Does What's In the Bottle Matter?

Last night, I had the opportunity to present ten wines, all of Italian origin, for whatever that's worth, to a group of people who are, in total, not sophisticated wine drinkers by any measure. Some in the group were pretty savvy, but some were not. It turned out that we served five wines.

Of the five that were opened, one was sparkling, one was white, and three were red. My impression of the five was that four of them were pretty good, one far less so. But, the most popular wine was undoubtedly the one that I termed far less so, likely followed by the sparkling wine (it was a very appealing pink in a pretty appealing bottle).

Let me show you one of the bottles, empty now, of course. 

No, the picture is not great, but despite what you are thinking, it is an empty wine bottle. And, once people started drinking it, they wanted more and more until it reached its current state of empty.

Purported to be Sangiovese, a great grape that pairs so well with the acidity in tomatoes, the slight bitterness of oregano, and virtually anything in a traditional pizza, the warmth of Sangiovese was completely missing. This wine was, to me, more like Strawberry Kool-Aid.

But, look at the bottle and think of how you can use it. We are going to use ours on a bottle tree, a contraption that when lights shine on it at night does look like a cool tree. 

Because of the bottle, people wanted more ... and more. And, heck, I bought it, although frankly, I knew I was not buying it for me.

This is exactly why I've recommended the concept of blind tasting several times. If you're swayed only by the wine and not by the packaging, your impressions are, what's the right word, pure. And, perhaps looking at this bottle, your thoughts are anything but pure.