No. 072001Bordeaux54 tasters

White wine, dyed red

Students training in wine in Bordeaux were asked to smell and describe a white wine and a red wine. Naturally, they used words that evoke light-colored fruit for the white and dark-colored fruit for the red.

A week later they were invited back. Again, two glasses were set in front of them. This time the wine that looked red was in fact the same white wine, colored red with an odorless, tasteless food dye.

You first

Smelling a wine that looks red, would you notice it was actually white?

This answer is hypothetical; it is not the same as what you would do in a real lab.

How did the tasters describe the dyed white wine?

Original result

The tasters described the dyed white wine with the words they had used for red wine a week earlier: dark fruit and aromas typical of red wine. The wine itself had not changed, only its color.

What we know today

According to the researchers, this does not show that experts cannot taste; it shows that when we put smell and taste into words, we lean on what our eyes see. Many later food and drink studies have also found that color affects how we perceive taste and smell.

The surprising part

These were not beginners: the participants were students being trained in wine tasting.

Sources

Morrot, G., Brochet, F., & Dubourdieu, D. (2001). The color of odors. Brain and Language, 79(2), 309–320. doi.org/10.1006/brln.2001.2493

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