experiment.

Food and wine are quite tempting.

The spread: cheese, crackers, bread, guacamole, hummus, carrots, apples.  (And yes, all of my friends in Buenos Aires have websites/ blogs.  Is that weird?)

Photo of food

The Wines

I purchased five wines with price points ranging from 13 pesos (US$3.25) to 65 pesos (US$16.25).  Yes, $16.25 is considered a somewhat expensive wine here.  I had everyone take notes as they tried each one, so we could compare which ones they liked after the unveiling of the wines.

I was shocked by the outcome.

The most popular two wines among the group were also the two cheapest wines.  Everyone hated the most expensive wine.  Here are the wines listed in order from cheapest to most expensive.

Finca Beltran Duo Malbec 2010 – 13 pesos

This captured the #1 spot for Jorge, Chance, and Ayngelina.

Photo of diligent Rease
Rease works diligently on her wine tasting notes.

Estancia Mendoza Merlot Malbec 2010 – 13.50 pesos

This captured the #2 spot for Ayngelina and Jorge.  Chance said it tasted like “alcohol.” Maybe that’s why Ayngelina liked it so much 😉

Callia Alta Shiraz Cabernet 2009 – 20 pesos

Ayngelina said this one “tastes like dry priciness.” She’s about as good at describing wine as I am.

Chance said this was his 2nd favorite wine, and he even guessed it was a Cabernet from the year 2009.  And he guessed the price at 19 pesos.  I think he might have sneaked a peak.

Sur de Los Andes Malbec 2008 – 36 pesos

Nobody was a big fan of this one.

St. Felicien Cabernet 2007 – 58.50 pesos

Rease said this one “tastes like shit” and “must be the cheapest.” It was really hard to stifle my laugh when she made this comment about THE MOST EXPENSIVE wine.


Ayngelina said she would be “embarrassed to serve it.”


Chance and Jorge both said, “no likey.”


Wow!  Harsh!


Photo of wines

So which wines did I like?

I think maybe I am a wine snob after hearing what everyone else preferred. I really enjoyed the most expensive wine St. Felicien, as well as the medium priced Callia Alta.  I definitely felt there was a huge quality difference with the two cheapest wines.

But now I wonder….

If I was on the other side of this blind wine tasting and didn’t know the prices, would I still have felt the same?  Or is my opinion swayed by the fact that I knew the prices?


Has anyone conducted a similar experiment to see if our opinions are swayed by brand names and prices?

Do you prefer cheap wine or expensive wine?

Comments

  1. I’d say that I drink everything as long as it tastes good and I don’t get a big hangover the next day… It’s interesting that the more expensive wine ranked high with you and very low with your friends… maybe you are right and it’s because you were biased by knowing the prices.

    I didn’t knew that you have a new place. thought you are still crashing on the couch of a friend!
    Sebastian recently posted..Dear Airlines…

  4. OMG!!! Where was my invite!! lol
    This sounds amazing and so much fun! I think whenever you make your way back to OH we should do this again!
    I miss you:)

  5. I have to admit, I’m terrible at telling the difference between good wine and plonk! My Dad is forever amazed at how I’ll quite happily get through bottles of cheap wine and not be able to manage a class of expensive wine!
    Harriet recently posted..Mobile Phone Exchange

  7. Hola! I loved reading this post: it brought back memories of my time in Buenos Aires and the many nights spent at 0800 Vino… and memories of a few blind tastings we hosted as well! Isn’t it funny how we sometimes gravitate towards the less expensive wines??? I actually blogged about a blind tasting I hosted; we had a slightly different experience because we had a champagne tasting and there was one EXCEPTIONAL wine that blew the socks off of everyone and was clearly the best (and most expensive). But, for the record, I don’t recommend EVER having a champagne tasting: you are asking for a hangover!! :) Enjoy your travels! http://sedimentality.com/?p=2839

  9. The cheapest was my #1 too! Also, the “tastes like shit” was what I said, but my paper actually said “boooooo” :(” haha.

    I am honored that you consider me the hostess with the mostest. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine tasting, especially getting seconds of the cheap wine.
    Rease recently posted..Dear Fat Girl from the Suburbs- It Gets Better

  10. I love this idea! I usually prefer cheaper wines, mainly because they make me want cheese and crackers, which to me spells out a winning combination! I also find that I tend to be more carefree with cheaper wines–I’ll add some into the pasta sauce so the flavors compliment each other, I don’t feel compelled to appreciate every sip–just because they are at a price that I am more comfortable with. This psychological quirk makes cheaper wines overall the best choice for me. :)
    Danalynn recently posted..A Girl Nomads Packing List

  11. Hey!! Glad you are away from the psycho landlord, did the agency get u any $ back? Re: wine, I am a red wine drinker (quite regularly!!). There are great wines in all price ranges, some great cheap I enjoy as well as pricy-I think it’s just a personal preference. Next time u should cover them all and mix them up so u are part of the blind test too! ( u snob ;))

  13. I have tasted more expensive wines and do think they taste better sometimes. I travel for business quite often and get the chance to experiment – I’d never pay that much for wine on my own!

  14. i’m pretty easy to please in spite of having some solid wine training behind me! the one thing i’ll say here, is that not all wines pair well with the same food, and that the taste can be changed pretty dramatically (and sometimes unfavorably) by a bad food match, so it’s hard to get a side by side taste test like this to deliver a perfect result. BUT having said that, i’m definitely not a food snob, and think if the cheap stuff works (and it often does for me!) then good on ya! sounds like such a fun gang in BA :)
    Lorna – the roamantics recently posted..The Vancouver Riot- Thoughts and Photos

    • I am bad about worrying about the food match. I will only drink red wine, so it’s funny when at a restaurant, and the server tries to tell me to order a white. Nope…. don’t care :-)

      And yes, I cannot complain about my new friends here in BA. I may have to buy their affection with cheap wine, but I am okay with that.
      The Travel Chica recently posted..The Most Gluttonous Night of My Life… So Far

  15. What a fun experiment! I have done it before — both with various wine groups I used to belong to back in the States and for several wineries I used to work with. Living in Northern California wine country helped me develop a pretty decent and sometimes expensive palate — although I readily admit to trying several high-end, 90+ point wines that I hated…I think “Two Buck Chuck” would’ve been preferable. One thing I learned is you really can’t go by price point — the cheapest wine may actually be more expensive but the retailer got a bulk deal or they produce more so they can discount more, while the more expensive may be a smaller production — doesn’t necessarily make it better.

    BTW, you have no idea would I would give for wine that cheap in Taiwan. Our “daily drinkers” are usually in the $30 range as import fees are high here for wine retailers…a reason I have learned the art of maximizing luggage allowance limits on each of my flights back from the US. Might as well bring my good stuff over here! :-)
    Erin recently posted..Travels to TBEX- Taipei to Vancouver via Woodinville- Washington

  16. I recently watched a TV program about branding. The presenter heated up some baked beans, by the leading UK brand and put it all in two thermos flasks. On one he put the label from the leading brand and on the other he put the label of Britain’s biggest supermarket own brand of beans. The results were something like out of eleven people, nine said the “leading brand” tasted better, one said they preferred the “supermarket own brand”. Only one person said “they both taste the same”.
    I used to go wine tasting every week at one time in my life and as a result of the blind tastings or tastings without prices learn’t that price has no real impact on the quality of the wine. Anyway since taste is subjective why worry?
    The only problem I have is giving wine as a gift. I could give them a bottle of what I consider to be an excellent cheap wine, but they would probably be offended even if it tasted better than most more expensive wines. In the end, I take a middle course, with a relatively unknown, organic mid price wine that I know is appreciated by most drinkers.
    John recently posted..Daily Photo- My favourite office- Chamonix Médiathèque

  18. Interesting experiment. I’ll keep that in mind for the next home-party-with-friends :)
    Regarding the cheap vs. expensive wine question, I agree to what Erin and John said before: the price and the label can often be misleading – the best wine is always the one you like the most. I always go for a dry red :)
    Adrian B. recently posted..Palacio Real de Aranjuez- Photo Essay

  19. I love this idea! I’m going to repeat it in Vegas!

    I have to say that I’ve noticed that my palate tends to prefer the cheaper wines… I love nothing more than getting a $3 bottle from Trader Joe’s or a $5 bottle of Barefoot. I’m always happy, and I don’t run the risk of hating something I spend $50 on!
    Emily Sims recently posted..Future fat girl likes to eat!

  28. I have to admit, I don’t like the taste of wine or alcohol period. I’ve tried to enjoy and learn about wine many times (including wine tastings and other events) but they all taste the same to me no matter the brand/country/price.

    So to answer your question about wine preferences… I don’t prefer cheap nor expensive wine. Can I have a coffee instead? :)

    – Lily

  30. Honestly, I can’t tell the difference in wine either, except for this one time where I had the opportunity to try a $300 bottle of reserve cab and it was the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. By the way, love the Sriracha bottle in every shot =)

  32. Years ago, my grandfather got fed up with my uncle’s pedantic comments about the cheap wine my grandad was fond of serving and how he liked expensive wine. So Grandad bought a bottle of expensive juice and his usual wine and did the following: emptied both bottles and refilled them with the switched wines.

    Later that day, he poured my uncle the “expensive” wine, which my uncle praised no end. Once my uncle was done extolling the virtues of the expensive wine, my grandad told him (in front of the whole family) what he’d done and that he -uncle- knew shit about wines, except he said it in a nice way.

    Last year, that ‘cheap plonk” made it to The Daily Telegraph’s 10 best organic wines from Latin America. The name of the winery is Tilimuqui and is from La Rioja. If you can find it, try their torrontes.
    Ana recently posted..Summer solstice over St Ouen’s Bay

  33. I read an article about this in the NYTimes once, I think it was in the Freakonomics column. I’ve always been tempted to do this myself.

    Chile is THE land of cheap, good wine. My go-to favorite costs around $1700 pesos, something a little more than $3.00. Are you heading here next?

  39. Some said that the name of the brands of the wine will tell if its cheap or expensive. For me, I don’t really know how to tell if the wine is expensive or not because I really don’t drink wine often. I guess this post is very helpful.
    Ron recently posted..Gynecomastia Symptoms

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