Grace Falls - but do we want to pick her up?

Grace Falls

2008 Shiraz California

Bottled for PUB Wines Ltd by W1507 @ NR10 4BG UK

Sainsbury's £5.00

Many of my very honest friends tell me very honestly that my obsession with French wine is all to do with the pretentious side of my nature which often comes to the fore when I have a decent bottle of something from Bordeaux or Burgundy in my hand.

Nothing could be further from the truth as I genuinely have huge admiration for what the Californians, Argentinians, Chileans, Aussies and Kiwis have done, and continue to do, with their innovative winemaking and love drinking decent wines from any of these regions and continents.

However, what irritates the hell out of me is coming across a bottle of wine such as this little number from California, which we glugged while watching X Factor - a suitably populist 'culture' event to accompany a wine which, for all intents and purposes, is aimed at the undiscerning masses. On this occasion, X Factor was by far the more enjoyable experience.

What irritates me about wines like these is that they are carefully marketed through their design and name to appear to have a decent provenance. With a name like Grace Falls you imagine a quaint family-run winery somewhere in California's Napa Valley where the production of every bottle is painstakingly and lovingly cared for at every stage. But you'd be wrong, as far as I can discern from numerous Google searches Grace Falls doesn't actually exist. And close inspection of the label, as you'll see from the top of this blog, reveals that this is a wine created for the pub trade and bottled by that great wine personality W1507 (I know him well) @ NR10 4BG (that equally highly reverred postcode vineyard in North London).

Quite how it found its way on to a shelf in Sainsbury's, I really can't say - nor do I actually care. And for many people may be this isn't an issue - after all this is completely drinkable, wholly unoffensive wine that I suspect many people will actually enjoy. But why is this? Precisely because W1507 @ NR10 4BG is aiming to do exactly that - create a wine that is as memorable as most of the sub standard acts on X Factor - lacking in originality, talent or personality. Quite frankly if this bottle was up before the judging panel, it would deserve to get four Xs for being an imposter.

For me, a wine has to be more than just drinkable to be a decent wine. I don't want the wine equivalent of a 1980s Ford Sierra. I want a wine that may even have some faults or indiscrepancies, but one that at least shows some personality along the way. And one where I know where it has come from.

Personally the £5 I spent on Grace Falls would have been better invested on five national lottery tickets on the offchance of winning a fortune and buying my own real vineyard in California.

In future wine blogs I'll tell you why I believe the French wine labelling system is probably the best consumer-friendly (albeit sometimes confusing) means of telling you exactly where your wine has come from. Nothing like this post code nonsense.

Very Decent Wine: 1/10

Dinner Party Appeal: 2/10 (Lucozade is more honest)

Value for Money: 6/10 (but what exactly are you buying?)

Probability of buying again: 0/10

Top of the class or back of the class: Don't even bother turning up to school