If you’re hosting a dinner party but want to keep costs down, new research proves you should probably opt for that cheaper bottle of wine.

A study has proven that people think wine tastes better when associated with a heftier price tag. This remains true even if they're told it is the more expensive wine rather than the cheaper alternative meaning they didn't notice a change in flavour. According to the latest results published in the Journal of Marketing, we can ditch the more expensive vintage for a cheaper bottle of wine, once we don’t let the taster in on the secret. According to results from the study, they really won’t know the difference. In an experiment where subjects had their brain scanned while drinking what they believed were five different wines of different prices, the study found drinkers’ brains showed they enjoyed the wines associated with a higher price tag more. What the tasters weren’t aware of was that they were tasting the same three bottles of wine with roughly the same cost price, but simply enjoyed their glass more when they believed it was from a ‘nicer’ bottle. Authors of the study, Hilke Plassman, a cognitive neuroscientist, and Bernd Weber, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Bonn, concluded that people’s reaction to marketing placebo effects prove our brain can appreciate similar products completely based on price tags. So next time you’re wandering down the aisle, why not pick up a cheaper plonk? Just tell yourself it’s the exact same…