More From The Mailbag  (3 February)

 

A few more gems that are worth sharing.

 

The first is from my mate Murray Paterson in New Zealand who wrote, “Nothing wrong with even the likes of Banrock Station and Yellowtail, you get what you pay for. That they have to me, what is a “manufactured” taste is not to deny that they fulfil a place in the market ( $11 to $14). What I do feel is poor, is when wines at the $20+ bracket have that same characteristic.

We don’t have WET, but we do have $1.92 excise on each and every bottle (regardless of origin), plus GST as an effective sales-tax on both the excise and all the margins (maker, wholesaler, retailer). There is a natural reluctance of the makers to sell at a loss – and even the five major companies who have all the advantages of scale cannot get their input costs much below $5.00 a bottle (without marketing costs), so when a bottle is at $6.99 it is being sold at a loss. There is quite a lot going out at around this level as they desperately try to quit inventory before the next harvest. There are some cleanskins in the Woolies and similar chains but not much as yet, even after three biggish harvests. But we have yet to see the steep discounting that you have had in Aus (of Aus wines).

Having been in the industry since my first harvest in 78 (but, I worked Saturdays in a wine shop in 72 and then for a wine merchant from 73 to 77), I’ve seen much of this before – in three countries.

In 1978, the price of dry-land-grown Cabernet was $185 a tonne, dry-land Shiraz $125; irrigated Cabernet = $100 and Shiraz, $80 – at Chat. Tanunda (Seppelts). We crushed 10,000 tonnes that year, 1,000 tonnes a week, and thought that Karadoc winery (55,000) was obscenely large – or the vineyard at Morgan on the river (Pennies) of 1000 acres, with rows 4.5km long, was large.

On the corner of Broke and Macdonald Road in the Hunter, on the RHS where the chalets etc are now (opp. Hungerford Hill), there was a vineyard that had been planted in the boom of the Poseidon years (late 1960's and early 1970's.) It was derelict, had not been pruned for three years and the owners had walked off. The days of Reg Drayton, Gerry Sissingh, Karl Stockhausen, and a host of others now departed (Murray Tyrrell of course … and Len Evans), making some very good wines as well as wines that would not pass muster today (Hunter “sweaty saddle”). I won’t mention the superb c–through Semillons, to rest your sensitive soul.

Well, nostalgia is all very well, but I have to live in the present. I am afraid I don’t have much of a sanguine outlook. Classically, we should save in the good times and spend in the bad. Problem, we got that all arse about and re-mortgaged to spend in the good times. I am no economist, but it does not seem possible to spend one’s way out of debt!

Sampled some good Vic Shiraz that I’d never heard of … Ainsworth Estate 2002 … very potable and have just opened a bottle of their Cabernet (02). Damned cork … the Shiraz is screw top.

Brian Miller had a few comments on the position of what had been called Australian Sherry, its position in the market place, and its change of name to 'Apera'. Brian's first comment with the announcement was, "The aperation was successful, but the patient died." That was followed by a wonderful quotation by Danny de Vito in the movie Other Peoples Money: "You know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. ... At one time there must've been dozens of companies making buggy whips in this country. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw."

 

From the Wine Business Magazine weekly email "The Week that Was" on the subject of the name change from Tokay to Topaque, who dubbed it, "Topque The Perfect Cure For Baldness.

 

They went onto state: "The Winemakers' Federation says it has conducted extensive market research in coming up with these two names. We took TWTW's black bullet-proof Hummer and 12 bodyguards to the Elizabeth Shopping Centre in Adelaide's north to do some market research of our own. We managed to track down seven people outside Cheap As Chips for some feedback.

TWTW: “Sir, do you know what a Topaque is?”
Bazza: “Yep, it's somefink bald people put on their head.”

TWTW: “Excuse me, madam, can you tell me what a Topaque is?”
Cheryl: “A tooth ache? That's somefink that hurts like f***.”

TWTW: “Sir, can you tell me what a Topaque is?”
Norm: (scratching his guts) “Isn't a Topaque a small African monkey?”

TWTW: “Madam, do you like Apera?”
Pam: “Do I like a-beer-eh? F*****g oath! I'm a 10-can-a-day girl.”

TWTW: “Sir, do you like Apera?”
Nobby: “No, I reckon Opera is for snobs. Def Leopard fan meself.”

TWTW: “Madam, do you know that Topaque is the new name for Tokay?”
Kath: “Tokay? Isn't that the capital city of Japan?”

TWTW: “Sir, what do you prefer: Topaque or Tokay?”
Kel: “Toke? Nah just had one in the toilets, fanks. Hey is that your black Hummer out the front? Someone's just stolen the wheels, that's all.”"

 

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