Today Tonight

[Billy Bolonski]

I have just seen a TV ad for the highly credible, cough, lol, show 'Today Tonight'.

It is presenting a report on wine show medals being displayed on lables.

Does anyone think medals on lables are a good thing?

Should the practice be regulated or banned?

What affect will this type of publicity have on the successful marketing of wine in the future? I have seen many articles etc. about the practice.

[Garth Oldfield]

From a marketing point of view, medals on labels are great thing. As an information tool for wine buyers it can also be a good thing, it can cut the guess work out of purchasing a wine. But there can be a few draw backs. One wine company used to put Gold stickers on one of their wines stating "Best white wine this side of the black stump" among others. Also there are a number (100's) of wine competitions that I would not consider in the realms of first class, therefore a gold, silver, bronze or trophy at these shows would not measure up to a first class competition award. That's the catch though as money people are not aware of these shows and what is first class or not so really they are still flying blind. Maybe the shows should rated in someway. So my feelings are that if the award is from a 1st class Competition they should be able to highlight the awards on the bottles.

Cheers
Garth

[Jakob]

I have just seen a TV ad for the highly credible, cough, lol, show 'Today Tonight'.
It is presenting a report on wine show medals being displayed on lables.
Does anyone think medals on lables are a good thing?
Should the practice be regulated or banned?
What affect will this type of publicity have on the successful marketing of wine in the future? I have seen many articles etc. about the practice.

The (ab)use of medals to sell bottles is far less deplorable than, for example, the music industry's chart schemes, 'Nominated for best BLAH' tags, etc. People who know their wines will usually have ignored the medals that deserve to be, and can actually get something valuable from the worthy ones. People who don't know wine too well, aren't losing out picking a medal-adourned wine over one of the others on the shelf which they have zero idea about, most of the time anyway. Let the medals stay!

[Kieran]

I'd be happy if a gold medal on a bottle had to correspond to a gold medal in a show for the wine that it's on. They can still display their gold medals from the Canowindra show, but can't use a metallic circle design to designate anything else, whether it's plaudits for the winery or some self-appointed thing.

Kieran

[Guest]

You also have to look at the medals that are displayed on the Label some show medals from some pretty obscure wine shows

[Guest]

I think Huon got sucked in a tad at what channel 7 was up too. I think Huon was putting forward his argument that 'Barrel samples' should not be in the show circuit, which I agree with. But the whole thing was twisted to look like all/most wine shows were involved in dodgy awards. Today tonight negeleted to inform their viewers that there are also 'trophies' awarded and 'best wine of show' etc, and the most/all of the state shows are 1st rate, with highly qualified judges. I have a feeling that the judges in the Cairns Wine Show would have a few less credentials than the major shows, but still Today Tonight chose them to interview. I think this was another media scam to draw in viewers (deplorable). Far worse I think, than sticking a well deserved gold medal on a bottle. Lets regulate it, and while we are at it we should regulate the media!

If Huon could add his thoughts...

Cheers
Garth

[Billy Bolonski]

I only saw the final minutes of the report. It seemed pretty poor.

There is definately a backlash against medals on bottles occouring in the market. I see it in my day to day work.

It would be nice to see some sort of structure or rules for the use of medals.

If the wine industry allows the abuse to continue it will 'kill the goose that laid the golden egg'. If it is cleaned up just a bit then it should help the continued success and growth of wine in Australia.

Perhaps we can restrict medals on bottles to represent medals at qualified wine shows only. Removing the weird and wonderful awards. Give the medals some meaning.

[GraemeG]

Haven't watched tabloid TV for years. Ever, actually! Oh, except 'Frontline' of course. Mike Moore and Martin di Stasio would have brought you a report worth seeing. As Brian Thompson would have said "Viewers don't want facts. They want a goodie and a baddie. And that's what we give 'em."

cheers,
Graeme

[Glen G]

I remember having a wine last year that had a big gold medal on it that said it was 'voted best red by meat pie lovers' (Xanadu Secession from memory).

Funny that, because I always thought the best red with a meat pie was Westend Draught - afterall, they deserve each other!

Cheers
Glen