UK wine drinker Hazel Rigazio has 2,015Â Naked Wines‘ customers to thank for winning a winemaking trip to McLaren Vale, South Australia.
Naked Wines, along with bbcgoodfood.com and the Government of South Australia, ran a competition throughout September challenging customers to come up with a new name for a wine, with Hazel’s entry Botanically Blessed winning the lions share of the public vote.
“I asked all of my friends to vote for my entry, but I never imagined I’d get 2,015 votes let alone win the competition, I’m absolutely astounded! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip and I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves, live the life of a winemaker, and blend my very own wine†explained Hazel.
Hazel, from Mersyside, will spend a week working alongside Naked Wines’ producer Jock Harvey at his family-run winery Chalk Hill, and if all goes according to plan, customers will see her tipple Botanically Blessed for sale in the UK on the Naked site.
“We had over 5,000 entries in total, with some really strong contenders – and some pretty ropey and inappropriate ones too!†explained Rowan Gormley, Founder of Naked Wines. “ But putting it to the public vote made it easy to pick the winner. We use our most interactive customers to help us select our wines, and it made sense to do the same with the competition.â€
With the second most popular entry (ade-get-laide) receiving 433 votes, Hazel’s entry was the outright favourite.
Other entries included Didgeribooze, Down Wonder, Aussie Drools and Not for the Sheilas, with one entrant including a label design of his naked girlfriend posing strategically inside a six-bottle box (Robert Young Photography).
Hazel’s trip will include a stay on Kangaroo Island, a tour of Adelaide and numerous cellar-door tastings. And to find out how Hazel gets on, you can follow her blog at http://www.nakedwines.com/auscomp.
