How your brain makes higher priced wine taste better – study

New research has shed light on how the brain is wired to rate a higher priced wine as better than one with a cheaper price tag, even if the samples come from the same bottle.

Scientists claim to have found new evidence of how parts of our brain attempt to ‘trick’ us into thinking a higher price tag means better wine.

Researchers at the University of Bonn and and INSEAD Business School gave the same €12 wine repeatedly to unwitting participants, showing them the price tag as three euros, six euros and then €18.

They monitored participants’ brain activity using a nuclear spin tomograph.

Fifteen men and fifteen women aged around 30 years took part, and some were given a budget of 45 euros to spend.

Participants were given one millilitre of wine at a time through tubes going directly into their mouths; something unlikely to be seen at a wine tasting event.