The Snob Effect of Red Wine: Estimating Consumer Bias in Experimental Blind Wine Tastings

Abstract

Rising wine production in the United States has led to increased product availability in terms of price and grape varieties used to make the wines. This paper examines the potential biases that consumers may have regarding price and grape blend compositions of red wines, with a focus on the biases that consumers may have against inexpensive wines and wines that are made from university-developed hybrid grape varieties. Specifically, this paper finds that consumers rate a wine less favorably when they are told it is inexpensive, while information revealing that a wine is a hybrid grape variety has no impact on consumer rating. These impacts, however, vary across gender and purchasing behavior.