“Sod the wine, I want to suck on the writing. This man White is an instinctive writer, bloody rare to find one who actually pulls it off, as in still gets a meaning across with concision. Sharp arbitrage of speed and risk, closest thing I can think of to Cicero’s ‘motus continuum animi.’

Probably takes a drink or two to connect like that: he literally paints his senses on the page.”

DBC Pierre (Vernon God Little, Ludmila’s Broken English, Lights Out In Wonderland)

Winner: Booker prize; Whitbread prize; Bollinger Wodehouse Everyman prize; James Joyce Award from the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin

.

CARTOONS BY GEORGE GRAINGER ALDRIDGE

RECOMMENDED by The New York Times and The Daily Globe

... irreverent, guffaw provoking ... irresistible ... ”

ALICE FEIRING in WALL STREET JOURNAL 2ND BEST! DAMN!

“the Rimbaud of McLaren Vale … bandanna on head, standing on a table outside the Victory Hotel, shooting geology at the wine-sluggers with all the fiery conviction of a temperance preacher in the goldfields” Andrew Jefford

Just be wary of Philip White, the Charles Bukowski of Australian wine writers and for my money one of the best in the business, who recently described a wine as “a stark raving crazy transvestite musk ox with bad breath and a dirty botty” Nick Ryan Men’s Style

“forthright, opinionated, aggressive - sometimes just plain wrong” The Key Report

“Australian wine has never seen, and will never again likely see, a writer as great” Campbell Mattinson

“BONKERS!” Fiona Beckett THE GUARDIAN

“On form, Philip is Australian wine’s Kerouac, Hemingway and la Montaigne rolled into one.”

MAX ALLEN - THE AUSTRALIAN

25 September 2012

VALE CRU 2012 TICKETS GOING FAST

Vale Cru, the determined alliance of some of McLaren Vale's best and smallest premium wine producers, has a record of staging the most enjoyable and informative wine tastings.  This year's event at The Victory Hotel is a JV between the winemakers and Alison Paxton's new and booming cheese dairy  called Kangarilla Creamery, Adelaide Central Market specialists Smelly Cheese, and Bracegirdle chocolatiers.

“The coming together of a group of wine producers, each one small, each one doing the hard yards in the pursuit of quality is a great development for McLaren Vale,” says the group's spiritual patron, Drew Noon. 

“Their motivation is not primarily money but for the satisfaction of seeing people enjoy their wines. We at Noon Winery support the small producers for the diversity, innovation and uniqueness that they bring to the wine scene.”

Tickets are $40 at the Vale Cru website www.valecru.com.au

photo James Hook, Lazy Ballerina