Wines

Grape Expectations by Max Crus

The price of eggs, on your face

When we were kids and made a completely irrelevant comment in the course of family discussions, the response invariably came “What’s that got to do with the price of eggs”.

In a fashion not unlike watching telly and seeing yourself watching telly on which you were watching yourself watching telly or standing in the kinky mirror room at Luna Park we puzzled over what that expression had to do with the price of eggs.

Later, it surprised us to discover that elsewhere it’s the price of fish that matters. Perhaps in Russia and Ukraine it’s the price of freedom, while the price of fish and eggs is relegated to the realms of reality rather than rhetoric.

However, decades later, last week, the answer was finally revealed about the importance of prices. If you want to be Prime Minister you must know the price of eggs, and everything else, including the cost of trying to score cheap political points, as Albo discovered on day one.

Equally, everyone agrees that his gaff has been aired so widely and thoroughly that to give it another would be childish, churlish and deserving of chastening, but, well, who can resist?

Clearly none of our politicians know the price of anything, a failing they glibly and arrogantly brush aside as evidence of their common touch, and for one reason, they’ve got enough dough that it doesn’t matter how much stuff costs, they can afford it. Unlike those on unemployment benefit, or jobkeeper or jobseeker whatever stupid marketing term they give it, and welfare payments generally.

Welfare payments are kept so low, so the Coalition bleats - indeed they think they are still too high - to encourage people to find work. But it doesn’t.

However it does encourage eating poorly, going without stuff pollies take for granted, stealing to get a taste of pollie life, and knowing the price of everything.

However there are some things the price of which even politicians now know : French Submarines ($5Billion), undeserved jobkeeper payments ($20Billion), Harvey Norman ($16Mill)…no wonder they needed Robot-debt.

Anyway, you don’t need to know the price of eggs, you just need to know that you can end up with them on your face, which admittedly is a better prospect than fish.

I wonder if any pollie apart from disgraced former premier Barry O’Farrell, knows the price of wine? Well, normal people do, but for politicians, here they are :

Max Crus is a Clarence Valleybased 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

Principia Mornington Peninsula Altior Pinot Noir 2020, $60.

From the moment this hits your nostrils you want to hide the bottle from others. Ever so slightly softer than its Kindred kin, below, but with a slight edge in alcohol, these twins are inseparable in quality. Delicious pinot. 9.7/10.

Principia Mornington Peninsula Kindred Hill Pinot Noir 2020, $60.

This is about as pinot as it gets, which is a good thing for those who love the stuff and a turnoff for those who like their wine big and brutal. Can you have a foot in both camps? Or a hand on both bottles? You will hope so when you try these two. It’s Prin-kip-ear, btw. 9.7/10.

de Bortoli Organic Shiraz Field Blend, 2020, $17.50.

“Each grape has a story…” says the label. True. They’ve been squashed, fermented and passed through my digestive system and now languish in a sewage treatment plant awaiting rebirth, perhaps to irrigate another vine. Not exactly bedtime reading, but all worthy. Thanks grapes. 9/10.

de Bortoli Riverina Noble One 2018, $36 (375ml).

It’s easy to forget how good Noble One is and as good as many Aussie stickies are, when you come back to this, you cannot help thinking, yeah, this is still my favourite. 9.6/10.

Rewild of Murray-Darling Sauvignon Blanc 2021, $9.99.

Sustainably made and vegan friendly is worth the price of entry alone. That you get half-decent sauv blanc too is a bonus, even Robot debt victims could afford a bottle…one. 8.8/10.

Rewild of Murray-Darling Rosé 2021, $9.99.

Good on Rewild for spruiking the Riverland (or Sunraysia or whatever). This is soft and pale and not a million miles from rosés of Provence (actually it’s about 20,000 km). 9/10.

wine