Frosé was the tipple of 2020, but this will be the wine of 2021

Taste life on the flipside - this fruity New Zealand wine is flying off Irish shelves.

Despite the year that it was, 2020 had its good moments – we think.

We had fun didn’t we? Or are we fooling ourselves? Despite restrictions we made the most of it. There were endless walks, awkward online interactions and loaves of bread, mixed in with some awful dancing at our Friday night kitchen discos.

And alongside these sometimes wonderful memories was frosé, the trending drink of 2020. It makes sense it was our drink of choice. While we were stripped of the life we knew, we needed excitement and making a complicated concoction at the weekend was the only way.

It was the tipple du jour, but in 2021, we want to go back to basics. We desire simplicity and to make life (and our drink choices) less complicated. We want sophistication and this is why we’re returning to a classic drink with a fresh perspective.

Thankfully, the vineyard gods are on our side because Irish shelves possess a much-loved New Zealand wine brand. Brancott Estate approaches wine in a different way, leaving notions with the dusty, overpriced bottles they belong to.

This wine is enabling us to ignore 2020 with all its Friday night kitchen dance moves and awkward online moments. And instead is helping us embrace 2021 with open arms and a wine glass in hand.

Life on the Flipside

The brand’s award-winning flavour is created with sustainability in mind. In fact, the majority of the working staff are woolly workers (1,900 sheep) that help prepare for harvest every year by plucking the leaves from the estate’s vine canopies.

Brancott Estate’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is especially popular and it’s clever label makes it easy to identify. It spotlights one of their woolly workers, who’s upside down on a striking gold globe, urging us to “taste life on the flipside”.

However, their mantra goes beyond reference to New Zealand’s edge of the world, it encapsulates their history as well.

They were the first winemakers in the Marlborough region, previously considered too cold to grow grapes. Over 40 years ago, they planted the very first Sauvignon Blanc vines there and now, they’ve just won gold at The Drinks Business Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters 2020.

The brand has carried on this pioneering spirit to flip the wine industry, pushing for sustainability and accessibility (all their bottles are under €16).

They have a range of wines available but their most popular are the pinot grigio, the pinot noir and, of course, the sauvignon blanc – a well-balanced wine with fruity flavours and crisp acidity.

Hopefully, we’ll see more brands follow suit, but for now, we’re enjoying the eclectic energy the New Zealand winemakers bring to the Irish market. Plus, you can’t beat great taste, sustainable sourcing and affordability.

So with that in mind, put down the Fróse and leave 2020 in the past where it belongs. It’s time to embrace life on the flipside.

New Zealand’s Brancott Estate has revealed a beautiful new bottle packaging design to inspire Irish wine lovers to ‘Taste life on the flipside’. The brand’s new aesthetic pays homage to the sheep, which to this day play an integral role on the Brancott Estate vineyards, while also portraying a spirit of originality by literally flipping the beloved national icon upside down. Shop their range now. Get the facts. Be drink aware. Visit drinkaware.ie.