I remain completely baffled by Wine Sales titles. Currently we have ‘Back to School Wine Offers‘. Back to School!!! Pay Packet ‘deals’ where we are offered the sellers ‘favourite wine’ at €24.95 a bottle. Big pay packet? How about buying online from a merchant who chooses to tell us stuff like they are trying to ‘reclaim it from the gatekeepers of knowledge and ‘wine nazis’ to bring it to a wider and more enthusiastic audience’. Are you SERIOUS? Wine educators are now fascists!!? Save me. Please. Save me.

Mind you deceptive marketing and Snake Oil takes on a whole new meaning when you have a look at Snake Wine and Scorpion Wine from the likes of the Phillipines and Vietnam! Yes, These put Mezcal with the Worm in the Bottle back into the ‘tuppeny seats!! There are actual reptiles in the wine!

There was a time (short, I might add) that I collected strange, amusing and often weird, wine labels. The simplest are probably Marilyn Merlot, Cardinal Zin, Chat-eu-Oeuf or le fiat door! Mind you the Zin here is by the brilliant Ralph Steadman when he was designing for OddBins.

Then there are labels designed simply to attract attention and have very little to do with the wine at all. Sometimes, these mean something in one jurisdiction, or to the wine maker, but quickly get lost in translation. Does the joke/meaning backfire with the Dog’s Bollocks or the Fat bastard?

How about the Old Git, Scraping the Barrel or Red Chardonnay? One of these is actually an accurate description …. no prizes ….

Back to reality. It’s the beginning of our Autumn Wine Sales and Wine Tasting season. How do we find Honest Value, Good Wine and Objective reviews?

Don’t believe the Seller – Believe the Reviewer who has a load of experience

Don’t believe the Label – Believe the Reviews

Don’t stop having fun – the labels and sellers can often be hilarious and the amazing peaches are courtesy of Cuisine magazine