PWC takes the P out of WC.

Like many small to medium enterprises, (SMEs BTW), Max Crus Industries (MCI) has been doing it tough.

Energy prices are sky high, rents are through the roof and infation has made everything, with one notable exception, more expensive, and MCI needed to cut back, so off to the accountant, PWC.

Sure, they’re ‘exxy’ but they have a great record feecing, sorry advising,

Margan Broke Fordwich Ceres

Hill Albarino 2022, $40. Doesn’t seem as sharp and bright as previous vintages but is nevertheless a delightful variation on the white wine form and the real deal and not savagnin in disguise. 9.4/10.

Margan Broke Fordwich Single Vineyard Fordwich our government, so who better understands the rules for cutting costs than the very people who helped the government devise them?

PWC advised that the frst thing every business should do is cut wages, and even though MCI only has one employee, that’s still the best option. More money for the boss, yoohoo.

PWC said use a labour hire company so I could pay myself less, legally, for doing the same amount of work, leaving more money left over to enjoy the fner things that I should be accustomed to.

Hill Semillon 2022, $35. Sometimes, when you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand, you turn to PWC (just kidding) or James Taylor, a reliable friend and an equally reliable bottle of Hunter semillon, like this. 9.5/10.

Parker Estate Kongorong ‘King Kong’ SWB Fumé Blanc 2022, $28.

So I engaged a labour hire frm and paid myself less, except I had to pay the labour hire frm too, and PWC, which meant overall I was paying the same as before but getting less in my pocket.

“But there’s no sick leave, holiday pay or any other expenses, and you can sack yourself immediately if it looks like you might trigger entitlement to a permanent position”, PWC boasted. Oh, okay. Excellent. “But what about this Government proposal thingy about equal work, equal pay? Won’t I have to pay myself what I used to earn as a permanent employee but then also have to pay the labour hire frm and PWC so I will end up paying more than if I just employed myself as I used to in the olden days?”

SWB is Small Batch Wine, BTW, not Sonny Bill Williams. Cool, interesting stuff from South West of Mt Gambier (south of Coonawarra) which is roughly the Southern Ocean, so it’s cool in both senses. A sauv blanc by any other name but in the style of a complex chardonnay. Fragrant, full and fabulous value.

9.6/10. Parker Estate Coonawarra Kidman Block (Shiraz) 2021, $65. Thai food is not an easy match with reds, but while pinot goes nicely with Thai curries, shiraz works with red meat stir fries or pad Thais. It cuts through everything including chilli, god bless it. 9.5/10.

Robert Oatley

“Yes, and that is why the sky will fall if this legislation goes through”, said Chicken Littleproud, leader of the Nationals and staunch supporter of handouts to farmers, miners and fossil fuel producers only. “Why should someone who has been there only fve minutes earn as much as someone who’s been there ten years and is still on the minimum wage?”

Gosh. I asked PWC, “Is there any other way to save?”

McLaren Vale Finisterre Grenache 2022, $40. Finisterre roughly translates to ‘Ends of the Earth’, which is usually a laudable and ambitious thing, but that’s how far PWC are prepared to go to save you, if not Australia, tax. This fts nicely into the laudable and ambitious camp.9.5/10.

Max Crus

“Stop paying tax”.

“How much will that cost”?

“Well, 66 millionaires in Australia paid their accountants up to $200,000 to reduce their tax to zero in 2020-2021”.

“Anything else?”

“Cut back on everything except wine. Wine prices have been immune from infation for ten years.”

At last, something to celebrate. Unless you’re a winemaker.

Robert Oatley Margaret River Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, $50. That’s a bargain for plenty of predictably purposeful plonk from WA, and with twice the volume, twice the party potential. Just enough for a Max Crus Industries staff function. 9.3/10.