DThe holiday has yet to come or has already started for many. We know it, wonderful at the campsite, in the hotel or an apartment in the Netherlands or abroad. Relaxing after a year of hard work. With an atmospheric vineyard near your accommodation where they let you taste and sell delicious wines.
We all often go to visit such a vineyard and, as always, are tempted to buy some wines from the range to enjoy during our holiday stay. And of course we take a number of bottles home to keep the holiday feeling.
Experience mode
Research has shown that during our vacation or another moment of relaxation we are in a different taste and experience mode than during our work. So we are much more likely to like something that we normally find less quality.
I speak from experience, because I recently went on a trip to buy a new house of champagne for a large hotel chain. We ended up with a supplier of a super nice champagne somewhere between Épernay and Reims, the area where the Tour de France covered a number of stages this year.
My colleagues and I had a wonderful three days there. We tasted different champagnes and had a royal dinner. At the same time, we enjoyed the summer weather and the fantastic view over the French landscape.
On the last day we selected a Brut, Rose, and a Demi Sec champagne as house champagne for the hotel chain and had 1200 bottles transported to the Netherlands. Then we tasted the champagne with a number of colleagues. Their taste experience was completely different from the one we had experienced in France. And yet it was the same champagne we tasted in La Douce France.
My advice is; enjoy the wines and all the other beautiful things during your holiday, but just buy your wines back in the Netherlands at the trusted wine trade or specialist. Then the taste is always good!
Also read Jorrit Hoexum's other column: “Wine with food or food with wine?”