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Animals sell wine. It has been proven that an animal on a wine label increases sales. This is particularly true in the US, where Yellow Tail has enjoyed stratospheric sales growth. While most of the panel are in their 40s, we tried to remember what it was like when we were in our early 20s and realised we hardly drank wine then and that wine labels were not designed to appeal to us in those dark days.
We tasted them blind, but discussed the labels once we'd decided which wine we liked most. We felt the Little Penguin Chardonnay was the most likeable wine. It was very approachable being oaky and sweet. The smell was initially of smoky toast, with some tropical fruit and coconut, but veered towards treacle as the evening wore on. It was very, very oaky in the mouth, with warm alcohol and sweet fruit. Alex picked up a coffee flavour from the intense oakiness. It was also darker in colour than the other wines. It costs £4.99 from Sainsbury's, and is clearly made to appeal to younger people. We feel that it fulfilled its brief. The cute little penguin might boost sales, as well.
Blue Reef Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2006 is £5.99 from Threshers or £3.99 on the 3 for 2 offer. It had a pretty, floral smell and a fresh, acidic taste. It was dry with some Sauvignon Blanc character and a nice chewy grip. The finish was a little lemon juicy. The blue label, with fish, seemed more suitable to the bathroom than the dining room.
Aldi's Badgers Creek Australian White is non vintage, £3.29 and made from indigenous grapes, which often means these are not grapes that we're proud of and so we won't name them. The wine smelt of grapefruit and honey and we found it disjointed in the mouth. It was, initially, cloying, but the body was light and watery.
Yering Frog had the best label and the wine probably had been the best wine we tasted. Once. However, the sulphur and silver polish smell was absolutely unacceptable. We left the wine for perhaps half an hour and swirled our glasses again and again and it still reeked. The taste was dry, intense and long. I chose to keep the wine to drink afterwards, because the flavour was so great, but if Majestic wasn't so far away, I'd have taken it back. The smell was dire.
Hardy's Stamp Riesling/Gewurztraminer 2005 is £5.79 from Tesco. It is heavily perfumed and pretty fruity and sweet, but we felt would appeal to young girls - sorry to be so sexist and ageish. On the stamp is a picture of a kookaburra.
The Co-op's Lime Tree Chardonnay is £4.49 and had a tree on the label - clearly a misunderstanding. The wine was lightweight and pointless.
Our least favourite wines were Four Emus from Tesco, which smelt of sherbet and tasted boring and Marks & Spencer's Lost Sheep which smelt reasonable but tasted of soluble aspirin. The sheep on the label was rather lovely and smacked of Wallace & Grommit.