Whether you're drinking away your sorrows or celebrating with a few bubbles could determine how much you're willing to pay for your grog.
New research has found people in a better mood are willing to shell out more for wine.
Participants in the Australian study were given four different Shiraz wines of varying quality. Some they drank at home, some in the lab, and the rest in a restaurant setting.
When people had the wine in the restaurant they were more likely to report enjoying it, regardless of its quality, compared to having it at home and in the lab.
And while it didn't mask the bad taste of poor-quality wine, being in a better mood made it easier to drink nonetheless.
"Participants' mood before tasting the wines had a strong influence on consecutive product-evoked emotion ratings, but only weak influence on liking ratings," the study, published in Food Research International, found.
"In fact, peoples' emotional responses to wine directly influenced how much they wanted to pay for it."
Being in a better mood made people more willing to pay "significantly more".
"Be careful if you're feeling content, enthusiastic, optimistic or passionate," the University of Adelaide scientists warn. "Research suggests you'll want to pay more than your discontented drinking companions."
The research was funded by Wine Australia, seeking to find out how to better market its product, and the Australian government.
Newshub.
