I asked the owner of the wine shop if he had any. He looked at me a little strangely. As any good wine shop own does with regular customers, he has got to know my taste and preferences. He pointed me in the direction of the back corner of the shop and carried on with what he was doing. ‘Not a good sign’, I thought.

My local shop is your normal little store in Europe. It has a large section for French, Italian and Spanish, Portuguese and German wines. Further back in the shop are many of the new world producers from Oceania, South Africa and South America. In a little corner near the new world wines is the very small North American section. I have had a quick look here before to find a few North American Pinot Noirs, which I enjoyed. ‘But where is the Zinfandel?’ I almost had to get on my knees to find the only 2 bottles left on the very bottom shelf. “Ravenswood Vintners Blend 2005” read the label. The price seemed to indicate it was a reasonable wine at €10.99. I figured in the cost of importing, as well as the fact the shop obviously didn’t buy it in bulk. Still, other new world wines I have tried for around the same price have been good to very good, so I took it. I also grabbed a couple of dependable inexpensive bottles on the way to counter to pay.

When I got home, I looked at reviews I could find on the wine on the internet. I found a couple. From what I could make out it wasn’t the best purchase I have ever made. According to the information available, it was “good for the price” or “not a bad wine, but others are better”. The bottle, therefore, was put in the “it’s cheap so what the hell I will buy it” area of my wines. You know… the bottles you open out of curiosity and trepidation rather than glee. The problem is, at the price of the bottle, it should not really be sitting in that area. It should be sitting in the “dependable” area at least.

After a while my “dependable” stocks begin to run low. That evening I was not cooking anything too special for dinner to warrant going to the “good wine don’t waste it/better in 5 years” area. I was definitely not going to the “very good wine and I have a dent in my bank account to prove it” area. At these times, I either go to the shop, or open one of the curiosities. I looked at the Zinfandel and shrugged. “May as well give it a try”.

To get an idea of what I should expect, I asked around on Twitter. Thankfully a couple of people mentioned that it was not the best example from the winery, let alone a good example of Zinfandel. Josh from Drink Nectar, was virtually if not literally LOLing from behind his computer. Not good. ‘Another bad sign’… A trip to the shop was required.

When the bottle I had purchased had finished, I decided to open the Zinfandel, purely out of curiosity. That combined with a strange compulsion for 1 more glass of wine. ‘It should be better than the €5 French blend’, I thought, however, in terms of quality, it was about the same. It would have been ok with my meal, but I wasn’t going to pour myself another glass that night. Most importantly, it did not improve my ho-hum opinion of the varietal.

I am sure I can find an outstanding Zinfandel from the USA for €30 to €40. At that price however; as a consumer, there is a long list of wines I would much rather buy. This leaves me with an interesting question…. Who buys this wine outside of North America?

I know it is distinctive and from what I have tried, goes quite well with food, but you have so many European varietals to match so many foods perfectly. For the price, I think you can get a better quality In Portugal alone, not to mention the rest of the European, Australian, South African, or South American wines on offer in Europe.

Please share your ideas on the subject with me, because I want to like the wine and have noting against it. I just can’t find a good reason to recommend it. Especially compared to other very good wines of other varietals; for an equal or lower price here in Europe.

The head of Murphy-Goode winery, David Ready Jr, was inspired by the original Australian version of the “greatest job in the world”.

“We thought, ‘Wow, can we apply this to the wine industry?’ I guess we can,” Ready Jr told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

At the website for the competition, there are quite a few applicants on there already. The vast majority are from the US, so it hasn’t really captured the imagination of the world as the Australian version did. There are a few entertaining clips if you have the time or the interest.

Is it a good idea? Well for the winery it is great. It is getting their brand to their target market. More importantly, they are spending less to reach a lot of people than more traditional marketing would reach for the same cost.

For the applicants it is a bit of time to get their clip together for a 1 in 10,000 shot to win. However if they reach the top 10 they need to take a week out to do some media hoopla at the winery. In these economic times, where holding onto a job isn’t that easy, taking a week off work to pursue this may not send the best message to the boss… If you get that far I guess you are in with a shot, so it may be worth it.

The US$60,000 for six months of work is good money for someone starting out in marketing/PR. However, you are tied to that one wine brand for 6 months. What if you want a particular wine with a meal? You are earning enough to go out and afford a good meal and a very good bottle of wine. So what do you do? Enjoy your meal with a wine of your choice, or select one form the winery you (very publicly) work for, which you may not enjoy as much? Do you stop eating white meat because their whites are not as good as their reds? I have not tasted their product so, this could be irrelevant, however I would expect you would need to make a few sacrifices. Personally, as someone passionate about wine (as the contestants should be), I am not sure if I would manage with those restrictions. So for me, no it would not be worth it. For others $60,000 is worth a few sacrifices.

Let us know what you think!