Okay, we always hear that something or other is a matter of taste, like the really ugly dress or suit or haircut or a car or furniture. How can it be a matter of taste if everybody can see it’s ugly or unflattering or uncomfortable? Surely the “Taste Police” should be employed full time.

I remember people saying that things like Olives and Whisky and Sushi is an “acquired” taste. Acquired from where? Surely it is just a matter of your palate developing and if you don’t like it, it has nothing to do with taste. Where do you “acquire” this taste? Do you shop on line or do you get it at a supermarket – and which aisle would you look in for this and can everybody afford it?

I always had this theory – obviously I could be wrong, which doesn’t happen very often! – As soon as you have amassed a certain amount of money, you “acquire” a taste for Johnny Walker Black Label or Caviar or Crayfish. When you were earning a normal salary and living a normal life i.e. when you were younger or a student, your taste  “acquired” was for stuff you could afford like beer and Tassies and furniture from Joshua Door. Now, you can afford the “good things” in life and all of a sudden the taste is “acquired”.

Since when do we need someone else to tell us what taste the best ? We have had a couple of wine awards recently and it got me thinking – okay, I know you can smell the rubber burning – but bear with me! Certain wines are entered into competitions and they win loads of prizes for the best this or that or the other. Now, I am not knocking wine awards, I think healthy competition is a necessary evil but…what if the “best” wine wasn’t entered because the winemaker doesn’t believe in competitions or he/she did not make the required amount of bottles?

As soon as wines are listed in guides or Top Ten list, people rush out to buy and try it, but what about the poor guy for whom winemaking is a calling and he can’t afford to enter wine shows and competitions and doesn’t make thousands of bottles to stock supermarket shelves or give umbrellas to restaurants or run prime time ads on television? Surely the consumer should know about their product as well?

How can a panel of a few decide which is the best wine for the many. Surely they should only give guidelines. As a consumer I sometimes find this quite patronising – it is as if we can not decide what we should like on our own because the “Best” was chosen for us already. I know I am so absolutely going to get roasted for this because they have studied for years etc. but just hear me out.

For instance, why at a Consumer Tasting, do the winners differ from the winners picked by the panel? Surely the consumers should have a say in what they feel the winner should be because they buy the wine. Maybe the consumers should do the tasting first, and then the panel can pick a winner from the suggestions offered by the consumers.

Okay, now that I have vented you can start sending scathing emails about the ignorance of the general public as to what is really involved in the tasting and awards of wines – I can take it.

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Juli- who has written 110 posts on the WineCountry Blog.

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