Or in the Latin version:
Vino vendibili suspensa hedera non opus est.
Many of you may have heard this saying (at least in the English version). But what do wine and bushes have in common?
As a simplistic synopsis, it was a simple form of advertisement. Taverns (or public houses) would display a bush or other plant outside to indicate that good cheer (and plenty of alcoholic beverages) were available inside. Thus the “bush” was simply an ad.
This of course offended some oenophiles. It got their togas all in a bunch, so to speak. Such a a pedestrian and ostentatious display to call the rabbles into a drinking establishment was, to the cultured crowd, unheard of. After all, the cultured, pretentious crowd simply knew better. Which lead to the counter statement above, which, when adopted to the more modern vernacular simply is:
Good wine needs no advertisement.
But is this true? Even if you have in your possession thousands of cases of the world’s most impressive wine, if no one knows about it you will end up drinking it all yourself — alone.
Even word or mouth is a form of advertisement. And try to name one great wine maker that does not advertise in some way or another.
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