Why do some cheap wines taste as good or even better than expensive ones?

In the last few sessions, we discussed the benefits wine brands enjoy from offering ultra-premium, premium and budget wines in their collection. Over the quarter, we have also tasted a great variety of wines from both ends of the price spectrum. They have mostly been great, but I have a dirty secret. On average, I have preferred the cheaper wines served. On occasion, I have utterly detested the more expensive wine offered. Yet there were other classmates that found some of these expensive wines the best they had ever drunk. Apart from being a marker for my lack of taste I was curious about this difference in opinion and stumbled upon a 2008 study that looked into whether more expensive wines were more well-received, and by whom (http://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Vol.3-No.1-2008-Evidence-from-a-Large-Sample-of-Blind-Tastings.pdf).

Across 6000 blind tastings of good-quality wines, the researchers found that the average individual enjoyed more expensive wines slightly less. However, individuals with wine training appreciated the expensive wines more. The researchers concluded that “non-expert wine consumers should not anticipate greater enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of a wine simply because it is expensive or appreciated by experts.”

I have not yet found any peer-reviewed research to explain this phenomenon. However, my personal theory revolves around a wine’s “complexity”. Forgive the gross oversimplification, but expensive wines tend to be more complex and complex wines tend to be less easy to drink. A wine enthusiast may be able to appreciate and draw pleasure from the complexity of a fine wine. A wine novice like me simply wants to find something nice to go along with his or her carbonara.

Go figure… maybe ignorance really is bliss for the wallet. Drink what you like.