After gathering together a panel of professional wine tasters and critics, Which?, an online consumer information website, found that more than a quarter of wine sold in shops in the UK come from 11 big brands that are bad quality for their price.
The top brands examined by the Which? panel were Penfolds, Rosemount, Lindemans, Hardys, Jacob?s Creek, Banrock Station, Blossom Hill, Stowells, Kumala, Gallo and Piat d?Or, all of which scored no higher than a 13 out of 20 rating. These scores found by the panel are well below the normal scores that the wines should have for their prices.
[[quote ...it's Mc-wine produced in vast quantities...]]
The brands that had the highest score of a mediocre 13 were the Rosemount, Lindemans, Penfolds, and Hardys, all of which were the most expensive of the brands. Wines from Australia, California and South Africa dominated the 11 brands.
The conclusion of the panel was that people would get better value for their money by looking at the lesser known labels. Malcolm Coles, editor of Which? gave reasoning to consumers attention to big brand names.
?People often feel that unless they know about wine, it?s probably a safer bet to plump for a big name they recognise.?
Victoria Moore, the Guardian?s wine critic, attributes consumer?s wine purchases to the current mass production of seemingly everything.
?Brands are so successful because they are innocuous, they aren?t going to offend. For they most part it?s Mc-wine produced in vast quantities, on an industrial scale, with the primary aim of being as fruity, bland and as inoffensive as possible.?