Wine Isn’t Sport

Being an Aussie running a wine shop and bar in Summertown I am often asked, “So do you only sell Australian wine?”  The short answer is, “No, we sell wines from everywhere”, but the real answer, one that requires a bit of explanation, is, “To me there is no such thing as Australian wine.”

Firstly, a wine is made from a vineyard, by a wine-maker; not by a country.  The flavour of a wine can change radically from one vineyard to another and certainly from one wine-maker to another, so the country the wine comes from is really a very poor guide to what any wine is going to taste like. 

Secondly, our senses of smell and taste are fragile and delicate, and we don’t practice them much.  I can bluff away with the best of them, but if I’m honest I’m not that good at describing and remembering those subtle smells and tastes that make a wine so delicious.   

Now here’s the trouble; we humans are very suggestible.  If we’re told that a wine comes from France an opinion about France, the country, will jump into our mind (either good or bad, rarely indifferent).  Before we’ve even tasted the wine we’re primed to love it or hate it, and this priming often over-rides our fragile senses of smell and taste.

Most wine retailing is set up as virtual sport; Australia versus France, Old versus New World.  What nonsense!   Leave those battles to sport and you’ll discover great wines are made everywhere if you just allow your taste to decide.