tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24486438447927990862012-02-16T17:43:08.065+10:30d r i n k s t e r"there's a hole in everything...that's where the light gets in" - Leonard CohenPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.comBlogger4571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-58993892501729214922012-02-14T21:25:00.004+10:302012-02-15T21:23:30.166+10:30McLIAVALIAN TERROIR IN DEEP WILD SOUTH HISTORIC TASTING IN GREG TROTT'S HALF-FINISHED LIBRARY AT WIRRA WIRRA  L-R DREW NOON, JAMES HOOK, PAUL CARPENTER AND CHARLIE SEPPELT photo PHILIP WHITE Top Joint Starts Detective Movie Rockhounds Get Licks In Line New History Way Down South by PHILIP WHITE One of the true tasting pleasures of recent years was the McLaren Vale winemakers' initial testing of whether their tentative plan of Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-62189478558179610322012-02-11T19:42:00.000+10:302012-02-11T20:24:28.625+10:30DIARY - 120211 LOOKIN OUT MY BACK DOOR ... SUNSHOWER AT YANGARRA photo PHILIP WHITE  The doors are open, and the air is cool and breezy.  It’s been damp, with a big blast off the Great Southern Ocean sousing everything last week.   There’s been little of the February wet some expected, having digested the long-range forecasts of some of the top La Niña skydoctors, who said we’d get it from the tropical Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-52468569640971455352012-02-08T10:58:00.001+10:302012-02-08T11:13:38.415+10:30TOP BLOG FOR SARDINE AFISHIONADOS CLICK FISH TO SUPPORT ONE OF DRINKSTER'S FAVES ... THESE GUYS DESERVE SOME SOUTHERN INPUT!Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-47343941801747483162012-02-07T23:39:00.000+10:302012-02-07T23:39:11.951+10:30SO WHERE DID THAT YEAR GO? . BLONDIE AND FIZZ, HER FINAL FOAL The Ornithologist“You won’t get much conversation outa this girl,”Peter said,backing the old blonde mare from her float.“She’s not much of a talker.”They’d been apart for twenty two yearsthis stately cutter and her man.He’d sold her as a fillyand sensibly ran off buccaneering,only to discover he missed her,half a lifetime later, after his wife left.I told Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-1026983978210002232012-02-06T04:14:00.000+10:302012-02-06T07:02:44.406+10:30STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU "It’s a chill bright sunshine-cum-grey squally sort of day in the Barossa, and I look out the window at the pruners in their wet weather gear, giving the precious Greenock Creek Cabernet its annual haircut." This was the opening line of a DRINKSTER piece last winter, about Constellation or  Heavens Above or Milky Whey or whoever they were, becoming Clap Wines or Claque or whatever it is.  Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-51199156102397252412012-02-05T17:19:00.001+10:302012-02-07T11:15:13.672+10:30WINESMITHS SAFE IN A CRADLE OF HILLS Five Minutes From Silver Sands We Thought Of Everywhere Else Nothin Exploded But The Future TEXT and PHOTOS by PHILIP WHITE Paul Smith?  Name rings a bell.  Haven’t we met before?  Nope?  Oh?  You sure?  You were a navy diver?  Ah.  You were you one of the seals I watched scouring the hulls of the ships in Circular Quay at the bicentenary celebrations in ’88?  Looking for bombs when Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-8395602848292838822012-02-05T13:09:00.000+10:302012-02-05T13:09:25.336+10:30A POTTED HISTORY OF THE LITTLE POT STILL Here come da fuzz, scary muthas ... a great day for business ... so how do these dudes at the bottom get away with it?  Moss camo?  And who's the dinky babe? Oh?  The future Queen of England? How'd she get in here? Just chillin' with the lads? ... For an exquisite brief history of distilling, particularly in Eire, click poteen. You can read it, or listen.  (It's highly inspirational pod sonicsPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-40707493992619371632012-02-02T16:09:00.001+10:302012-02-03T00:14:16.823+10:30JACKSON FAMILY DOUBLES YANGARRA BARBARA BANKE WITH HER FAMILY (L-R) JULIA JACKSON, BARBARA, CHRISTOPHER JACKSON AND KATIE JACKSON PRESS RELEASE: JACKSON FAMILY WINES  BUYS AUSTRALIA’S CLARENDON ESTATE VINEYARDSA legendary wine estate goes to one of the world’s great winemaking familiesCLARENDON, MCLAREN VALE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA -- Jackson Family Wines Chairman and Proprietor Barbara R. Banke today announced the purchase of Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-4463999827125402642012-02-01T01:05:00.000+10:302012-02-01T02:11:14.384+10:30ON PRESUMING THE ROLE OF GANESHA . . .   the biggest cliché in most rooms  the biggest cliché in most roomsis the jerk who first mentionsthe elephant he reckons nobody can seewhile the guests stare lovingly at the empty cornerimagining a white jumbo they could patthe cliché steals the silver and scatsganesha sees everything  philip white . Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-62456182647678236862012-01-31T15:18:00.002+10:302012-01-31T15:30:12.957+10:30OZ WINE POLICE DROP EXPORT TASTINGS Media Release from Wine Australia Tuesday 31 January, 2012  CHANGES TO EXPORT APPROVAL  AFTER INDUSTRY REVIEW  Australia is changing its approach to wine export approval, replacing mandatory pre-export testing of all wines with a more rigorous auditing presence. The changes follow a detailed review and industry consultation by Wine Australia (formerly the Australian Wine & Brandy CorporationPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-1932004159413529022012-01-31T11:14:00.000+10:302012-01-31T11:26:05.155+10:30HOME GARDENS - USA GOVT POSTER Ca 1940 CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY-SENSIBLE POSTERS FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS COLLECTIONPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-38940892025149444222012-01-31T01:25:00.000+10:302012-01-31T01:29:53.124+10:30BAROSSA GROUNDS TASTING 2012 BAROSSA WINEMAKERS TIM SMITH, LOUISA ROSE, JULIE ASHMEAD AND CHARLIE MELTON IN THE YALUMBA TASTING ROOM photo PHILIP WHITE Tasting The Barossa Grounds Fourth Annual RockFest Shows Vintage Overwhelming Geology  by PHILIP WHITE Winemakers Louisa Rose and Julie Ashmead conducted a fascinating exercise at Yalumba the other day.  Tim Smith and Charlie Melton joined the team. It was the fourth Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-52059775410789147562012-01-29T03:32:00.000+10:302012-01-29T16:15:09.127+10:30ŻUBRÓWKA VODKA TOO GOOD FOR USA EUROPEAN BISON PAINTED BETWEEN 18,500 AND 14,000 BC IN THE CAVE OF ALTAMIRA IN CANTABRIA photo RAMESSOS, TO WHOM I AM EXTREMELY GRATEFUL. The Bone Arse Bison Of Poland Knows Much More About Grass And Losing Weight Than AT&F by PHILIP WHITE “It smells of freshly mown hay and spring flowers, of thyme and lavender, and it is so soft on the palate and so comfortable, it’s like listening Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-54989423753221535702012-01-28T00:53:00.001+10:302012-01-30T19:35:01.671+10:30DIARY: 120127 – BREAD & VINTAGE LOOMING The aroma of baking bread is a nostalgic thing.  The loaf in my cooker is a typical Casa Blanco hybrid, using Cooper’s Stout instead of water, Vegemite in place of salt, molasses instead of white sugar, a nip of Lagavulin, beautiful Laucke’s wholemeal flour and a couple of spoons of fresh-ground coffee, just to torture the sensories way beyond reason.Along with those grainy gingham Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-39938107459492826162012-01-26T17:22:00.000+10:302012-01-27T20:23:29.840+10:30A FOND REFLECTION ON AUSTRALIA DAY GEORGE BROUGH ON AN EARLY PROTOTYPE ... T E LAWRENCE DIED ON A BROUGH - HIS SEVENTH ... SUCH MACHINES COULD ALWAYS BE FOUND PARKED IN THE BUSHES AT IAN AND PITTI MacDONALD'S ADELAIDE HOME Death of a Shed Man by PHILIP WHITE - FROM THE ARCHIVE One of the great shed men left us last week. I have written about sheds before: how a proper shed is better than a grand hotel; and howPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-87312779190661213972012-01-23T13:50:00.000+10:302012-01-26T22:18:11.761+10:30VINOUS Mt OLYMPUS FOR OLYMPIC DAM ULURU, THE NAVEL OF OLD AUSTRALIA ... VAST AMOUNTS OF FERRUGINOUS SANDSTONE LIKE THIS, LYING BENEATH THE OLYMPIC DAM MINE SITE, COULD BE USED TO REPLICATE McLAREN VALE'S UNIQUE MASLIN SANDS VITICULTURAL TERROIRS IN THE NEW MOUNTAIN Enlightened Vision For Roxby Bold New Vignobles In Outback Innovation Minister Must Move by PHILIP WHITENews addicts may have noticed the Greeks attracting Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-65908713471736791562012-01-22T02:00:00.003+10:302012-01-23T12:25:16.095+10:30GRENACHE - GREAT SPANISH DOCUMENTARY.  Click the above to enlarge Stacey Pothoven's photograph of the author in the Yangarra High Sands Grenache vineyard at Kangarilla in McLaren Vale, South Australia; weed-eating sheep in the background.   These vines were planted in deep Aeolian Sand by Bernard Smart and his Dad in 1946. The vineyard has never been watered. The author's photo below shows them sweltering in the near 50 Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-13016907428429909472012-01-21T17:36:00.000+10:302012-01-21T20:17:01.718+10:30ETTA RETURNS TO THE GREAT SILENCE CLICK IMAGE  TO WATCH DRINKSTER'S FAVOURITE ETTA JAMES CLIP, WITH JOHNNIE JOHNSON, CHUCK BERRY, ROBERT CRAY, KEITH RICHARD AND BUDDIES Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-57873081023482581372012-01-19T13:06:00.003+10:302012-01-19T13:24:23.406+10:30AUSTRALIA DAY & FLAG HORRORS AGAIN Consistently the most popular piece on DRINKSTER is the essay I publish each year on Australia's national day, January 26th. Australia Day celebrates the 1788 landing of Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet at what became known as Port Jackson, in present-day Sydney. Phillip, and his eleven ships full of bedraggled convicts and troopers, took  ‘formal possession’ of what was then Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-46944407435445033342012-01-18T23:00:00.000+10:302012-01-19T02:55:30.686+10:30ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE THIRSTY NIGHTS CLICK MISS NANCY FOR COMPANY  ...  AND LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOUPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-40897630714449061122012-01-17T21:03:00.000+10:302012-01-17T21:12:35.091+10:30I HAD A SOUL. I had a soulI had a soul.I took it through milkshed and byre,tussock and thistle, ragwort and bogwith a burlap sack on my head for the drizzle.With me it watched the blackwood hewnand the underground tank surrender its muckto bucket and shovel,till all was strewn on grass so greenit really needed to be seen.I had a soul.With me it watched the poddy-calves dropfrom the neat blow of the Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-43053522421222148202012-01-17T20:35:00.002+10:302012-01-17T20:35:53.085+10:30CLICK THE PIC TO CATCH THE CO2 SKYRIDE! SALT LAKE NEAR EMU BAY, KANGAROO ISLAND photo PHILIP WHITEPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-24018735525482050862012-01-16T14:17:00.000+10:302012-01-18T01:48:22.732+10:30TWO PROPER SPANISH TEMPRANILLOS HARVEST AT ABEL MENDOZA MONGE'S RIOJA VINEYARDS Even More Grapes Ending In O Soo Hot And Cute And Cool But How The Hell Do We Make 'Em?  by PHILIP WHITE Australian winemakers are a funny lot.  Like the rest of us, they’re very clever, but often really dumb and clumsy.  Sometimes they/we need a pig-a-back to school.In our scramble to produce new varieties, many grand ones unequivocally Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-64476609310435859392012-01-16T10:50:00.000+10:302012-01-16T10:59:46.667+10:30McLEAN'S FARM HITS TWIN CRISIS PEAKS STOP PRESS:  TWIN CRISES HIT PEAK BAROSSA  AS COOL VERAISON LOOMS That's Stephen Henschke (left), making a neighbourly check on Bob and Wilma McLean at their McLean's Farm on the top of Mengler's Hill already.  The crises?  Bob's off the booze; Willie's off the smokes; the dogs sensibly hide under the tables. This situation is as treacherous as vintage 2011, when the second wettest Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-61063388057972324942012-01-15T21:27:00.001+10:302012-01-18T01:49:18.107+10:30LABOR SHYSTERS STILL BULLSHITTING US Why Can't They Tell The Truth? Is Deceit Integral To Labor DNA? What Does 'Save' Actually Mean?by PHILIP WHITE South Australia’s new Premier, Jay Weatherill (with family, above), started Premieral life looking too good to be true.  He had all the hallmarks of a straightforward fair dinkum no-bullshit zone, in spite of some suede bits surrounding his attitudes to the contentious destruction ofPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-84899873035631436052012-01-15T15:41:00.002+10:302012-01-15T23:37:35.065+10:30IMPORTANT POLICE NOTICE. Health Warning Poetry falls from stars and bars And blows tumbleweeds up the street. It pushes sand dunes over the mountains And herds fish to the farthest deep. Poetry fills the dimmest breath with sense, And strangles lovers in their sleep. Philip White . Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-38904229139600250532012-01-15T13:19:00.000+10:302012-01-16T00:02:06.153+10:30MINERVA BEDS BAROSSA & CLARE THE AUTHOR WITH BEN DARNAULT AT THE VICTORY: IT TAKES THREE TO TANGO   photo MILTON WORDLEY   Holy Trinity Appears In Pub Witnesses Ingest Ectoplasm First Big Miracle Of The Year by PHILIP WHITE Driven by our shared predilection for Yangarra Mourvèdre, Benjamin and Kat Darnault joined us for a traditional Aussie New Year’s lunch of fish’n’chips at The Victory Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-89939371044287192572012-01-08T17:19:00.000+10:302012-01-08T17:22:10.233+10:30THE SMELL HUNTER HANGS UP HIS NOSEOne of the world's great noses is about to retire.  To listen to Marnie Chesterton's Radio Netherlands interview with Dr Roman Kaiser, the Smell Hunter, click here and wind the cursor on to 13.45.  (The preceding bit about the Dutch Buddhist monk who guards geese is very cool, too.) To read Michelle Krell Kidd's fascinating interview with the Doc, click here, and bookmark her blog, Glass Petal Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-18848849020550898672012-01-07T20:35:00.001+10:302012-01-08T02:26:05.817+10:30WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK YOU'RE TERRIFIC AMONGST MANY OTHER WONDROUS THINGS, OUR LIFELONG EXEMPLAR AND HERO ROBERT WYATT HAS WRITTEN ONE OF DRINKSTER'S FAVOURITE ODES TO THE FRAILTY OF HUMANITY - THE SEA SONG - LISTEN TO THAT FIRST, THEN THIS DELIGHTFUL INTERVIEW    Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-68159129017060616242012-01-07T13:39:00.001+10:302012-01-07T13:39:50.015+10:30LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-68026972553843386032012-01-06T19:53:00.003+10:302012-01-09T12:55:11.736+10:30GETTING BEACHED WITH BRIONY HOARE  Killer Beach Road Trio Di Bianco Vermentino.Fiano.Greco di Tufo Year's Best Set Of New Varietals by PHILIP WHITE One of the brighter highlights of my plonkish year is when Briony Hoare’s generous husband, the viniculturing Tony, rings to ask me to attend lunch at The Victory Hotel with his rather alluring wife, Briony, who pays.  You don’t get too much of this sort of thing in my line of Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-10339640444024216072012-01-06T11:53:00.001+10:302012-01-06T20:35:14.696+10:30SOYLENT IS THE NEW BRIGHT GREEN Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-85133552918625723182012-01-04T14:39:00.000+10:302012-01-06T18:48:59.665+10:30JOHNNY WALKER GREEN BITES THE DUST CHEONG LIEW WITH THE AUTHOR AND SHERIFF JAMES BOURNE AT THE FRONT BAR OF THE NORTH BLINMAN PUB photo MILTON WORDLEY .  Chasing Malts In The Outback Green Label Hits A Roadblock Not Good Enough For Our Cops  by PHILIP WHITE So Johnny Walker’s green trip’s over.  Bugger.  Green Label is no more.   The Green Label was a slippery blend of four fifteen year old malts, whose nature was most Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-18944788032982524902012-01-03T13:50:00.003+10:302012-01-03T22:33:32.947+10:30THE DEATH OF CONTROLLED CRITICISM THE SUN IS SETTING ON THE NEWSPAPER WINE COLUMN, AS THE CHAOS OF THE BLOGOSPHERE DRINKS UP THE READERSHIP OF THE OLD-STYLE SELF-CENSORING HACKS WITH THEIR SNOUTS IN THE TROUGH OF THE VINO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX  photo of the author in Eden Valley, Barossa Ranges by MARIE LINKE Wine Hacks: Old Days Dying Big Winers Dead In The Net Blog Chaos Dominates Dogma by PHILIP WHITE " ... Things Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-67040463088637474892012-01-03T07:25:00.001+10:302012-01-03T07:25:46.926+10:30THE END OF GRACE & ELEGANCE - ARCHIVE Phillips-Parker Axis Axes Grace Up Goes The OzPlonk Alcohol Bobster's Bull-dogged Vortex by PHILIP WHITE - this was first published in 2006 Robert Parker Jr. must have tasted some more Australian wines.  How do I know?  Because my phone won’t stop ringing.  For those who came in late, this curmudgeonly lawyer is commonly regarded by his fellow Amerkans as the world’s most influential criticPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-28095080028585096792012-01-03T07:04:00.000+10:302012-01-03T17:27:04.408+10:30CHEAP PLONK & WAR ON DRUGS - ARCHIVE The Aussie  Wine Lake Brims While The Big Rivers Dry Out Mining The Mallee For Sugar  by PHILIP WHITE - This was first published in 2006 As paranoid chatter about Australia’s two-plus billion litres of unsold wine rises to delirium, and instant new experts appear daily to have their two bob’s worth in the media, maybe it’s time those commentators who actually know the facts began a Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-62460204986859984452011-12-28T01:01:00.000+10:302011-12-28T01:42:10.874+10:30ARCHIVE - AN EARLIER PIECE ON AROMAS GERARD DEPARDIEU AS CYRANO DE BERGERAC Just Open Your Face And Sniff Your Schnozz Is In The Middle  Getting The Max From Your Sax by PHILIP WHITE This was first published in November 1990, so some of this science will be out of date  “Mummy it smells!”Therein lies one of our biggest deceits.  To the white man, smell is a dirty word.  Not only do we train our children to believe this lie,Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-7456244943008570842011-12-27T22:49:00.001+10:302011-12-27T23:38:03.650+10:30FRENCH WINERS COPIED OZ LUMBERJACKS THE 15TH CENTURY PORTUGUESE CARAVEL TOOK ITS NAME FROM ITS SMOOTH CARVEL HULL ... FIFTEEN CENTURIES BEFORE, CELTIC BOATBUILDERS DISCOVERED THAT IF YOU BUILT THIS TYPE OF HULL, WHICH KEEPS WATER OUT, IN A COMPLETE 360 DEGREE FORM, YOU HAD A CONTAINER THAT WOULD KEEP WATER IN ... OR WINE! ... photo MERRIAM-WEBSTER VISUAL DICTIONARY ONLINE   They Just Had To Do Something French Stop Wasting Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-85495570931806728922011-12-25T10:14:00.000+10:302011-12-25T11:54:37.544+10:30IN MEMORY OF ONE VERY COOL BROTHER Andy's Gone With CattleOur Andy's gone with cattle now -Our hearts are out of orderWith drought he's gone to battle nowAcross the Queensland borderHe's left us in dejection nowOur thoughts with him are rovingIt's dull on this selection nowSince Andy went a-drovingWho now shall wear the cheerful faceIn times when things are blackestAnd who shall whistle round the placeWhen FortunePhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-71240747791793674562011-12-25T09:49:00.000+10:302011-12-25T09:49:28.430+10:30MERRY EXMESS, YOU PRETTY BLUE PLANET! Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-54645640488728079062011-12-22T22:45:00.001+10:302011-12-23T23:04:15.576+10:30WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND - ARCHIVE WHAT TO DO?  TRACK DOWN A COUPLE OF LASSES YOU CAN TRUST AND HAVE A DRINK IN ALL YOUR FAVOURITE BARS ... WE DID 21 THIS DAY, ABOUT 1978, TO CELEBRATE SUZIE SIOUX'S TWENTY FIRST... BEGAN AND FINISHED, LITERALLY, IN THE BRITISH ... BY BACCHUS, THAT WAS A PUB! BEAN AND THE WILLIAMSES AND TWO MORE WHITE BROTHERS ROLLED IN THAT NIGHT IN THE 62 BEL AIR AND SAVED US FROM THE ADELAIDE Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-36561541608137910152011-12-22T17:25:00.000+10:302011-12-22T20:58:25.050+10:30WHAT NOT TO DO THIS EXMESS - ARCHIVE It is a bike that genuinely loves a drink. Even here at the lights. Flick the throttle and those four shiny funnels slurp up a fossil cocktail that explodes between the thighs and within a millisecond it's out the exhaust of that neat three-foot gut and a hundred crazy horses are shrieking and bucking against the scrotum and the tickle and the shake enters through the knees which grip this Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-58034353044307500442011-12-22T13:58:00.000+10:302011-12-22T21:54:26.842+10:30KANGAROO ISLAND BREAD IN THE SHED CAJ AMADIO AND ANNIKA BERLINGIERI MAKE BREAD IN THE PIZZA OVEN AT CAJ AND GENNY'S, EMU BAY, KANGAROO ISLAND ... I'VE HAD SOME EXQUISITE MEALS IN THAT SHED photos PHILIP WHITE Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-82441129859115829042011-12-22T13:14:00.000+10:302011-12-22T16:33:04.595+10:30BOTTLING SHIRAZ LEES FOR MARINADE NEVER WASTE THOSE BARREL LEES!  THIS WONDROUS GLURP IS INVALUABLE FOR  MARINADES, COQ AU VIN ET CETERA ... FAR TOO MUCH OF IT GOES DOWN THE DRAIN ... LITTLE TRICK I LEARNED FROM GERARD JABOULET AND CHRIS, THE CHEF AT LA CHATEAU IN TOURNON-SUR-RHONE ... BOTTLE A BUCKET FOR YOUR LOCAL CHEF!Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-8973880858540703002011-12-20T22:30:00.000+10:302011-12-20T23:22:46.416+10:30VINTAGE NEWS FROM OUR 1939 NEWSDESK We Can't Make Good Wine ... Press Stems Press Dirt & Rot ... The Smell Of Decay & Chemicals THE SPRING IS BEAUTIFUL in California. Valleys in which the fruit blossoms are fragrant pink and white waters in a shallow sea. Then the first tendrils of the grapes swelling from the old gnarled vines, cascade down to cover the trunks. The full green hills are round and soft as breasts. And on the Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-57788432613513820402011-12-19T11:51:00.001+10:302011-12-21T00:04:36.449+10:30BEST DRINK FOR EXMESS - KRUG 1998 TASTING GRANDE CUVEE BASE WINES AT KRUG IN 1992 - MONICA JANSONS WITH THE MASTER, HENRI KRUG photo PHILIP WHITE Krug Top Pop In Turbulent Year ... Sell Your Car, Kids, House ... And Ponder A While About Oak  by PHILIP WHITE The drink of the year?  Easy. Krug Champagne 1998.     I can’t afford it.  Nobody I know can afford it, really.  It’s about $550.   But it’s one of those thingsPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-12542917498040745412011-12-18T23:58:00.002+10:302011-12-19T00:48:34.440+10:30CHIPS RAFFERTY YARNS OF OLD AUSSIE ZAR BROOKS FOUND THE PHOTO BELOW WHILST TRYING TO LOCATE THE WINE BAR CHIPS RAFFERTY (ABOVE) HAD IN BOND STREET, SYDNEY ...  HE'D HEARD CHIPS' LAST BIG INTERVIEW, REPLAYED ON THE ABC ... IF YOU CLICK HERE, YOU CAN HEAR CHIPS QUICKEST BY SLIDING STRAIGHT IN TO THE EIGHT MINUTE MARK ... I FIND THE MODERN INTRO CONDESCENDING ... ENDURE IT IF YOU MUST ... ANYBODY KNOW WHERE THE WINE BARPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-65664820696058944712011-12-18T13:59:00.004+10:302011-12-18T23:05:47.146+10:30GOODIESON'S SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS NOWMcLAREN VALE'S ONLY BREWERY, GOODIESON'S, HAS MADE A GREAT ALE FOR CHRISTMAS. USING ORGANIC HERBS AND PEELS FROM THE LOCAL MARKET AT WILLUNGA, THEY'VE FLAVOURED AND COMPOSED A CLASSIC TRADITIONAL YULETIDE BEER WHICH IS A SNIP AT $25 PER SIX PACK. IT'S THE PERFECT PLUM PUDDING SUDS FOR ZERO TEMPERATURES AND SNOW, AND SEEMS TO MAKE MORE PERFECT SENSE EVEN IF SIX MONTHS OUT OF KILTER WITH Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-13074242934336341162011-12-16T20:01:00.002+10:302011-12-16T22:26:42.611+10:30I WANNA BE BEFORE I WANNA BE BEFOREPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-34079448536705681732011-12-12T18:19:00.005+10:302011-12-12T18:37:55.793+10:30BLUES FROM THE COLOUR OF THEIR EYESWHILE YOU'RE DRINKING ... CLICK ALBUM FOR REVIEW; HERE FOR AURAL EVIDENCEPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-41745914214680310522011-12-11T16:27:00.008+10:302011-12-12T16:57:32.628+10:30VINTAGE 2012 STARTS DAMPISHAnother Year Of La Niña Damp?Rain Washes The Science AwayHuge Gaps In River Discussionby PHILIP WHITEVINTAGE 2012: The weather has mercifully dried in the 48+ hours since the following piece was written, and it’s cool, moderately humid, and breezy here at McLaren Vale’s north-eastern extreme. The forecast for the next few days looks like more of the same. Growers everywhere across south-easternPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-56192025706850076802011-12-07T17:29:00.003+10:302011-12-07T18:35:18.330+10:30.AUTHOR'S DIARY 1973.Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-789744185455538232011-12-06T23:34:00.015+10:302011-12-09T23:57:55.169+10:30for Cathy Whiteon her completion of fifty laps of the sunwhitemost places I’ve been on Earththere are people called whiteregardless of skinevery language has its own bright versionbut unless somebody brings a prismwhite hangs invisibly in blue skythe perfect mixture of all other coloursmorphing when it likesthrough phantom shapes of aerial water and icewhich may or may not choose to fallto fill Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-3389570219177480312011-12-06T16:03:00.008+10:302011-12-06T20:33:50.739+10:30THE PERFECT GIN & TONIC - ARCHIVE STUFFTHE AUTHOR IN REPOSE, MAX'S ISLAND, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIAThis was written around 1990, when Bombay gin wore a white label and resided in a squat bottle. It was a more viscous, rounded style of gin than the Sapphire which suddenly and brutally replaced it. The old model had less overt juniper, and was probably closer in style to some of the truly traditional gins of yore, like the lovelyPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-23476887011819687592011-12-05T22:55:00.020+10:302011-12-06T19:18:44.651+10:30McLAREN VALE SCARCE EARTHS SHIRAZWHITE DEPARTS CHAPEL HILL photo DRAGAN RADOCAJEarly Plunge Beats Gun In ValesGreat Idea Not Fully ResearchedThey'll Get On With It Anywayby PHILIP WHITEScarce Earth is McLaren Vale’s new project to distinguish local Shiraz wines of a certain quality. It’s been invented and run by the McLaren Vale Grape Wine and Tourism Association, a name and acronym perfectly reflective of this splendid Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-21579182393079504922011-12-03T10:24:00.031+10:302011-12-03T15:03:19.530+10:30WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS WINEMAKERTHE WEDDING AT CANA by PAOLO VERONESE 1562-3 ... EVERYONE'S THERE ... SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT'S GOT HIS BACK TO WALL ON THE LEFTWine As Drunk By Jesus ChristPutting New Wine In Old BottlesBig Wedding Has Long Finishby PHILIP WHITEWith the solemn approach of his birthday, it is utterly appropriate to ponder the technique used by the most famous winemaker in history. It is indeed belated Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-59930472518998497272011-11-30T23:20:00.035+10:302011-12-04T15:36:29.643+10:30ARCHIVE: MICK ECKERT: WOODWIND SOLOMICKEY ... EN ROUTE TO BREAKSBAND GIG, STIRLING HOTEL CARPARK, APRIL 1975 ... MICK TASTES UNIRRIGATED WRONG COLOUR VIRGINIA ON A RAW OLD WORN-OUT MONDAY MORNING OR THEREABOUTS ON THE T-BONE WALKER EMOTION BUT TUESDAY'S JUST AS BAD... LOVE YOU FOREVER YOU PERFECT DUFFER AND RESPECT photo PHILIP WHITEPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-57742236352399172312011-11-29T19:44:00.037+10:302011-12-01T21:57:36.854+10:30DIARY 111129 - MY CLOSEST BIRD FAMILYDISTURBED SUPERB FAIRY WREN'S NEST FOUND AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARIE LINKE AT KARRA YERTA WINES, FLAXMANS, HIGH BAROSSA ... IT'S NOT A HAT, IT'S A HOUSE ... YET NOT MUCH BROADER THAN A WATCH!DIARY: AT THIS time of year, when the nights are still quite chill for this mild part of the world, I must be polite to my Watch Coot. There are many baby waterbirds on the dams, and the Urasian Coots have Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-7546319655413745432011-11-29T18:37:00.006+10:302011-12-01T00:30:00.989+10:30WEATHERILL'S RIVER WAR COMMANDOSFREE AD FOR GOVT FOLLOWS::CLICK IMAGE FOR CONNECTION TO NEW SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE - WEATHERILL'S NEW GLASNOST?PRESS RELEASE - SA LAUNCHES STRONG AND UNITED RESPONSE TO DRAFT BASIN PLANPremier Jay Weatherill has announced the establishment of a taskforce to co-ordinate South Australia’s response to the draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan.“The taskforce will include Ministers Paul Caica, Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-27379121404558587392011-11-28T20:33:00.003+10:302011-11-28T23:49:48.175+10:30ARCHIVE: STEPHANIE MAKES TWO POINTSGREAT AUSTRALIAN RESTAURATEURS, STEPHANIE ALEXANDER AND BARRY ROSS, EARLY EIGHTIES ... I THINK THIS WAS AT ONE OF THE FIRST OF THE ADELAIDE GASTRONOMY SYMPOSIA photo PHILIP WHITEPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-77273576424421765162011-11-27T13:15:00.006+10:302011-11-29T00:29:28.065+10:30THE DANGERS OF BAD TRANSLATION Pt 408bMade A Beautiful White Wine Australia's Largest Three Ratings Use Professionals You Boofheads VINO is 60% white, and red wine in Australia on behalf of the relaxation is common, may also be areas of the country in wine increased greatly with exciting yellow reasons. After the country's highest sugar drink bright wine, Chardonnay will instantly appear in the chat. Riesling, Semillon, the country'sPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-76627112511273594942011-11-24T23:36:00.001+10:302011-11-25T21:05:48.177+10:30HAPPY HUNDREDTH LOVELY HARRY'SPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-70495685151444469692011-11-24T19:05:00.025+10:302011-11-26T00:35:58.374+10:30BRETT GENOME UNRAVELLED BY OZ DOCSTHE AUSTRALIAN WINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE TEAM WHICH CRACKED THE BRETT GENOME, L-R: DR PAUL CHAMBERS, DR ANTHONY BORNEMAN, PROF SAKKIE PRETORIUS, AND DR CHRIS CURTIN:Australia Wine Research InstituteUnravels Brett DNA ArchitectureAdelaide Thinks Of Chateau Neufby PHILIP WHITEThe Fox, it was called in Adelaide Hills breweries in the ’30s. It eventually killed them. The Wolf. The Old Wet Dog. Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-82284789504535270822011-11-22T20:48:00.024+10:302011-11-22T23:38:22.657+10:30ARCHIVE: POSSUMS CLOSES ... ADELAIDE 1985By 1985, Adelaide had got too small for Phillip Searle (left) and Barry Ross (right), whose radical restaurant, Possums, broke most of the Adelaide laws that were easiest to break, and quite a few others.During the Adelaide Hills winter, for example, the staff would scour the damp bush for mushrooms few crazy whites had tried before. Morels, and other European sophistries, were beginning to Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-91064750320131583032011-11-22T17:00:00.021+10:302011-11-28T22:57:10.862+10:30VEGAN CAT DISLODGES OLD HISTORYVoodoo Vegans & Bio - D VinoBearded Greens At War WithWhitecoats Boffins And Nurds*by PHILIP WHITECat Clyne yesterday reviewed Bottlerocket, a NYC liquor and wine store. The publisher was superVegan, “a shockingly ambitious website made by vegans for vegans.”Cat wrote about Andrea Calek, “something of a punk-rocker of wine-makers. A former Czech soldier, he lives in a trailer amidst his rented Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-62551384429039723192011-11-21T22:13:00.009+10:302011-11-22T13:56:58.761+10:30ARCHIVE STUFF: MAX & THELLIE & COA LOVELY LUNCHEON AT ANGLESEY ESTATE BEFORE THEY PULLED ALL THE VINES OUT AND BUILT TERRIBLE HOUSES - LEFT TO RIGHT - LEA AND JACK MINNETT, THELLIE AND MAX SCHUBERT, UNKNOWN, AND LINDSAY STANLEY - MAX SPOKE MUCH THIS DAY ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ADELAIDE PLAINS FRUIT, ESPECIALLY GRENACHE, IN THE SPECTRUM OF PENFOLDS WINES - WE HAD A REAL GOOD OL FASHIONED LUNCH! photo PHILIP WHITE ca 1982Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-75841299333171969762011-11-21T15:58:00.011+10:302011-11-21T20:36:44.051+10:30US CRITIC ADVISES: SUCK MORE GUTTEREXCEPTIONALLY GOOD WINE - CABERNET AT LATOUR photo Ch LATOURThe Full Case For Cheap WineBig Pow-wow On Wine PricingWho Does This Dill Think He Is?by PHILIP WHITETwas a perfect week for the angsty wino. The money canyons of the west were full of people rebelling against the way their wealth is stolen, and there sat fat Whitey, trying to justify the $1000 Penfolds is charging for a bottle of the Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-12505441620878428632011-11-19T14:11:00.010+10:302011-11-21T20:39:21.785+10:30ARCHIVE STUFF: LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPSCATH KERRY WITH THE AUTHOR, BETWEEN WARS photo JOHN PEACHEY.Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-24790502265608430782011-11-17T23:08:00.010+10:302011-11-23T12:47:35.549+10:30PENFOLDS 620 RAISES COONAWARRA BARPenfolds Bin 620 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2008$1000 750ml.; 14.5% alcohol; screw cap or cork; 96+++ pointsGrangemaster Peter Gago launched the first Bin 620 since the 1966 at the Waldorf Astoria in Shanghai this week; the lucky Chinese were suitably impressed. But DRINKSTER was fortunate to get a pre-release schlück backstage at the Kings Of Leon concert last Friday: those thirsty Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-71899762397335908722011-11-17T18:42:00.033+10:302011-11-18T17:49:36.159+10:30O'LEARY-WALKER BILSON DINNER ROCKEDWhile I’ve struggled with my review of Tony Bilson’s amazing memoir, Insatiable – My Life In The Kitchen -- my review’s as long as the book, and I’m barely halfway through -- the Godfather of Australian Cuisine put his Sydney restaurants into voluntary receivership, they were consequently shut, and the most committed gastronomers in Australia sat back and wished it wasn’t happening.As do, of Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-58691831994640610612011-11-13T22:28:00.017+10:302011-11-17T00:31:31.438+10:30STEVIE SMITH: A WISER VIEW OF EUROPEI RememberIt was my bridal night I rememberAn old man of seventy-threeI lay with my young bride in my armsA girl with t.b.It was wartime, and overheadThe Germans were making a particularly heavy raid on Hampstead.What rendered the confusion worse, perverselyOur bombers had chosen that moment to set out for Germany.Harry, do they ever collide?I do not think it has ever happenedOh my bride, my Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-46062931060226806092011-11-13T20:36:00.020+10:302011-11-17T18:07:19.203+10:30FOUR GOOD SHOES GLENSIDE ca 1981photo PHILIP WHITEPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-55781365162112183112011-11-11T11:27:00.019+10:302011-11-13T19:56:08.355+10:30CASTAGNA OPENS TO FALCONS & THUNDERCAROLANN, ALEXI, ADAM AND JULIAN CASTAGNA photo PHILIP WHITEA Trip Into Parfumiers' HeavenTricky Sonnet Tension Of WineMiracle Tasting In Kelly Countryby PHILIP WHITEThe Castagna family of Beechworth, in the mountainous Kelly country of northern Victoria, open their winery for tasting just one day each year. Having been smitten from afar by the glory of their exquisite biodynamic works for ten Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-15167064190666491052011-11-11T10:50:00.007+10:302011-11-13T19:48:51.033+10:30OZ WINERIES SCREW CORK BUSINESSAussie Technology Leads World Screw Caps Route Dirty Bark China & US Still Prefer SpoilageDRINKSTER is delighted to publish the following press release from the South Australian wine industry publisher, WINETITLES.The author first started his campaign against cork in 1980, and has consistently preached his screw cap gospel since. No other writer has maintained such a campaign, even going as far Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-39246885907293470412011-11-10T01:43:00.007+10:302011-11-10T09:26:05.677+10:30PIN-UPS: HICKINBOTHAM GENIUS STUFFphoto PHILIP WHITEMany years ago, this beautiful wine, an Ian Hickinbotham blend from Kaiser Stuhl, in the Barossa, presented an unforgettable organoleptic challenge to the flavour lasers of the young DRINKSTER, who was bemused by its vintage as much as its delicious nature. As the neck label says, it was 1954, "with 30% 1957". Why can't winemakers do more of this sort of blending in the Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-19810407103840753292011-11-09T18:49:00.003+10:302011-11-09T18:57:57.039+10:30PIN-UPS: EMPTIES ON CASTAGNA VERANDAPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-54469192099730580142011-11-09T10:14:00.016+10:302011-11-10T23:11:45.817+10:30A QUIET DRIVE ALONG THE OVENS VALLEYThe old tobacco-growing country in Victoria's Alpine Oven's Valley first came to DRINKSTER's attention through the glass in the form of Wynn's Oven's Valley Burgundy from the 'sixties and 'seventies. Through numerous brutal and generally pig-ignorant waves of ownership, the brand has disappeared. It was David Wynn's response to Penfold's St Henri Claret, and was a high country Shiraz fermented Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-69322538286409063262011-11-09T08:45:00.014+10:302011-11-09T16:09:24.898+10:30FACEBOOK SOURS FOR LUXURY GOODSSELLING LUXURY GOODS: SOME QUICK, EASY AND DIRECT IMMEDIATE COMMUNICATION ... STEPHEN HENSCHKE VISITS BOB AND WILMA McLEAN'S CELLAR SALES AT McLEAN'S FARM, MENGLER HILL, HIGH BAROSSA ... ALWAYS BEST TO BE THERE ... ALWAYS BEST TO MAKE A BOOKING ... AND TEN PAST TEN? I CAN'T RECALL WHETHER WE WERE EARLY OR LATE photo PHILIP WHITEQuick Easy Direct Human SellBeats Web Goss Hands DownReturn To The Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-35184022675132759932011-11-02T19:29:00.012+10:302011-11-02T20:01:59.716+10:30PANNELL NEW KING OF McLAREN VALESTEVE PANNELL OF S. C. PANNELL WINES - A VERY POPULAR VICTOR AT THIS YEAR'S McLAREN VALE WINE SHOW - WINNING THE BUSHING CROWN WITH HIS TOURIGA TEMPRANILLOA Very Big Day In McLaren ValeWine Show System Tries ChangeResults All A Wee Bit Transitoryby PHILIP WHITEIt must have been a great Friday: Saturday my phone coughed up three apologies from people who must have felt that they owed me one.I Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-65004209606404673652011-10-29T18:28:00.022+10:302011-11-02T14:43:08.804+10:30TOP SNAPPERS EMULSIONAL AT YANGARRAphoto DAVID BURNETTOld Friend Drops In For A Drink"You Should Meet These Blokes"Photographers Come In Swarms by PHILIP WHITEMy good friend and DRINKSTER contributor, the photographer Milton Wordley brought three ace photographers to Yangarra for a drink."I think you should meet these blokes," he said.David Burnett, David Dare Parker and Glenn Gibson had all been speakers at the AIPP Nikon "The Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-23418997293626061722011-10-28T01:33:00.004+10:302011-10-28T04:00:22.271+10:30HungerI only find within my bones,A taste for eating earth and stones.When I feed,I feed on air,Rocks and coals and iron ore.My hunger, turn.Hunger, feed:A field of bran.Gather as you can the bright,Poison weed.Eat the rocks a beggar breaks,The stones of ancient churches,Pebbles, children of the flood,Loaves left lying in the mud.Beneath the bush a wolf will howl,Spitting bright feathersFrom his Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-11527867212460588952011-10-27T15:15:00.016+10:302011-10-28T00:26:39.061+10:30JACKO THE TRACTAVIST HEADS OFF EASTLaura Jackson Leaves The ValesFierce Seaford Heights Activist Chases Her Muse To Green Eastby PHILIP WHITEThere are people who live in places where you also live who love it as much as you do, and who, for one reason or another, suddenly go somewhere else to live.The one reason or another usually have to do with love or hate.Or perhaps to do with the complete lack of both.Which is not the one Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-9467141878745897182011-10-26T14:23:00.002+10:302011-10-26T14:31:32.295+10:30PANIC BUTTON POTPINOT HIT OF THE WEEKDRINKSTER's free news bulletin service, The Panic Button (see right sidebar) has fizzed away with hits like we've rarely seen before. The most popular item in week # 2 is about the propensity of Californian pinotphiles to pack the odd puncheon with pot. Click the crop for the full dope on the new deal party drink.Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-17967131662795603812011-10-25T22:15:00.006+10:302011-10-25T23:24:26.774+10:30CHRISTO'S CACTUS VERY MUCH MUST HAVEDRINKSTER's current favourite book to fondle and chew while we're having a drink and a smoke: Cactus - Surfing Journals From Solitude by Christo Reid ... a pre-worn, full-of-sand history of the first surfing at one of Australia's most revered and mythologised beaches-in-the-desert, Cactus ... you can smell the salted and smoked humans in this lovely thing ... the production is just perfect, Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-81945673484413604602011-10-25T12:46:00.022+10:302011-10-26T03:38:28.809+10:30BRETT AND THE PHEROMONES PLAY LIVEZUCCHINI BIRD photo PHILIP WHITE ... WHEN PHEROMONES LAND ON US, THEY MAKE DIFFERENT PEOPLE SEE THE SAME THING IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYSThe Valerian Twine Of The BrettUnravelling Some VooDoo KnitsMost Will Not Smell It The Sameby PHILIP WHITEScience is a furtive bastard. It lurks back there somewhere, silent and smug, conducting its perfectly precise white coat exercises in secret sanitary places, Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-72062778754651128392011-10-19T21:17:00.013+10:302011-10-28T03:32:43.089+10:30A TRUE POEM FOR MICK'S PERFECT EARSHymn For Michael Wordleyon the occasion of his 50th birthdaybeyond the fence trees fizzthe close trees,hitch-hikers from the north,are giant rustling grasses:the silent eucalypts admit themthey bounce and pop with birdiesdancing a bonnie bagatellewhile their silverbacks do politicsif it had different colour- not all green like this -it would explain the Chinese invention of fireworksabove me the Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-29718846105882036012011-10-17T22:34:00.006+10:302011-10-17T23:41:46.289+10:30LA NIÑA ALREADY THREATENING OZ 2012DRINKSTER enjoyed a perfect Portuguese-influenced seafood lunch today at Philippe and Paula Horta's stunning new restaurant at Port Noarlunga, on the Gulf St Vincent in McLaren Vale. The vignoble is enjoying its first real spell of sunshine after a lot of muggy weather, so the vines are drying out and bursting into full leaf.There were even a few bathers on the beach. A few. Check these views Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-72503593036678262822011-10-17T21:56:00.002+10:302011-10-17T21:58:26.021+10:30PIN-UPS: PASSIVE DINNER AT THE VICTORYPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-35552193778663093492011-10-15T14:35:00.012+10:302011-10-17T11:00:47.504+10:30THE PANIC BUTTON - PICK OF THE 1st CROPUnless The DRINKSTER is too busily engaged in what he does best, he now offers a new round-up of the most important wine stories of the day in a free sidebar feature, The Panic Button. The outstanding yarn in the first week's dredging comes from ift-belgrade , a wine commentary of which we had been hitherto unaware. The Best Important Penfolds Grange Wine Beverages: "most widely rooted ... whichPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-1751268517491135342011-10-15T11:56:00.018+10:302011-10-17T23:22:26.599+10:30HOW MUCH WINE SHOULD A BOTTLE HOLD?Big Doc Calls For Smaller BottlesRich Poms Can't Help ThemselvesDeadly Urge To Drink To The Endby PHILIP WHITEIn one of the earlier proho wowser uprisings, some of us rebelled against those pioneering arms of the wine industry which chose to voluntarily add alcohol warnings to their back labels.At the risk of recalling such things too frequently, it’s worth remembering that in the mid-eighties, Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-19566455584975935752011-10-14T23:57:00.003+10:302011-10-15T00:05:13.969+10:30LET YOUR CHAIR DO THE TALKINGBAY OF SHOALS, KANGAROO ISLAND photo PHILIP WHITE.on being seatedonce fussy about where I satthe direction I faced seemed importantso having first moved the chairto get it pointing rightI’d follow that up with further adjustment once downit was a matter of what needed addressingruled by some cool subconsciousnessa flash shard of equationsthe rapid sorting machinerydelivered a sweet calm Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-70054159317276664382011-10-12T14:01:00.014+10:302011-10-12T14:39:24.491+10:30FREAK PARASITE SMITES WINE JUDGESPHOTO by GWYNZERSavage Tongue-eating Bug JumpsFishy Species Leaps To HumansHorror Result At Adelaide Showby PHILIP WHITE and AGENCIESJudges in Australia’s internationally-revered wine show system are in shock and denial at news of a horror parasite endemic in their ranks.Secret research showing judges are now consistently failing to recognize and reward the most beautiful entries in Australia’s Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-75004856301933016232011-10-12T12:09:00.004+10:302011-10-12T12:21:31.255+10:30GREASY WILD FISH EAT WINE COUNTRYEuropean Carp Enjoy La NiñaPopulation Blooms By 4000%Another Cruel Blow To Riversby PHILIP WHITEAustralia’s bashed and buggered Murray-Darling river system, which drains 1,061,469 square kilometres of eastern Australia and supplies irrigation water for thousands of marginal bladderpack/refinery-level grape-growers, is confronted by another menace: foreign fish.Lakes Hubs, a taxpayer-funded Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-30473587151291464072011-10-11T14:43:00.023+10:302011-10-12T12:57:41.821+10:30OLIVER'S TARANGA 170th VINTAGE PARTYMARGIE, DON, AND MARJORIE OLIVER WITH CORRINA WRIGHT AND BRIONI OLIVER all colour photography by LEANNE ROUVRAYStalwart Vales Tribe Hits 170Huge Knees-up Feast & Frolic3rd-Oldest Family Co. In Oz!by PHILIP WHITEIt couldna happened to a bonnier mob, really. The Olivers, I mean, of Taranga Vineyards in McLaren Vale.They just had their 170th birthday in the grape-growing business.They’ve been Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-3193805871645505352011-10-11T01:31:00.006+10:302011-10-11T01:45:10.163+10:30OLD POEM FROM A DAMP SPRING.the tussockswell into the tussocks I interrupted ducksone flightless teenager galloped across the waterand then an explosion of babiesand a mother who did the broken wing trick about a chain awaywhile I tipped an old cassoulet out for the fishthe rain dug itself in this afternoonmy smoker smouldering some McCubbin into a shin of beefwhile ibis rose from the bottom vineyardto perch on trellis Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-13109334684909889442011-10-09T21:29:00.001+10:302011-10-09T21:35:20.485+10:30ANOTHER GREAT APPELLATIONPhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-73047624873030409482011-10-08T11:01:00.009+10:302011-10-08T12:11:54.951+10:30BERT JANSCH - A MOURNFUL DRINKSTEROne of the team: Bert Jansch (3 November 1943 - 5 October 2011) knew his way around a bottle with a much deeper understanding than almost anybody I've met in the drinks business. Click the sweet fellow's image for some fond obituaries and reflections, peel open a your best malt whisky, play the Youtube Blackwaterside about sixty times, and try to work out what you're gonna do about it ...Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-21592424831915939712011-10-07T20:00:00.037+10:302011-10-11T01:06:26.312+10:30TROTT'S VISION: UNDER LABOR THREATUni Betrays Vineyard StudentsLabor Twerps Plot More SlumsNew Threat At Top Research Siteby PHILIP WHITEFOR ALL his feverish strivings to make Adelaide look smarter, and all the millions he’s thrown at encouraging new universities to move here, Premier Mike Rann (below) just happens to be leaving office as the once-great Adelaide University takes a sickening dive in The Times World University Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-59743020828602252022011-10-07T18:12:00.008+10:302011-10-07T19:25:47.057+10:30FRANK STONE: A SAD, BELATED REFLECTIONFrank Henry Stone Jr., a truly unpretentious connoisseur of wine, died of lung cancer on March 29, 2011, at Hospice Atlanta, Georgia.He was born in Corvallis, Oregon, on September 29, 1943.I have only now learned of his death.Along with a few wicked dudes like Gerard Jaboulet, Frank was one of the first truly enlightened international wine operatives this young wine writer encountered.At the timePhilip Whitenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448643844792799086.post-76845803568028670522011-10-07T15:35:00.004+10:302011-10-07T16:02:48.707+10:30NOBEL FLUSHED OUT ONE GREAT SPEECHAs wandering Australians won both an Ig Nobel AND a fair dinkum Nobel Prize this week, both strangely related to the booze, perhaps it's worth revisiting what DRINKSTER believes to be one of the greatest speeches ever made. For precision and poise, for dreamtime and the brutal math of grammar, it matches the Gettysburg. It's poet Joseph Brodksy (above), who won the gong for his poetry, which Philip Whitenoreply@blogger.com1