Open the doors in your mind

So I was lucky enough to get another set of free tickets to a wine tasting event on Saturday night too (thanks Travis!). This was a good event and smartly marketed – “25 wines under $25”.

After my last blog posting, I felt a bit of a fraud going back for more as I pretty much declared myself a non-believer in Friday's post. So I decided to test my theory as much as the wine…..

So, it isn't a con. It is possible to smell and taste multiple and complex flavours rather than good and bad wine. To do so takes work and some education. You need to know about the types of grapes and soils and characteristics etc and as one winemaker suggested 'open the doors in your mind’. Philippe, the winemaker for Yellow Tail also suggested we buy a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, which has a strong flavor and work on smelling the asparagus in that wine. Once you get one smell, you brain and your senses start to get into the swing of things and you can pick up more. When I can face wine again I will buy some!

However, I do think that the marketers have gone completely overboard! In an attempt to set them apart and appeal to those with self-proclaimed sophisticated palates wine descriptions have become a creative writing exercise - citrus is now nectarine skins, minerals are crushed rocks. And this is what makes me suspicious about it all. I think a new brand could do really well by going against this and keeping things simple. [But sssh, I am going to save that idea to give to Len, David’s Dad who is planting grapes in the next month.]

Better stop now. David says my last post was a little long!!