Christina Tulloch - mother of Will, 6, and Evie, 9 - knows the problem only too well and decided to do something about it.

So these school holidays the Tulloch Wines CEO came up with the idea to give children their very own sensory experience - in short, their own mini-tasting.

So while the parents are sniffing their semillons and swirling their shiraz, the littlies are doing a drink and food sampling of their own.

"We have five drinks for them to taste and five foods," she said. "We wanted a full range of flavours, a full sensory experience I suppose, so we worked around spicy, sweet, creamy, sour and salty.

"So for food they were given little bowls of pretzels, strawberries, marshmallows, barbecued flavoured biscuits and sour gummy chews.

"And for drinks we paired that with apple juice, sparkling red grape juice, ginger ale, chocolate milk and lemon cordial."

The feedback?

"Overwhelmingly positive," she said. "As a parent of young children myself, I know when we're away that it's imperative you find things to keep them occupied or it can be a pretty miserable experience.

"That's especially so when you're tasting wine.

"I thought this might be worth a try.

"I was aware there could be a backlash from people who felt we were encouraging a future generation of drinkers.

"But we haven't received any negative feedback at all which is pleasing.

"I think if anything it's educational for the children - and with a variety of food and drinks to taste, they certainly seem to enjoy themselves.

"I made sure the drinks were in little tumblers that don't look anything like wine glasses. And they have their own little area outside where they have other activities as well."

Does that mean, at $15, the junior sensory tasting might become permanent?

"I think so. It has been a hit with the kids and the parents, so why stop?"