The influence of the label

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Melbourne Winestar Great Shiraz Dinner at Arc restaurant. On arrival we were served a glass of 90 Seppelts Reserve Sparkling Shiraz followed by five wines that were served blind. Guests were provided with a list of 13 wines and had to guess which wines were the wines being served and a prize was given to the best entry.

The wines served (in order) were 94 Magill Shiraz, 94 Tahbilk 1933 Vines Shiraz, 97 Katnook Odyssey, 98 Elderton Command and 99 Dead Arm Shiraz. Naturally as none of us knew what we were drinking, we had a totally open mind as to what we thought about the wines and the wines we enjoyed most.

After these wines were served and unveiled, the mystery wine of the night was poured and only Bert and I knew the identity of that wine. Once the guests had a chance to drink the wine I asked the guests to vote for their two favourite wines of the night (excluding the mystery wine.) The vote was reasonably close between the 97 Odyssey, 98 Command and 99 Dead Arm. I then asked who preferred the mystery wine or thought it equal to their first choice. Not one vote. I then asked who thought the mystery wine was as good as or better than their second choice. Again, not one vote. Three people (out of 30) thought it was equal to their third choice of the night. So as you can see, the wine was not that well regarded by most people when comparing it to the other wines served.

We then played an interesting options game and eventually came up with a winner. Once the vintage (1992), region (SA), area (blend of Barossa, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra), variety (90% shiraz and 10% Cabernet) had been identified, I asked if anyone would care to guess what the wine was. Although some people had an idea or a suspicion, no one was game to guess the name of the wine so I unveiled the bottle. 1992 Grange. There was shocked silence.

A few people came up to me afterwards and said they would have guessed it was Grange once all the options had been solved and identified, but they could not believe that Grange could be that ordinary. Admittedly 1992 was a very difficulty vintage but the majority of other wines left it for dead. I would have rated it as my second last choice of the night. Interestingly enough, when I tasted the Odyssey some time ago I was not very impressed with the wine but when it was served blind, it impressed me and was my second choice of the night.

Had I have known it was the Odyssey when I tasted it, I am almost sure my previous experience with the wine may have initially influenced my feelings towards it, but as I had no idea what it was, I had to judge it on its merits alone. It was the same for those drinking the mystery wine, they had no idea what the wine was and had to rate it based on what was in the glass.

I am willing to bet that the majority of people who are served Grange and know what they drinking are heavily influenced by the label and the wines reputation. This little experiment was a great lesson and proves that one should try and be open to judging wine by what’s in the glass, not what on the label.

A great night was had by all and I enjoyed meeting some of the Melbourne contingent.

Cheers