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The (behavioural) thing with wine
On the deep and interesting relationship between wine and behavioural sciences
Last week, some people in a Manchester restaurant ordered a £260 (€290, $340) bottle of Pauillac, but nobody noticed that they were brought a different one. The diners enjoyed the wine regardless, and the mistake only came to light afterwards. So far, so unremarkable — were it not for the fact that the bottle the guests erroneously received was a Pomerol, the most expensive one on the list, priced at an eye-watering £4500 (€5000, $6000).
This made the story rather newsworthy, and it also led to a Twitter discussion among behavioural scientists. Would the diners retrospectively exceptionally enjoy the wine they received? Where is the actual utility that explains paying that kind of price for 70cl of quaffable liquid? (More on this later.)
The tale reminded me of the special relationship that appears to exist between wine and behavioural and cognitive science. One of the reasons for this is undoubtedly that wine is one of very few consumer products where the most expensive item costs hundreds of times more than the cheapest, despite looking and feeling very much the same. Unlike with other goods, there are very few clues as to the market value of a bottle inherent in the product itself. A glass of wine looks…
