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Wine is such a wonderful subject because there is never any suggestion that anyone’s choice is the absolute utopia. One’s personal preferences depend on so many factors - one’s palate, the time of day, the temperature, and to a certain extent, how much one is willing to pay. Now we shall investigate the different factors that affect the flavour of wine. If, for example, your favourite wine is Chardonnay, it will have a flavour that you will immediately recognise. But, that flavour will have a wide range and this depends and varies on many factors. If the grape is grown in France the flavour will vary from year to year because each year the climate will vary during the growth of the grape.  Also, the exact time of picking the grape will have an influence. Soil will vary from area to area and the manufacture will vary from winery to winery. The age of the vine will have a major factor. Young vines produce large grapes but as the vine becomes older the size of the grape reduces but the quality of the flavour of the juice improves and this clearly affects the price. Wine from the first “pressing” will be of much higher quality than wine from the second  “ pressing”.  All of the above, greatly, influences the price.

Now, if one takes all of the above factors into consideration and the same grape is grown in New Zealand or South Africa, the variation in flavour multiplies very many times!