IF YOU WERE A BOTTLE OF WINE, WHAT WOULD YOUR LABEL SAY?
I think mine might go a little something like – A bold, full-bodied, complex wine with earthy tones and a subtle hint of spice that lingers on the palate! Aged 40 years, great to enjoy now or save for a special occasion!
Personally, I’d love the job of being a professional writer of tasting notes – You know that descriptive blurb on the back of the bottle of wine. You’d get to sample the goods, write a description that is purely your own opinion and probably not get too many complaints if you get it wrong? I mean is there a right and a wrong?
The wine industry seems rather forgiving in that way, the rules for tasting notes are – hmmm, well what are the rules? As a consumer, I don’t see a real formula or consistency and it’s certainly hard to know, that what is written about a product, is what I will personally discover when I consume it. I love those artistic descriptions that ramble on about the art of winemaking, the stars and moon but avoid anything to do with flavour! OR others that list every scrumptious descriptive word they can think of, but once you open the wine things quickly deviate!
Have you ever tried this – open a bottle of wine without reading the fine print and then write your own description “tasting notes” of what you sample. Write as if you were telling the person next to you what they can expect their taste buds to experience. Then read the actual notes and compare – does it match, even a few words?!
I’ve tried this experiment, many times, with groups of everyday people at wine tasting events or people who are about to embark on a winery tour. The general conclusion we came to, was that for the majority of us ‘wine lovers/drinkers’ but not ‘wine experts’, we had a very small chance of getting the words to match.
Taste is just such a personal thing and whilst we instantly know what we do and do not like – we aren’t all familiar with the literature of wine tasting notes. During these experiments, there were really only a few words that resonated and then if we were brutally honest, how many times do we just look at the pretty pictures and branding to try and decide what will taste nice?
So what is the solution to this problem I hear you ask? It’s simple. Visit a winery in person, pop into the cellar door and taste test your way through their WHOLE range!!! Skip the whole shenanigans of wine labels completely and experiment by taste!
See where your wine is made, meet the winemaker, talk to the staff that have meticulously bottled this natural delight and walk around outside amongst the rows of grapes being treated with tender love and care.
Personally, I find that wine tastes much better when served with fabulous customer service, you’re unlikely to find that written on any bottle but I’m sure you can agree!
Too often we fall into the trap of drinking the same or similar style of wine because we are familiar with the wine’s label and the brand’s marketing. We are also so used to just popping into the local Bottle-O to quickly grab something on the way home.
Here in Wollongong Sydney and surrounding areas, we are very fortunate to have local quality boutique wineries nearby but their wines are not readily available in commercial stores, which often really forces our hand to buy what we know, ‘Oyster Bay’, ‘Brown Brother’s etc etc. Sure the big players’ wines can be great, but there’s SO much more out there to explore!
If you don’t have time to join one of our Kenny Escape local South Coast or Southern Highlands Wine Tours or even head out on your own to sample the wines directly from the winemaker, we’ve put together a mixed half case of some of the best of the South Coast NSW wines so you can start to sample different types of quality wines that are a bit outside of the ‘commercial’ box.
We’ve made it easy for you to sample a few of our favourite wines from the South Coast NSW in the comfort of your own home- visit our online store and start sampling our local produce because variety is the spice of life after all, isn’t it?!
You can BUY SOUTH COAST NSW WINE HERE.
Cheers, Karli Kenny xo
Founder and CEO – Kenny Escapes Food, Wine and Experiences