My year of wine: Don't judge a wine by its label

I was so overwhelmed by advice that by the time I got to the bottle store, I ignored my notes and left with three bottles of wine simply because they had fabulous labels. I went with first impressions.

Some winos are sceptical about the value of designer labels. If the wine is good, it will sell regardless of the label. Others say a good wine estate puts effort into its labelling to match the work put into the making of its wine.

Does the wine follow the label, or the label the wine? Either way, over the last 15 years our local wine estates have made some gorgeous labels. It shows on the shelves of the Wine Concepts store.

Besides the obligatory information like the origin appellation, the vintage, alcohol content, name and address of the responsible winemaker, labels vary hugely. There are the classic French-type designs: conventional and plain, but pretty nonetheless. They are created to inspire nostalgia, and a sense of tradition.

Others are whimsical or boldly creative. My three choices were colourful and fun - the first, Mr P Knows Pinot Noir 2013, by Iona. The designer describes the label as having "a strong French, bourgeois styled influence, with a classy yet cheeky approach". She could have been describing the wine which, like its label, is good.

The next bottle was the Hermit on the Hill's Infidel Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (pictured here). The label is supposed, I imagine, to reflect an adventurous wine. I have no idea how to write about it, but local sommelier, Miguel Chan writes on his blog that it is "clean, moderate intensity with no green herbaceous edge or pyrazine, ripe, tropical, stone fruits, granadilla, hints of crushed blackcurrant leafs, excellent purity of fruit, brush of pebbly minerals".

Helpful?

The label I loved best sold the wine I liked least. A buxom blonde sits on a wooden barrel without a glass of wine in her hand - it's unclear what the connection between the woman and the wine is, but the label is bright and cheerful. The Betsie Says Cheers Chenin Blanc 2012 is a collaboration between chef Bertus Basson, Craig Cormack and winemaker Louis Nel.

My little experiment revealed that the best label didn't necessarily match the best wine, even if it isn't fair to compare pinot noir with a chenin blanc and a sauvignon blanc.

• I must have had too much chardonnay last week. Those steel barrels in the Rustenberg Wines cellar were most certainly not 12 metres high, maybe 2.5m. The farm tells me the barrels range from 1000 litres to 30000 litres capacity.