What a corking discovery! Britons fooled into thinking wine is better if it has chateau on the label

It might be hard to swallow for wine lovers who see price as a sign of quality.

But research shows a cheaper bottle of plonk can be rated more highly than an expensive brand – if it has a picture of a French chateau on the label.

In a new study consumers ranked a £7 bottle of Errazuriz Estate Pinot Noir, sold by Waitrose, featuring a picture of a chateau, as more premium than a £95 bottle of Clos Apalta 2013, sold by the Vivino website, with a plain label.

They also preferred a £6.49 bottle of wine to one costing £36.99 during a blind taste test.

The joint study by Oxford University and supermarket giant Aldi involved wine tasting by 53 consumers and an online survey of more than 2,000 drinkers.

During the blind test, in which wines were smelt, tasted and rated, the £6.49 bottle of Aldi Australian Cabernet Sauvignon scored seven out of ten, but the £36.99 Majestic Escarpment ‘Pahi’ Pinot Noir got just five.

Consumers said they would be willing to pay an average of £9.97 for the cheaper bottle compared to £7.77 for the more expensive brand.

The study found that a picture of a chateau on the label is most likely to convince shoppers the wine is premium quality – along with a heavier bottle.

Consumers said they would pay almost 40 per cent more for wine from a heavy bottle compared to a light one.

Meanwhile, 25 per cent believed having a cork instead of a screw top indicated high quality wine.

Julie Ashfield, of Aldi UK, said that shoppers should ‘never judge a bottle of wine by its price’.