Thursday, 20 June 2024 13:25

Mr Grumpy: Comparative Tastings

Written by  Bob Campbell MW

OPINION: Comparative Tastings are an expensive but potentially effective strategy for a wine producer to raise the image of their wine or wines.

It works like this: Perhaps you are about to release a super-premium Chardonnay that will crack through the NZD$100 barrier. You will need to go shopping for some super-premium Burgundies with even loftier price tags, starting at NZD$500. Importantly, you should choose wines that have been sealed with cork and are therefore likely to be off the pace.

Invite your favourite wine writers to attend a wine tasting followed by lunch at a decent restaurant. The invitation should list the names of, say, five wines made up of four Burgundies and your new highflier. Serve the wines blind and promote discussion. Vote for the favourite.

The Result:

  1. Your wine comes top. This is a great result which, if promoted well, will elevate its reputation overnight.
  2. Your wine is in the middle of the bunch. Another good result as it ranks alongside big-name, high-price wines.
  3. Your wine comes last. By no means a disaster as it was beaten by wines that were four-times the price or more.

More like this

Bob's Blog: Give it Air

OPINION: “Have a look at this” said a good friend as he passed me a cutout from The Times with the heading “The wine gadget sommeliers say can make your £10 bottle taste better”.

Bob's Blog: Snail Scourge

OPINION: I have a 50% share in a vineyard and for the first time ever, snails are threatening to decimate my crop.

Drops of God

OPINION: Drops of God is a mini-series about a large wine inheritance and the civilised battle between a Japanese wine enthusiast, Issei, and a French woman whose nose bleeds when she tastes wine.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Editorial

Editorial: Look to the vines

Editorial: Look to the vines

OPINION: The plan for this editorial was to applaud the collaborative spirit of New Zealand wine, which was in full…

Popular Reads

Marlborough's Small Town Winery

Marlborough’s 2024 vintage was “a return to form for Marlborough summers”, says Astrolabe General Manager Libby Levett.

Light year impacts profits

A combination of lower grape yields, lower price per tonne, and increasing vineyard operating costs, is hitting Marlborough grapegrowers in…