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Posted: 2023-01-03 22:17:48

If you have ever been bewildered by the tasting notes on a wine menu, you're not alone. 

Tasmanian vineyard owner Rebecca Duffy found people visiting her cellar door wanted to know more about the wine they were drinking and how to taste the advertised notes.

"We were looking for something additional to our cellar door experience that was educational but also self-guided," she said.

So how do you demystify the somewhat alienating wine world?

Ms Duffy planted a garden.

A woman smiling at the camera in front of fruit trees.
Vineyard owner Rebecca Duffy says consumers want to learn more about the wine they're trying.(ABC News: Erin Cooper-Douglas)

"We've done a sensory garden to represent the different aromas, flavours and textures that you find in wine," she said.

"For example in the pinot garden, there are strawberries, there are blueberries and raspberries, and rhubarb is planted in there as well.

"You can walk around the garden, taste the different fruits and see how that translates into the different characters you find in wine."

The garden at Holm Oak Vineyard in the Tamar Valley is split into the different wines made on-site — riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet, shiraz, sauvignon blanc and pinot gris.

Close up of a basil plant and sign in a pot
Consumers can touch and taste the herbs as they drink a glass of wine.(ABC News: Erin Cooper-Douglas)

Visitors can also touch the foliage in the texture garden to get a feel for how the plants affect the wine.

"You'll get a rougher texture from a bigger red wine as opposed to the more velvety texture you might get in chardonnay or sparkling," Ms Duffy said.

red signs in front of strawberries growing in the groung
Strawberry notes feature heavily in Tasmanian sparkling wine.(ABC News: Erin Cooper-Douglas)

From California to Tasmania

Ms Duffy won the state Rural Women's Award in 2016 and used the bursary money to research how cellar doors across the globe have added new experiences for customers. 

A similar project at a Californian vineyard inspired her to get started on the garden, which took eight years to establish.

"My husband loves growing things and I love making things like preserves so a garden was just a natural fit for us," Ms Duffy said.

"Agritourism is such a big part of the Tasmanian tourism experience and this was a bit of a gap in the market."

A red sign in front of rows of white and pink roses
The garden is sorted into wine varieties.(ABC News: Erin Cooper-Douglas)

More mindful drinkers

Wine educator Curly Haslam-Coates said experiences like the sensory garden helped consumers pay closer attention to what they were drinking.

"Identifying particular notes in wine isn't something people can do straight away," she said.

"The more you smell and taste things and pay attention when you're tasting, the easier it becomes over time."

A woman standing in front of a bar holding a glass of wine smiles at the camera
Curly Haslam-Coates says people can improve their tasting skills by paying closer attention to what they can sense.(ABC News: Erin Cooper-Douglas)

Ms Haslam-Coates said "smelling everything" was key.

"You can't jump to conclusions but smelling wine helps give you an idea of what it might taste like, what it could match with, and what it's been made from," she said.

"Always properly taste the first mouthful, swish it around your mouth, because your brain will store that away to help you remember what you do and don't like."

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