Cheap plonk the way to go for most drinkers.

A study that challenged members of the public to a blind tasting suggests many people cannot distinguish an expensive bottle of wine from cheap plonk and they are simply paying for the label when they splash out on a special bottle. 578 people took part during the Edinburgh Science Festival and were offered a range of red and white wines costing less than £5 and other vintages priced between £10 and £30. They then had to say which were cheap and which were expensive. By the laws of chance, they should have been able to make a correct guess 50 per cent of the time and that reflected the level of accuracy seen, demonstrating that the volunteers could not distinguish between wines by taste alone.

Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, led the research, and concluded that in these times of financial hardship the message is clear – the inexpensive wines tasted the same as their expensive counterparts, so why pay more.