HENRY'S SELFIE WINS $4000 BOOK AT WBM

"The beginning of vintage: All growers know that heady satisfying sweetness of a clean and even flowering ... next come the long anxious months of nursing that entire field of blooms safely through fruiting and ferment and into the bottle. I love this man's satisfaction, and remain eternally confounded by the stoicism and skill of those who take this mighty risk, year in, year out, just to give us pleasure." Philip White 

Riverland grower wins top book

Henry, you've won our WBM Nose competition. "Oh, fuck off!" No, you really have. "Really? Fucken hell. That's unreal. I don't know what to say. Fuck. I gotta stop swearing, don't I? Fuck. I'm so chuffed." I'm cool with it. "Oh, fuck. I never win anything." Really? "Oh, actually Waikerie won the premiership this year. I said I'd do one more year as president." The book is magnificent, you'll love it. Have you tasted Grange? "Yeah, quite a few times. I have generous friends. Some of the bigger growers have a bit of Grange in their cellars. The last one was 1988 ... something like that. I've never had to pay for it. Long may that continue." What will you do with the Grange? "Probably put it in the cellar. Keep it for a special occasion, just in case I get married or something stupid like that. Not that that's a possibility." How many shots did you take to get it right? "It was quite late in the evening... two or three."

That's managing editor Anthony Madigan's account of his chat with 29-year-old Waikerie grape grower Henry Crawford, winner of WBM -Wine Business Monthly's nose competition, which involved the taking of a photograph of a nose. Henry took a selfie of his hooter inhaling the bloom of his next vintage. 

"Thanks for picking my nose!" Riverland grapegrower Henry Crawford's response when awarded his $4000 Collector's Edition of A year in the life of Grange in the Grange cellar at Magill Estate ... along with a bottle, of course ... photo Milton Wordley 

We waded through more noses than a normal person would perchance encounter in our judging. There were many, but not many were well or thoughtfully photographed. We've become a tribe of happy snappers. Lazy ones. Henry thought about his effort.

Henry wins a bottle of the brilliant Penfolds Grange 2010, and a $4,000 Collector’s Edition copy of A Year in the Life of Grange, which was donated by its photographer and publisher, Milton Wordley. The victory was announced in the essential regular round-up of the week in Australian wine, WBM's Friday afternoon lectric newsletter, The Week That Was. 

photo ... Milton Wordley

Australian readers can buy a numbered copy of the standard edition of this multi-award-winning book at a $185 discount until Friday 17th., but only through our listed retailers. 

A year in the life of Grange was published and photographed by Milton Wordley and written by this author. It has won many international awards. 

Literary breakfast, Penfolds-style: L-R: the author, Grange book publisher and photographer Milton Wordley, competition winner Henry Crawford, WBM publisher and managing editor Anthony Madigan, and Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago ... photo Jamie Sach