I keep seeing this kind of thing, but it goes directly against my personal observations. I've seen people blindly identify any number of wines, down to the exact vintage at times. There are people who can do this, I've seen it done.
"We see something, and we simply presuppose how it's going to smell and taste. We know that apples, for instance, are crisp, sweet and drippy. But if we close our eyes, hold our nose and bite into an onion, chances hard we won't be able to tell the difference because onions are also crisp, sweet and drippy."
It works the other way too, if you want to freak someone out switch the coke/beer in their can with OJ while they're distracted. They will act like they have been poisoned.
I think you need to read up on what a sommelier is and what the exam is like. People pass it, and the pass rate is such that it's not due to random chance.
I realize that you have a study that's vaguely related but the two are not the same. Not at all.
What are the credentials of the people on the "wine tasting panel"? I can't find that information anywhere.
Except when wine tasters can't distinguish between red wine and white wine with food coloring
This oft referenced study took oenology students and asked them to use adjectives to describe the odors of the wine. The only wines tested were white...and white with food coloring. It is unfortunate that red wine wasn't actually tested, as it would provide an interesting contrast, nor was taste actually tested at all. So as is all that you can go on is that given what appears to be a red wine, students who presumably have motives other than being entirely straightforward use red wine-type terminology.
It is an interesting study, but is not quite the trump card that so many think it is.
Further, it's a little silly how people are taking products with minor taste differences (most beers, wines, ryes, etc, are made with almost identical processes, yielding close to identical results), and then presuming to claim that the same applies to things that are dramatically different. That someone couldn't tell the expensive wine from the table wine does not prove that someone can't tell a beef burger from a veggie burger.
