“One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison” is a proverb that is very much applicable to wine – someone always seems to favour what others reject.
We are born wary of bitterness and off tastes and adding a syrupy sweetness helped us take our medicine. Even so, decades of retailing makes me a believer in that Thomas Draxe proverb: ‘One mans meate is another mans poyson’.
I found that every wine finally sells and at large tastings someone favours what others reject. Thus if there was a wine status quo I am not surprised to find it can move as the pressure to be different builds, oddness becomes fashionable and strange tastes gain approval.
Reaching drinking age
Reaching the drinking age creates a taste problem so the discovery of wine was made easier with sweetness. Years back the trade offered a vast range of coloured, sweet, sparkling and still wines, and of the pearls, ducks, and moselles my all-time favourite was Hardys Swinger. This orange-coloured sparkler was enhanced with particles of fruit in suspension. Alas they settled overnight so the morning job was to shake-up the bottles.
We do not make entry level wines at Glug though we make popular wines and two that will appeal are the Philip Schaffer ‘The Vineyard’ Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir N.V. and Philip Schaffer ‘Juliana’ Pink Moscato N.V. Both should be attractive to people like my brother Richard whose youthful introduction to wine was mixing Wynn’s Boronia Marsala with Coca Cola!
My last food pilgrimage was to France in late December-January 1993 and the impression of Roger Verge’s, Le Moulin de Mougins, still guides my cooking. I now realise this was near the top of restaurants as they shifted from satisfying hunger towards display and affectation.
Nicki Gemmell is not a food writer though makes the point in The Australian 25th February: ‘The teeny tiny squares and slivers, curls and clouds, drips and dots of gorgeousness were exquisite, of course. But after several offerings I just wanted something grandmotherly-plain, recognisable….’.
A similar oddness has gained pace in wine and your approval is now expected for many strangely flavoured wines.
At Glug we do not ask you to suspend common sense as we make traditional full-flavoured wines like Old Moppa Road Barossa Valley Shiraz 2019 and Restless Farm ‘The Deer’ Eden Valley Shiraz 2018. No need to add sweet syrup as this is provided by nature and is called Barossa flavour.
