Bottle Shock: Play your cards right in this new wine experience from Unico Zelo
It could be the most sophisticated drinking game ever – and it’s designed to reduce any snob factor attached to wine tasting. We reckon they’re onto a winning hand.
Bottle Shock is the latest venture from the team behind Unico Zelo and Applewood Distillery in Gumeracha, 10 minutes from Lobethal and two minutes from the Giant Rocking Horse.
The space formerly home to the Applewood Distillery door has been transformed into a first-of-its-kind venue in South Australia, a blind wine tasting bar.
Traditional cellar door experiences allow guests to sample a diverse portfolio of wines from one producer, usually accompanied by an explanation of the wines before the customer samples the vino.
However, Bottle Shock flips the script on a traditional wine tasting by serving curated flights of wines from around Australia and the wider world blind with a set of playing cards. It is then left to the guest to taste the wines and play their cards next to each glass… and yes there are prizes for getting it right!
The flights are themed in such a way that each focuses on different elements of wine enjoyment.
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Wanna keep it simple? The Price Is Right flight has you ranking the wines from cheapest to most expensive.
Wanna turn it up a notch? Geoguessr Veteran will have you try 5 different Rieslings from around Australia and try to identify which region they were grown in.
“It’s about removing the biases we all have associated with price, label and reputation,” says owner Brendan Carter. “When you get people to taste something with no guidance, they tend to form their own opinions.”
The venue is an extension of the company’s pre-existing Bottle Shock YouTube channel, which seeks to grow an enthusiastic community of wine lovers around the world.
“For the last four years, we’ve watched one of the guys on the channel go from absolute wine novice to a little bit of a jet when it comes to tasting wine and it has all been through blind tasting.”
This is what Carter says inspired the new venture.
“We have this ever-growing community of global wine lovers who tune in each week, and we see the venue as an opportunity to show people who come up and visit how interesting and rewarding blind tasting wine can be.”
The venue boasts an impressive 150+ wines – all of which are available to be poured by the glass – ranging from local Adelaide Hills producers to revered global regions including Baden, Côte De Rôtie and more.
Food offerings include a selection of South Australia’s best produce that can be mixed and matched into custom charcuterie boards to the guest’s liking but as Carter says:
“We are wine people; we do wine really well and that is very much so the focus of the venue.”
Bottle Shock is open 12-6pm Thursday to Sunday at 24 Victoria Street, Gumeracha.