3 minute read
Wines
Grape Expectations by Max Crus Queen’s National Day of Mourning
Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?
No sooner had the words poured forth from Albo’s lips than the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Association of Overpaid CEOs were running around like headless chooks screaming “the sky was falling and it ís the end of the world as we know it”. Worse than children not being allowed down coal mines and paying penalty rates for working a double shift on Christmas Day.
However this time, Chicken Little may have a point and it looks like Albo has stuffed up and obviously not cut out for the job. Fancy suggesting a public holiday on a bloody Thursday.
Okay, protocol dictated that it’s the public holiday we had to have, given poor Liz shuffed off the roost at her Balmoral chook pen, that much has been written in sheep’s wool dipped in rum since the days of Elizabeth Macarthur.
Equally, of course during the considerations there was a higher protocol to abide, that of the AFL Grand Final Public Holiday, which of course could not be shifted without invoking an uproar Liz herself could hear.
But a Thursday? Ridiculous.
Imagine if Perth were hosting the AFL Grand Final again, they’d get fve-day weekend. Maaate, that’s better than Easter, and fair enough actually. Surely the holder of the holy grail of AFL trumps the celebration of a bloke being crucifed, specially when his had such a happy ending.
But what about those who had booked a $350 hair appointment on the Thursday ready for their trendy Friday wedding?
How could any selfrespecting hairdresser members of the Small Business Council afford to pay their juniors double time? They’re already paying them $15 an hour.
What if you had a funeral booked for the Thursday? How awkward. It was bad enough that the Queen stole their limelight.
Nah, Albo, sorry, you stuffed up.
You knew the AFL Grand Final was on the Saturday, and Friday was out because of the Melbourne holiday and you can’t diddle a bloke out of his public holiday, but why not the Monday after?
Who would care about WA losing their Queen’s Birthday holiday, specially given it’s a bit weird celebrating her birth and death on the same day.
Albo, surely an extra day to get over the GF celebrations was preferable? Victorians would have voted for you forever.
Oh well, what a lucky country we are celebrating public holidays in
the frst place.
A toast then to the Queen, the Grand Final and public holidays. You choose the order.
‘Swan Valley and Margaret River ‘Break Free’ Petite Blancs (Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer)
2022, $30. This minimal intervention is as rare a mix as Thursday public holidays and really refreshing. Maybe Albo could take a lesson in minimal intervention? 9.4/10.
Stockman’s Ridge Wines Orange ‘Outlaw’ Shiraz
2016, $40. There’s a trend of older wines creeping onto the market lately - or should that be hobbling? - which we are not unhappy about. Life can be dull with just bright, young things on the wine-list. Soft yet still sound and smart. 9.3/10.
Four Winds Vineyard Sparkling
‘ Rose 2022, $32. I wonder how many people given the choice of white or pink bubbles, would choose the latter? There’s an innate suggestion there’s more going on in the pink, so you think there must be. There is. 9.4/10.
Four Winds Vineyard Tumbarumba Sparkling 2022,
$34. There’s more than four winds at Tumbarumba and true, it does sparkle at times, and does sparkling pretty well too. The playful label belies a pretty serious ‘Tumbi’ sparkling. 9.3/10.
(Clandestine Vineyards) Albany WA Break Free Single Vineyard “Low Fi” Nouveau Cabernet Franc
2022, “$30. The label is designed for those willing to take a punt with something unusual, and the light, bright purple will satisfy them. The light, bright cabernet franc made with minimal intervention and without many other things is ample for the rest. 9.1/10.
Who doesn’t love an umlaut, although it does beg the question why the word umlaut doesn’t have one. Interesting stuff that should sway some people from pinot gris. 9/10.
