"Wine-tasting: it's junk science" (statistical methods and the like)

[Dolphin]

Wine-tasting: it's junk science

Experiments have shown that people can't tell plonk from grand cru. Now one US winemaker claims that even experts can't judge wine accurately. What's the science behind the taste?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis

Ok, this article is reasonably off-topic. However, I think a few people might find it of interest because it brings in issues about:

(i) how one might assess wine-tasters (statistics);

(ii) how various factors can bias reports e.g. different colours of wine.

Also,
(iii) I have to admit I get a bit of a kick when I read examples of when experts are found not to be the "great" (valid/reliable) experts they are held up to be/make themselves out to be. Some people can be too willing to accept the word of experts without good evidence, in my mind.

Some people might be interested in the chemistry bits from a general knowledge point of view.

 

[Esther12]

Ta D.

Reading that made me really want some wine. Yum.

I thought they slightly over-did the piece - plus or minus four points in a scale of 50 sounds pretty good for something as necessarily subjective as flavour assessment imo. It would be foolish to treat these sorts of things as if they could be entirely reliable.

Which is not to say that there's not a lot of shit talked in these sorts of areas (playthings for the rich - wine, fine-dining, hi-fi, cars, art, etc).

Also... cheap wine is now meant to be much better than it used to be, and can be intended to be an easier drink. I'm starting to ramble.

I really miss wine.