Do Female and Male Judges Assign the Same Ratings to the Same Wines? Large Sample Results

Abstract

Much research shows that women and men have different taste acuities and preferences. If female and male judges tend to assign different ratings to the same wines, then the gender balances of the judge panels will bias awards. Existing research supports the null hypothesis, however, that finding is based on small sample sizes. This article presents the results for a large sample; 260 wines and 1,736 wine-score observations. Subject to the strong qualification that non-gender-related variation is material, the results affirm that female and male judges do assign about the same ratings to the same wines. The expected value of the difference in their mean ratings is zero. (JEL Classifications: A10, C00, C10, C12, D12)

Erring Experts? A Critique of Wine Ratings as Hedonic Scaling

“…While the difference studied was sensory sensitivity, numerous other potential sources of difference come to mind but remain largely untested: for example, olfactory acuity, age, gender (Bodington and Malfeito-Ferreira, 2018), or perhaps cultural background (“wine cultures” vs. others).…”

“…The significant correlations found between taste sensitivity and degree of liking/disliking are less important than demonstrating that "we cannot compare perceived sensations directly." While the difference studied was sensory sensitivity, numerous other potential sources of difference come to mind but remain largely untested: for example, olfactory acuity, age, gender (Bodington and Malfeito-Ferreira, 2018), or perhaps cultural background ("wine cultures" vs. others).…”

Should Ties Be Broken in Commercial Wine Competitions? When Yes, What Method Is Practical and Defensible?

“…The 2016 Wines of Portugal Challenge was held from May 9–12, 2016 at the premises of the National Agriculture Fair in Santarém, Portugal. See Bodington and Malfeito-Ferreira (2018) for a description of the protocol, scoring guidelines, and an analysis of the results. In sum, 151 judges sampled 1,328 wines and turned in a total of 8,445 scores.…”

“…Some ratings are more likely than others, so some means are more likely than others, thus, ties between these means are more likely. In addition, Bodington and Malfeito-Ferreira (2018) and Bodington (2017a) showed that anchoring is common. For example, a score of 89, just one point above the 88-point threshold for a gold medal, was the most often assigned score in the Setúbal Challenge.…”

The Legacy of Gurus: The Impact of Armin Diel and Joel Payne on Winery Ratings in Germany

“… 8 For red Bordeaux wines, Ashton (2013) and Luxen (2018) report significantly lower correlations between the ratings of prominent wine critics. Comparing the ratings of female and male tasters, Bodington and Malfeito-Ferreira (2018) find a large consensus.…”