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The Wine Trials: Does Price Dictate Quality?
April 14th, 2008
A new book entitled, “The Wine Trials, a Fearless Critic Book” is causing a stir in the halls of the internet. I first read about it in a Newsweek article and intended on addressing the points, but the weeks escaped me and Eric Asimov beat me to it. Essentially, the book discusses the notion that people associate high quality wines with high price tags. It attempts to dispel this myth in a blind tasting study, in which $100 bottles of wine were sipped alongside wines as cheap as $1.50, and the cheaper were preferred. Then when price tags were made known, the expensive wines fared better.
When I first read the article, I found some validity in the claims. There are certainly expensive wines that are sludge and affordable wines that are magnificent. And people are inclined to like expensive wines– if only for the investment they’ve made– but also to save face. I’ve done it. In diploma class we discover a wine’s price tag after we’ve written our tasting note. But I’ll admit, I’ve been tempted to alter a harsh assessment of quality in a note after hearing that we’d just tasted a rare, expensive Burgundy. Geez, something must be wrong with me if I didn’t like it, right?
These points are true in most industries, especially luxury goods– wine isn’t the only culprit. I’ll never forget when I was in middle school and my friend bragged to me about a new purse she’d received from her mother at a large discount because they were in the fashion industry. I’d never seen a purse like it before, and I cringed. She assured me these purses were soon to be all the rage. I asked again: “Are you joking? That isn’t a hand-me-down from your Grandma?” She scoffted and told me the retail price, and I was ashamed. It was Louis Vuitton. Yeesh, I must not know anything about fashion! To me they did, and still do, look like Grandma purses, whether they cost thousands of dollars or not. Price and quality are not always correlated, I think we can all agree.
The problem however, as Asimov says as well, is the author’s method of proving this fact. Rule by the masses is never a sound judgment of quality. Just because a heck of a lot of people like something, does not make it great. Asimov uses McDonald’s as a great example, just like I used Louis Vuitton. Sure they have billions of restaurants, but does that mean they cook quality burgers?
In any case, what do you think? Is the popular vote a proof of quality? Should the Oscars, for example, be judged by popular vote? And does price dictate quality?
Filed under Wine Opinions |6 Responses to “The Wine Trials: Does Price Dictate Quality?”
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yeah ew those LV murakami multi-color purfs are HEINOUS.. I totally feel you on that one.
Your LV analogy rings true for me. It seems like a constant of psychology that we will convince ourselves what we invested in heavily is worth that investment.
I think this is an example of ‘Emperors New Clothes Syndrome’ and is an issue of ‘preference vs price’ rather than ‘quality vs price.’ Like in your analogy with the LV…while it is a very ugly bag (it is probably really high quality leather and would last a long time), it became popular because that’s what the media and the fashion industry said was ‘in’ at the time…so, as ‘emperors new clothes syndrome’ goes (that’s not a medical term, I sort of made it up), everyone assumed it was an attractive bag since that is what they were being told.
Similarly, I think that novice wine enthusiasts such as myself, assume that the more expensive wines are usually better because that is what the ‘experts’ often push on you and convince you is the best. Although 2 wines might be of similar quality, once you know the prices, you will always ‘prefer’ the more expensive wine because that seems like the more acceptable preference and since the ‘experts’ like it…and now you like it, you must be an expert!
I absolutely agree that price is not indicative of quality. There are many great wines to be had at reasonable prices.
I also think that “quality” is hard to measure as it is subjective (to some extent). There are basic characteristics in wine that most people will agree indicate quality, but personal preference should guide our choices more than price.
As far as popular opinion goes, the power of marketing has too much influence to use that as an indicator of quality.
I was thinking more about this article today, as I find this really interesting. I’m particularly interesting in the marketing angle and how marketing influences perception of quality.
Quality is really an experiential thing and the emotional connection you have with a product is part of your overall experience. The marketing behind a product/company (if done well) creates a personal connection with consumers on an emotional level — and keep in mind that pricing is part of marketing. Luxury products are one category in particular that people will “rocket” for and pay extra because of an emotional connection. People experience “real” enjoyment knowing they are consuming luxury goods, regardless of other measures of quality (to some degree).
Wine is somewhat unique in that we can do blind tastings to eliminate the emotional part of the experience. As this article demonstrates, that fact makes for some interesting experiments in human nature.
Thanks for the input, Tim!