Wines

Grape Expectations by Max Crus Passing the buck if not the pub test

It is with great regret that I, Max Crus, must rescind my application to Special Wine Trade Envoy Commissioner Thingy to New York, but I accept it has become such a distraction to the government that it can no longer function while the media unfairly attacks me.

Having said that, I should point out that no less than the Premier himself ‘fails to see what the substantive issue is here’.

Okay, fair enough, he also failed to see the substantive issue when iCare executives were paying themselves huge bonusses while the organisation was driving itself into bankruptcy, so clearly, he wasn’t elected on public governance and perceptions.

However, may I remind you that everything about my appointment was above board, as the three separate enquiries will find, especially the ones instigated by the Premier.

It is unfair to rehash the old news that the rules were changed specifically to allow me to appoint myself to this bloody fantastic, $500,000 per annum position, double my former, meagre parliamentary wage, not to mention a free, grandly-appointed, Central Park pad for the couple of years I would have swanned around eating and drinking on the public purse, sorry, selling NSW to New Yorkers and creating value for NSW taxpayers.

Look, I know Investment NSW Chief, Amy Brown did her best to deflect the media when she said the verbal appointment of prized candidate Jenny West had to be rescinded (and no doubt paid out at great expense to the taxpayer because, frankly, who would want to work for an organisation that shafted them before they were even on the greasy pole?), and that the rules for the subsequent appointment be changed to a ‘Minister’s Pick’ were directed by the government itself.

“‘Which part of government?’,” she was asked.

The Department of Wine.

“Anyone specifically in that department?”

The relevant minister.

“And who is the relevant minister?”

Max Crus.

Okay, okay. So what if I changed the rules for appointment to the job the night before I resigned as Deputy Pooh-bah and Minster for Wine, I created the job in the first place didn’t I, and anyway I told the premier at a barbecue that I might apply and he said, “I can’t see any substantive issue here, and have you got any more Grange, Max?”

Sorry Premier, Grange is a dirty word around here since You-know-who did you-know-what… but how about a Hill of Grace?

Or one of these from the Ministerial Cellar?”

Max Crus is a Clarence Valley-based wine writer and Grape Expectations is now in its 26th year of publication. Find out more about Max or sign up for his weekly reviews and musings by visiting maxcrus.com.au

Paracombe Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2016, $27. That’s pretty cheap for a six-year-old wine, which is just starting to show some of the reasons why they release it later than normal. Shame it’s all gone now. 9.4/10. Paracombe Adelaide Hills Nebbiolo 2019, $37. A nebb’ might not be your first choice as a go-to Friday evening tipple, but its fruit-sweet tannic warmth could mean you never move on. Frivolous yet luscious enough without being too serious or stern. 9.5/10. Hurley Vineyard Mornington Peninsula Balnarring ‘Hommage’ Pinot Noir 2020, $68. No wonder this is already sold out, even at nearly $70, which is barely $12 per glass if you spread the cost and the love with a couple of mates. 9.5/10. Reschke Coonawarra “R.S.R.” Cabernet Sauvignon, 2013, $23. Another luscious offering from the parliamentary private cellar, but you might still find a bottle lurking out there somewhere in a New York diner. Full bodied, full on and full of it, again not unlike a certain ex Deputy Dawg, if he had some redeeming qualities. 9.5/10. Hurley Vineyard Mornington Peninsula ‘Garamond’ Pinot Noir 2020, $83. I am not sure what it is that makes this $15 more per bottle than its siblings the Hommage and the Lodestone, but you are faced with the question, one of these or one of those and a $15 bottle to follow. I’m going one of these, always the favourite in the line-up. 9.7/10. Farmer’s Leap Padthaway ‘Fortune’ Shiraz, 2014, $70. How apt for a toast to a position like PorkBarilaro’s? This is big (14.7 per cent), bold, brash, and heavy, just like the man himself. It also has a gorgeous scent. Guess the similarities end there. 9.6/10.