Consumers pay more for tongue-twisting wines

Wine tastes better if a winery is difficult to pronounce, according to new research.

In a study by Brock University professor, Dr Antonia Mantonakis, it found English-speaking wine consumers were more likely to buy wine from a winery with a difficult-to-pronounce name.

Dr Mantonakis said: ”Wines associated with more difficult-to-pronounce names are associated with higher ratings.

‘Things that are difficult to pronounce are unfamiliar because they are usually rare,’ she added.

‘Perception of tastes are different if they are associated with a more disfluent winery name and that result is especially pronounced for high wine-knowledge participants.’

Mantonakis admitted the laboratory findings might not be reflected in wine purchases. ‘Whether these results would replicate in a more natural setting is something that we don’t know.’

Written by Rebecca Gibb

Rebecca Gibb MW is a wine journalist and editor who has also founded Bamboozled games, ‘the world’s first wine and spirit puzzle makers’. Having spent six years living in New Zealand, she has recently returned to her native north-east England. While in New Zealand, she became a Master of Wine, graduating top of her class and winning the Madame Bollinger medal for excellence in tasting. A former winner of both the UK’s young wine writer of the year and the Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer, her first book The Wines of New Zealand was published in 2018. She also runs wine events and has her own consultancy business The Drinks Project. She was a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).