The Northern Rivers Times
October 19, 2023
42 WINE
Grape Expectations by Max Crus
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
It’s my party and I’ll…clean up when I want to.
Max Crus
hank goodness party season is over and we can calm down. Well, until the festive season arrives in about two weeks. Yes, birthday parties, footy parties, referendum parties, it’s been a festival of parties lately, but as everyone knows, parties themselves aren’t even the best bit. The real fun in parties starts with the planning. Who to invite. Who not to. What to eat. What not to. What to drink, what not to…don’t want anyone
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touching that when they can’t even read the label. The there’s the anticipation, invariably the most excitement you will have up until five minutes before the first guests hit the doorstep and the hors d’oeuvres, when you suddenly ask yourself with a sense of dread “what have I done?” Invariably the actual party is a blur of satisfying stupid questions such as “do you have water/glasses/ toilets/ice/serviettes/toilet paper/tea bags/any more
of that last red/a broom/a mop/a vacuum/etc, until the last person leaves with the last question “what time is it?”. Then, following one of those deeply satisfying, over-heated, deep sleeps that come only after too much of everything, there’s more fun. There is nothing like the calm, nostalgic sense of reward that comes with cleaning up. People who clean up the night before never experience this fully, or if they do, they
have forgotten about it by morning. But the clean-up must be done in an orderly fashion and in blocks, one category at a time starting with the gooey stuff. Food scraps come first, where occasionally braving a taste of leftovers (not recommended in summer), reminiscing “that was the best sourdough pizza Tiny Tim has ever made…can’t believe there’s any left”, is also part of the fun. Next comes the bottle caps and foils and the
unexpected bits of clothing. It’s like an archaeological dig. Ah yes, that’s when So-and-so decided to imitate Tina Turner/Freddie Mercury/Mick Jagger/ Madonna/all the above. Next, carefully picking up glasses and popping them gingerly in the dishwasher, mindful that foggy heads and Riedel/Spiegelau/ Plumm don’t mix. Finally you get to the glue that quietly stuck the party together, before rowdily tearing it asunder, the beverage containers,
occasionally as with the food, having a little sniff to see how a wine aged overnight. “Ahh, what an unusual sparkling/gee, did we open three rieslings/that pet nat was an unexpected hit/ easily the best red of the night” and the occasional little surprise…”hey, who opened that bottle?” Whoops! Oh well. Here’s a few we put in the recycle bin to end this season:
Topper’s Mountain New England Gewurztraminer 2022 $35. (Bottle No.378 of 998). 998 is the capacity of a highly sought after Ducati made between 2002 and 2004, yet there’s probably more of them than bottles of this. Like the Ducati, this is full on, so hang on at the MotoGP
party. 9.4/10. Toppers Mountain New England Nebbiolo, 2022, $47. (Bottle No.1657 of 2111) . THow florally fragrant can red wine be? A gorgeous bouquet whacks you in the nostrils as you raise your glass and bright red flavours follow to get you hooked (left hooked
perhaps) but at 13.5 per cent you won’t be down for the count if you have a few. 9.5/10. Ziegler Eden Valley Fieldstone Riesling 2023, $28. ‘Artisanal wines’ says the label but would you prefer a wine made by an artist or a winemaker? Would you prefer a shoe
made by Picasso or a bootmaker? Ponder that dilemma with a creative riesling. 9.4/10. Ziegler Barossa The Brickyard Shiraz 2022, $28. Gee, 2022 sounds so young but it’s already nearly two. No matter, this is settled and solid enough to go early in the party, and
it did. Light by Barossan standards at 13.5 but you’d never know. 9.3/10. Bowen Estate Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, $32. Young cabernets often seem a little unsettled, but there are exceptions, so have this if you’re feeling a little that way, it may rub off. 9.4/10.
Bowen Estate Coonawarra Shiraz 2021, $32. “Max! Where’s the corkscrew”? Corks are almost a party trick these days and this wine made me realise my cork skills aren’t what they used to be, but it was fun finding out, and even more apré corking. 9.5/10.