Expensive Wine Tastes Better Because Your Brain Says So

What really makes a $70 bottle of wine taste better than the Two Buck Chuck sitting snug between your Joe Joe's and Speculoos Butter?

Other than the fear of another arsenic scare looming, a study suggests your brain may be playing mind games with you. The New York Post reports that the University of Bonn rounded up 30 men and women about 30 years old and had them sip from bottles labeled $3, $7 and $21 while hooked up to an MRI. What the guinea pigs didn't know was that they were all drinking from the exact same $14 bottle. Results show that subjects did in fact find the pricier bottle more palatable. The study also showed that subjects were more inclined to enjoy their expensive glass if they were told it was on the house.

This means we're going to have to try harder to train our brains to not give in to the placebo effect. Great news for penny pinchers and wine aficionados alike! Take it from Bon Appétit's wine editor, Marissa A. Ross. Her favorite affordable bottle is a wallet-friendly $12.