More on the mechanics of the study: eleven casual wine drinkers were told that they would be tasting five different cabernet sauvignons, which were identified by price, to study the effect of sampling time on flavor. In reality, only three wines were provided—two were given twice, once with the correct price, the other time with a deliberately misleading price.

Not only did the participants claim that they could taste five different wines and identify the wines they were told were more expensive as better tasting, but they also demonstrated more intensive activity in the part of the brain that experiences pleasure when tasting the “more expensive” wines.

What to take out of this work, apart from an enhanced understanding of the curious gymnastics involved in wine tasting in laboratory settings? Must we conclude that people (at least amateur tasters) are suckers, incapable of ignoring external clues and focusing on the inherent merits and flaws of a given wine? Perhaps. Eric Asimov of the New York Times sums it up nicely: “”Would that we all could achieve that sense of freedom and zen-like serenity, where we’ve had our fill of all else and can simply choose the right wine because it’s the right wine.”