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Does Blind Tasting Work? Investigating the Impact of Training on Blind Tasting Accuracy and Wine Preference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2018

Qian Janice Wang Open the ORCID record for Qian Janice Wang [Opens in a new window]  and
Domen Prešern
Qian Janice Wang
Affiliation:
Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Oxford, OX2 6BW, UK; e-mail: qian.wang@psy.ox.ac.uk.
Domen Prešern
Affiliation:
Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, UK; e-mail: domen.presern@chem.ox.ac.uk.
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Abstract

We analyzed data from Oxford University Blind Tasting Society's 2018 training season to assess whether blind tasting training improves accuracy. Over time, guesses for grape variety increased in terms of accuracy as well as within-group agreement. Moreover, for grape variety, location, and vintage, the chances of the most common within-group guess being correct were significantly higher than the underlying frequency distribution. Finally, we observed a shift in preference towards older wines, with those with little initial experience gaining a preference for greater acidity and alcohol, and decreasing their preference for oak. Our results have important implications for growing wine markets with an increasingly educated consumer population. (JEL Classifications: C91, C92, D83, L15, L66).

Keywords

blind wine tastingtrainingwine expertise
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 384 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2018 

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) for awarding our project with the AAWE Research Scholarship, AAWE Conference participants, and an anonymous reviewer for useful suggestions, and the members of the Oxford University Blind Tasting Society for their support.

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