| Hosting a wine dinner is much like hosting a G7 | | | | June, so we did a retrospective of museum stock |
| Summit - there are about 4000 things that can | | | | of Shiraz and Mallea and sold every single available |
| go wrong, from hungover, jetlagged winemakers, | | | | bottle to the people who attended. |
| to last-minute vegans, hysterical chefs and corked | | | | The only 2008 wine`s to be tasted were the |
| wines. Happily the Majella dinner on Wednesday | | | | Musician Cabernet Shiraz and the Single Barrel |
| night of last month was an exception to the rule. | | | | Series Cabernet - (to be auctioned for Charity in |
| It was testimony to the power of the brand that | | | | October as a single barrique). |
| we had more people wait listed than actual seats | | | | I was gunning ahead of time for the Mallea 2005 |
| available for the event. Brian Lynne is a passionate | | | | and Single Barrel Series Cabernet, and is all too |
| and charming bloke so all in all, the only stress for | | | | often the case, ended up being drawn to a |
| me as host was making sure that everybody | | | | different wine as one of my favourites for the |
| managed to get down the steep staircase at the | | | | night - the Majella "Musician" Cabernet Shiraz 2008. |
| end in one piece. | | | | I hesitate to use the phrase "entry-level" to |
| Majella is totally committed to the single vineyard | | | | describe this wine as it really beats the blazes out |
| principle - i.e. if there is no fruit on their home | | | | of many other "premium" brand wines. The thing |
| vines - there is no Majella wine available. I will be | | | | that stood out for me was how easily it stood up |
| shot if I mentioned names, but there are certain | | | | to its elder siblings in terms of skillful winemaking |
| "super-premium" brands in the New World that | | | | and consistently awesome Coonawarra fruit. |
| are shooting themselves in their collective New | | | | There was a definitive thread that bound all of |
| World feet by trucking in masses of neighbouring | | | | the wines together as the product of a |
| fruit and thinking that their adoring public will just | | | | winemaker who knows his fruit and soil - and has |
| keep on buying it just because it has their | | | | been tending them for many vintages. |
| favourite misty label on the bottle - consumers | | | | His reds are ready-to-drink-that give you plenty |
| are just too educated these days for that sort of | | | | of bang for your hard earned buck, and with |
| practice to continue indefinitely. | | | | another 4 weeks of school holidays to go is just |
| The result of this principle meant no 2007 Majella | | | | the thing to get you through those endless trips |
| Cabernet at all because of the drought and the | | | | to the Singapore Eye and pajama party |
| bulk of the `08 vintage only being released next | | | | sleepovers. |