I’ve written about this subject before, several times
- Super-Premiums, Wine Wankers and the joy of $20 wines
- Wine Poetry, Aroma Wheels & Perfect Scores
- Aroma Wheels and Wine Poetry – Part 2
Today I received a mailer from a friend who is on the Burge Family mailing list, and it’s from Rick Burge, and it’s funny and sad, and really engaging, so I thought I’d share it with you. Btw, the wine in question is just $10 a bottle . Here’s from Rick:
Dear Wine-lover,
Every so often a wine comes along that can be best described as a ‘conversation-stopper’ – a wine to stop even the most ardent wine-wanker in his/her tracks. We believe this to be one of those wines!
It all started late last century – 1998 to be precise – when we released the first of two wines labelled simply ‘A Nice Red.’
It was a quality red to take the mickey out of pretentious wine commentary of the period. We released another ‘Nice Red’ from the 2000 vintage, which even rated a favourable mention from James Halliday.
Fast forward to 2010, when we decided to reprise the label to counteract the increased wine-wankery that had become ubiquitous on wine labels and in media releases in those years. We decided to pull out all stops, on both front and back labels, to highlight the hyperbole and specious wine terminology that was creeping into everyday use. So we decided to create a super-ultra-mega-uber red vintaged from equal quantities of Shiraz, Syrah and Shyrazz (a Rutherglen synonym for this variety!) I felt we had to make a statement on the front label initially so we used every cliched brand-name and coupled with them an imaginary sub-district – Mangalanga – from the West Warpoo region in the Southern Barossa. (Warpoo, by the way, is a legitimate site, albeit a railway siding about 3kms west of Lyndoch!) The wine itself was a 2010 Shiraz, bottled (after maturation in French oak barriques) and labelled in late 2012, and to be launched soon after. We were on a roll ….. what could go wrong?
Then, in mid 2013, I was diagnosed with cancer.
You don’t lose your sense of humour with a cancer diagnosis, however it does take a hammering and changes somewhat … tending towards dark, even black humour, but you need someone in the same boat to share it with!
Previously, this project seemed so funny, hilarious even. Now I had other things to focus on.
My main priority was to see the 2012 wines safely bottled. Very good wines from a fabulous year, right across the range. During this time surgery occurred, to be followed by 40 days straight of radiation therapy. Some were bottled before, some after, but I got them bottled; all have received most favourable reviews.
Nearly four years on, I’m still here … and so is this wine!
I want to sell it, all of it, and I promise I won’t take the mickey out of wine-wankers ever again!
It’s now five years in bottle and shows complexity and varietal development, all three clones of it, and guaranteed to be a conversation stopper at any barbecue, dinner party or other vinous social functions where there’s a risk of gratuitous wine-wankery.
For a limited time we’re offering reduced freight rates (see order form attached) and as usual, reduced prices on multiple dozen purchases.
And whereas we donated $4000 to the Southern Barossa Men’s Shed, I’ve made a promise to myself to put aside some funds from this sale to take my special mate Bronnie (over 40 years of putting up with me), to her favourite seaside spot after vintage, because partners certainly put up with a lot with this insidious medical challenge.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Cheers,
Rick B.