Wines

Grape Expectations by Max Crus

Eco worriers warming to the task

This 43 percent thing, does it apply to everyone?

Shouldn’t be too hard around here.

Ms L. frequently leaves the bathroom heater on overnight. If she just did that half as much, there’s the first 43 per cent. Too easy.

Ms L. also leaves the aircon’ on overnight, for the dog. Mind you, this is a dog who has her own full-length fur coat, has never been known to shiver, even when playing in snow, has at least three lovely, cosy, fluffy warm beds to sleep in plus ours, and is often panting, clearly too hot, when I get up in the morning.

It is noteworthy that on weekends we frequently also have an open fire which has a nice ambience but doesn’t exactly warm the room. It takes the chill off and if you put your Uggies on it’s fine. But Ms L. insists we have the aircon’ on too.

If we just had one or the other, that’d be about 43 per cent wouldn’t it?

Or if Ms L. just left it on for the dog every second night maybe? Sure in another month or so we won’t need it at all, well, hopefully less than we do now, except that by then the weather will have warmed to such an extent that Ms L. will demand we have the aircon’ on to keep us cool.

I’m not into conspiracy theories but the one about some people being lizard creatures from another planet disguised as humans with the ultimate goal of taking over the place (when, I wonder?) has a great deal of credibility when I see that Ms L. appears to only able to survive in an extremely narrow range of temperatures, somewhere between 21 degrees Celsius and 23. So okay, it’s 22.

If we could just lower that one degree in winter and raise it one in summer, that’d probably be 43 per cent.

Then there’s the dishwasher and the washing machine, but they are like the notion of clean-coal and ‘clean gas’, offering great opportunity to reduce emissions, except, alas, Ms L. (and the fossil fuel industry) hasn’t discovered how yet.

But I have.

So stay tuned next week to discover how you can save 43 per cent of your greenhouse gas emissions, and one day also save loads of money, simply by doing nothing, which, I have discovered the hard way is something Ms L. (and the Coalition) is extremely good at…not the saving money bit, the other bit.

Mysteriously, saving energy and money also involves wine…like these:

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

Winesmiths South Australia Organic Pinot Grigio 2021, $24 (2L cask). Pinot grigios are a bit like Ms L., most operate in a very narrow band of drinkability, between about 8.9/10 and 9.1/10. And this one is exactly that. 9/10. Winesmiths South Australia Organic Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, $24 (2L cask). These guys are doing their bit for the planet. Low packaging and transport impact therefore low energy and it doesn’t take much energy to drink it either. 8.9/10. Vasse Felix Margaret River Classic Dry Rosé 2021, $19. Rosé has been the wine of summer in the Crus household for years and is becoming the wine of spring too. With stuff like this at this price, it could pick up a couple of other seasons too. 9.2/10. Parker Coonawarra Estate SBW Coonawarra Shiraz Barossa Valley Malbec, ‘Evita’ 2019, $50. Another TLA to deal with. That’s three-letter-acronym btw. WTF? However this one is ‘small batch wine’ and is therefore completely acceptable, as is the delicious wine itself. 9.4/10. Vasse Felix Margaret River Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec 2018, $190. If you open this and drink it within two to three hours, you will be wasting $150. Decant and wait for that time, go and chop some wood or something, or leave it in the cupboard for another 20 years. Gold standard stuff to match the gold of the label and the pedigree. 9.7/10. Parker Coonawarra Estate First Growth Vintage 2018, $115. Such understated delights as great cabernet that someone else is paying for. Surely you can find someone to help? Or maybe crowd fund it? Open at lunch for dinner service. 9.6/10.