It is a familiar scenario. You get back from holiday clutching bottles of wine that tasted delicious in a vineyard only to find the flavour has mysteriously vanished.
Now researchers at Oxford University believe they know why.
Wine actually tastes different depending on the conditions in which it is drunk, with light and sound affecting how fresh, fruity, bitter or acidic the drink is perceived.
Next month Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, will test the theory in the biggest multisensory experiment ever conducted into the psychology of drinking wine.
Thousands of people attending the Streets of Spain festival on London's Southbank, will be invited to step into his "Colour Lab" and asked to rate how wine tastes depending on light and music.
Spence believes that the results could change how bottles are labelled. In future, as well as food recommendations, labels may also include advice such as "drink while listening to classical music" or "best served after dark".
Spence believes that a taste for neutral colour schemes in homes could be causing wine to taste more bland.
A previous study by Oxford found that when experienced tasters were given champagne in black glasses they struggled to tell the difference between a cheap sparkling wine and an expensive bottle of fizz.
A study by the University of Tübingen in 2009 found that participants rated wine as tasting 50% sweeter if drunk under red light, rather than under blue or white
Roberto Vicente, a winemaker at the Juan Alcorta winery, said he was amazed to find that his own wine tasted so different when the lights changed from red to green.
"In the green light I thought: 'This is not my wine'."
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