¶ Navigating Affordable Wine Options for Events
Hi and welcome to One with Meg and Mel . We are here to help you navigate the world of one . I'm Mel Gilchrist , joined by Master of One , meg Brotman . Meg , we know you're in the middle of a crazy course . How's it going ?
It's good . It's hard , but I've now finished my contact day so I can sit there and read it , but I can get how you use the information . It's all about application of knowledge rather than just regurgitation of knowledge , so I'll get there .
I'm learning , which is good , good , well , good luck . I hope it's going well . Today we have a challenge . So someone messaged us last week . Actually , before let's go back a step , because thank you for your messages last week , our last one news we got a flurry of messages .
Well , did we talk about something um controversial ? I can't even remember .
Yeah , we did um so well . I mean , firstly , a couple of people said it was the best one you so far . Oh wow , so they enjoyed it um . And then there was some comments about nepotism and people pointing out that there's nepotism in every industry .
Yeah , true .
That was a good point . Oops , and then what else ? So there was a few comments about some speculation about the CEO of Australian Vintage . Yeah , some speculation about the CEO of Australian Vintage .
Yay , so it was a juicy episode , I think , but it's nice to hear your thoughts , so definitely keep messaging us , but we did get a fun message this week , so this is a challenge . This is from Nick . Nick has said I've been asked for some wine recommendations for work drinks . Yesterday they served Squealing Pig , sablonk , tintara , cab Sav and a random rosé .
I'm sure you could make better choices for a similar budget Must be available in Dan's , so I've put that to Meg .
It was hard to get wines that weren't pinnacle wines . Yeah , because we set a price of around the $15 mark . That's a good point . So I spoke to Mel and I said $15 and Mel said oh , maybe under . And then she came back and said no , it's still around $15 . So it's between sort of $13 and , I think , $16 . And I was adamant that I was buying .
From wineries . From wineries and let's to remind those , pinnacle is like home brand . They're the ones that yeah .
But it's not wearing a black and gold label . It's squealing pig . Yeah , it's so many of them . Anything under $15 is a home brand wine , but I have managed to do it and it shouldn't have taken that long . It should have been really easy . They are more big brand wines .
There's one from a company called Zed Wine that I didn't know anything about , which apparently is a family-owned winery . Okay , so that's good . I've got Jim Barry , I've got De Bortoli . It's all family-owned . And then Red Hill Estate .
Awesome . Well , we definitely like supporting wineries , so we're going to get into that today , but first , what have you been drinking ?
So I drank excuse me , I was just telling Mel I'm doing a women in wine dinner Victorian women in wine dinner with Estelle , part of the picket group , and I get to choose the wines and then I give them to the chef and the chef designs a course around each of the wines . So there's four wines , yep .
And I contacted Missy at Humus and said , oh , can you send me some wines ? And she sent me a pig pool and a Grenache Blanc . We love pig pool and they were the Grenache Blanc which I'm actually using . So come to the dinner . It was just . I think it's my new fave . Yeah , it's so textural .
The acidity's not too high , which is kind of against mostly what I drink , but just this beautiful texture , awesome . Now , with the sort of spring veggies and stuff coming on , we had it with just some asparagus and some broad beans and things and it was just a perfect wine .
But it would go equally as well with something rich , because it's quite rich and textured . We had a porchetta the following night . The acid probably wouldn't sit up to the porchetta but , you know , with the sort of fennel and sage herbs in it it's an amazing wine . I don't know where you buy it . It's probably about $30, .
I think she said Probably just go online and order it directly from them .
It was the Picpul .
No , it was the Grenache Blanc . The Picpul was really good too .
Oh , there we go . Grenache Blanc . Okay , I found it online , I'll put it in the show notes . It is $29 .
Yeah , love nice label too . Love the label . Yeah , they do nice labels .
And also worth noting . They're just awesome people . They are Like reward awesome people for being brave .
I just worked out that Hugh and Missy , because I didn't know her partner was called Hugh , hugh and Miss Mind blown , I never , I never . Well , I made that connection . Correct me if I'm wrong , Missy , but yeah .
It would be weird if it was a coincidence .
Yeah , exactly .
Awesome Fun fact .
Fun fact I was on my Instagram feed came up this Channel 7 news report that there's a wine shop in Preston selling wine for a dollar a bottle .
You're kidding .
No , apparently , a few years ago he did 99 cents a bottle . You're kidding ? No , apparently , a few years ago he did 99 cents a bottle wine and he sold 46,000 bottles . He's bought 25,000 . It's a maximum of two dozen per customer , a dollar a bottle . So it's just such a sad commentary on where we are in the industry .
Because he would have had to buy that , unless it's on consignment , which means that he doesn't pay until he's sold the wine . Yeah , but even so he's got to make some profits . So say he makes 50 cents and the winery makes 50 cents . The bottling costs would be more than that . People are just flogging off .
There's no front label , there's only a back label with the mandatories on it . So , yeah , I just thought that was good for the punter . Get down there . I think it's at the Paran . Yeah , well , we don't know if it's any good . We don't know if it's good for the punter , do we no ?
Well , people came in it's a Ch and we're saying , oh yeah , this is great . We bought the last one , which wasn't so good , and this is a little bit better , so people seem to like it . But yeah , I think you might be inside the Preston market , or near the Preston market for those of you in Melbourne .
Yeah , okay , all right . Well , on the topic of affordable wine , the slightly higher price than a dollar , we have our wine .
So this is , you've taken Nick's challenge and you have said if you were doing , and I guess , like the , the specific challenge is a corporate setting , but in reality it's anything where there's a bunch of people with different palettes , right , so it might be like a wedding or a party of some sort , any sort of work thing , group of people .
So you have to still be able to cater to a bunch of palettes and there can't be anything too out there , yep , and it has to be affordable and Drinkable Drinkable and from Dan's , apparently , because they must have an account with Dan's or something . Yes , that was his thing .
So I wanted to get Pinot Grigio . I could not find one . Oh , I'm so glad you didn't . That wasn't a pinnacle brand , oh really . Or was lower in alcohol , and I only wanted to buy Australian , yay good . So I was determined I needed to buy Australian , because this is where people are suffering , particularly in this price point , yep .
So there was some Italian Pinot Grigios and there was some of the Gießen Gießen , new Zealand lighter styles . There was Y Series , you know , the Yolamba , yep , but I didn't . So I thought , since it's work drinks , excuse my throat . Today , mm-hmm , I got a sparkling wine . So this is Red Hill Estate . This was $14 on a member offer .
It doesn't have any appellation Appellation what am I saying ? Any GI on it . But I mean , red Hill is In Mornington , so it's trading on its name . It's from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir . It would be definitely Charmat method . So it's re-fermented in tank because just call it sparkling wine , we have to . It's called sparkling cuvee .
This is where the champagnoises have given us a whole heap of marketing terms that mean really jack shit at the end of it . I've got billy in the room . I've got to watch my language she's nine months .
I don't think she's going to be repeating it , although she's almost walking , so she's clearly ahead of her time .
So yeah , red Hill Estate sparkling cuvee $14.20 , $16.20 , a normal price .
So do you think , when you see this right and you know that Red Hill is a Mornington winery , do you think that they've brought in all grapes and they're only using grapes from a different region , or do you think they're still using mostly their grapes and just bought in some to bulk it out ? Or is there a generalisation we can make about wines like this ?
One of two options . I don't think they'd probably be making it . I think they'd be buying sparkling base on the bulk market . Or secondly , they might be buying Clee's Skins and throwing their label and hood on it , so they may be bringing it in . I don't know how big the winery is . This seems to be a pretty high-volume brand , yep .
So if they were bringing it in , you'd have the cost of the grapes . You'd have transport costing , then winemaking costs on top of that . It would probably be cheaper for them just to buy the sparkling base . But it is Chardonnay and Pinot . It's quite dark in colour , yep , a fairly big bubble by the looks of it .
No , it is I mean . But let's be honest at work drinks . Are you criticising the size of the bubble ?
Very aptly . It's super like tart apple . Yeah , I'd say the base wine's a little bit older than it doesn't ? It's not vintage . It doesn't have any vintage on it , but I wouldn't say that was from the 2023 or 2024 vintage . It just feels a bit older , a bit of that cooked apple character as well , but actually perfectly drinkable ?
yeah , I would really .
It's probably not cold enough , so I imagine the bubble would stay in it more if it was colder
¶ Exploring Affordable Wine Options
. I got stuck in traffic this morning so the wine heated up a little bit . It's just crazy school traffic on this street .
Oh yeah , school traffic it is . It's crazy . I quite enjoy that . I like that . Oh God , I'm going to At this price point . Often residual sugar is a little higher . Yep , I like that . That's not the case at all .
It is really fresh , it is really fresh . You know , if you've got a bottle of Aperol hanging around , you can make them Aperol Spritz . It's very versatile . You could make a little champagne cocktail , you know , with the sugar thing in the bottom with the bitters on it , but that is very drinkable and for $14.20 , an absolute bargain and not a separative .
Yeah , supporting you . Know , an Australian , I think , family owned . Is it the Meyer family that owns Red Hill ?
Don't know , don't know , lose me at that point , but I could keep drinking that .
It is only at 10 in the morning people .
Yeah , drinking that . Yeah , it is only 18 in the morning . People , yeah , no , I'm not mad , all right , um great sorry .
I've just looked up and there's like a dinosaur . What is a giraffe on the roof ? It was not what I was expecting to see , mom life yep . So the next one I've got is a jim barvale Riesling . This was $14.95 . Okay Now , as I said , I thought Pinot Grigio would be more of a party friend to people .
Yeah , but I have a feeling .
I struggled to find something that was made by a privately owned winery .
I also think that our friend Nick , who messaged in , probably wants something a little nicer , considering the question , than Sauvignon .
Blanc . Yeah yeah , if you're going to do drinks , you know I know Sauvignon Blanc appeals to a lot of people , but they know what it tastes like . Maybe test them a little bit with something a little bit fresh and delicious . Totally this is covered in bling . Gold medal 95 points gold medal gold medal gold medal 2023 .
Water veil riesling 50th vintage from jim barry yeah , nice I will know this is delicious because I've just poured it into my spittoon . That's a bit stupid . It's clear I want to be chugging , chugging in the big cup .
We're using those like red college .
Where you pay beer pong .
Yeah .
Yeah , not that I do anything like that .
I mean , we don't even need to taste this , do we ? We know how good it is .
Well , no , I drink this quite a lot in my IGA . It's a little bit more expensive . Now this , the acidity , may bother you know people , but if you're having drinks at work you will invariably have those salami twiglet things which are pretty poxy . There'll be some salami , some prosciutto , there'll be some fatty foods .
So it goes really really well with fatty foods , anything that's had pork in it . If you've got a few tubs of dips , I think it'll work with , you know , cream cheese based dips , because it's because of the acidity , the aptly green flavors , very mineral I , but on the scale of riesling , this is not .
This is still approachable .
I think this is still has broad appeal and it's so good it's just so floral and fresh and fresh lime juice and lime juice cordial and everything that you'd expect . It's from a region it speaks to place .
You know , squealing pig soving and glonk great drink , but it could be made anywhere in , yeah , new zealand , yes , whereas this is definitely a water veil clear Riesling , you know it definitely has that lime juice characteristic and I just love the acidity .
And the other beauty about it is I tried to find wines with a little bit lower-ish alcohol because you know there's nothing worse than the person getting pissed at the work drink . So this is probably about 12.5% . What does it say ? Say 12 alcohol and the sparkling was 12 and a half they say on the back it's a party in your mouth .
Well , that's a bit embarrassing yeah , it's not what I would have said , but yeah but , um , that is absolutely delicious , and what a bargain 15 bucks . Ridiculous , absolutely ridiculous . I reckon they'll rise the price . Everything is going up . You'd think they'd have to soon . I hope not .
And that wasn't even on special . That's just like standard . I swallowed that Standard pricing .
Nick , I hope you're taking these on board and you're going to give us notes about if people liked them . Yeah , you have to come back and take them and see what people thought of them , because I really want to know if people like that .
Because we might really embarrass you when you say I got this off a podcast . It's recommendations from two people who know about wine and they'll go the wine's crap .
It's like where's my Saviour blog .
Yeah , we haven't got Saviour blog for a reason , because they can drink that any time . Let's give them something that they may not go out and actually buy .
¶ Unconventional Affordable Wine Choices
So next we have De Bortoli's Pale and Dry 2024 Rosé Very lovely , floral , beautiful label 13% alcohol from the King Valley . So King is it ? Yeah , so De Bort's have a winery in Griffith , so that's their sort of volume and their cask wine and everything .
And then they have a winery in the Yarra Valley and Steve Weber and his wife , leanne de Bordelais , are great proponents of Victorian wine and Yarra Valley wine and they really invest in the region and a lot of the you know sort of famous winemakers from the Yarra have started off in de Bordelais , so they've started off working there .
Yeah , this is incredibly pale . Pale , as one would expect . I like there's a sort of stippling on the punt of the bottle . Can you see it ? Oh , I've never noticed that .
That's nice . This is um . They've gotten awards for their designer . This , I think .
Oh , have they yeah so this was , let me find it , 139513.95 .
Steal . Yeah , and you know what , if anyone's scared of Riesling , they'll drink the rosé , that's right , that's what I thought , and Also rosé .
If you don't like it , just throw some fruit in it and a bit of soda water and make a sangria out of it .
You know what that was ? A really nice nose .
Well , it is , it's almost . I mean , I don't think it probably is Grenache , but it's almost Grenache-y strawberry .
It actually a lot of rosé , I find doesn't have much on the nose , it's just so boring , but this actually a bit jumping out there .
Great acidity , super floral , really refreshing . I'm starting to turn a little bit on rosé , turn toward it rather than away from it , and we've got a lot of rosés .
Do we All right ?
The people like it , I know , and it's coming into summer and it's coming into um , that celebratory time where all of you are having parties , so this can be transferred . All of these wines can be transferred from your work party , yep to your at home party and you look pretty classy , I think , because they actually look quite fancy .
They don't look like they cost under $15 .
Yep , no , that's great , all right , definitely , I think that that one is an excellent choice , hmm .
That's quite good . Yeah , it is quite good . I sound surprised .
Well , no De Portally , it is good De .
Portally's good wine ? Yeah , it always is yeah . So next I got . I didn't want to get Cabernet Sauvignon . It's heading into the warmer months , Christmas party time , it's too big . And they had the Tintara Cabernet . Yep Didn't want to get Shiraz because , hey , if we don't know Shiraz by now , we're never going to know it .
So I thought I would get a Grenache .
So I went on and had a look and this is 2024 Rustica Grenache from the Barossa Valley . Meg . That is really risky , I think . Do you ? Yes , I don't think Grenache is , but you know me , I think that Grenache is out of balance . So often it's too alcoholic and at a cheap price point . As a single varietal I wouldn't be putting my money there .
But we'll see .
My rationale was if I was going to get a Shiraz from the Barossa , which is a crowd pleaser , it's going to be 14% anyway .
Yes , this is 14% , but you can't taste it as much in the Shiraz . At least , they're normally balanced , okay , whereas Listen to my second rationale Okay , chill it , oh , yeah , out . Okay , chill it , oh , alright , alright , alright , alright .
I see where you're going . Chill , it's going to knock off the alcohol yeah , it's also , so it's going to be more appealing , so you can throw some of it into an ice bucket for some people to enjoy . Chill Again , you're going to look like a funk star because you're serving a chilled red . Look at me go .
There might be some raised eyebrows amongst some pretentious wine .
True , the bosses who are maybe a little bit older , yeah , but also it's one of Australia's great , great varieties . It's having a bit of a resurgence at the moment .
Okay , grenache always smells amazing , Like I love the nose on this , but it's the palate where it often disappoints .
This has got a bit of savoury earthiness about it . It's not just all that strawberry and cherry and sort of bright popping red fruits that's good . Have I won you over ? Oh good , yeah , it's good yeah , that's yum .
Oh my god , people are getting smashed on that . That's too good , that is smashable . That is so young , that's really good I can't believe that's . How much was that it's 15 , no 15 .
Member offer 19 , normal , 20 , normally . Yeah , but I'm assuming if you guys have got an account . If not , it's free to join . Just join up . I don't know what the benefits are . I think you just get the member benefit , the member cheap wines . But I got a sake last night because my son's decided he wants to be a sake brewer . That's his job for life .
Doesn't Wesset do sake , they do so we're going to put him through .
I might do it as well with him .
He doesn't want to do it with me .
That's so cool , I don't want to sit next to you . So anyway , he . And then he's going off . That's funny . He's going to travel by train from Singapore to Lisbon , oh my God , through Mongolia and China , and .
Russia To be . What is he ?
19 , 20 ? He's 18 . To be 18 . No , elliot's going off to England next year for six months . Okay , 18 . No , elliot's going off to England next year for six months .
Okay , for uni . I was not doing all this when I was 18 . Oh my God .
Anyway , stop talking about the family , we'll catch up later . The Grenache , let's talk about it . Lovely tannins , it's got a little bit of structure , so I think it would appeal to your Shiraz drinkers . They may look at the colour and go well , that looks like like blood , which is something that my father would say .
But tell them to actually taste it because it's got quite a lot of structure to it . And the alcohol well , for it is 14 , it's integrated .
It doesn't jump out at me . I'm , I'm quite happy , I'm pleased and , um , I also find that I can find grenache a bit disjointed . I can find the palette to I don't know like drop off really quickly .
But this has such a nice finish , oh and this is the other thing about this place Zed Wine . It's two sisters Cool .
Okay , we love that .
I think they might have inherited their parents were growers or something All right . And then they decided and it's the only sister team that one's a viticulturist and one's the winemaker Winemaker , I'm mad , sister team that one's a viticulturist and one's the winemaker .
Winemaker , I'm mad yeah .
So go out and support them for $15 , remember off of that and chilled it's good , yeah , that would be unreal , chilled . So we've got every base covered here . Yeah , I'm sorry Billy's just grown so much in the last month since I've seen her . Bye , she's obsessed with my shoes . Bye , she's obsessed with my shoes . Bye .
Have a good day .
She's sitting up and she's nearly crawling and she's about to teeth , but she's just so beautiful , I'm just a bit distracted .
Sorry , that's a really good choice . That's a really good one . I thought you were crazy . Well , I was ready to be like bad move Meg . Lucky , lucky ready to be like bad move bag , lucky , lucky . But yeah , I wanted to get stuff . That's not your standard . People listening are like the audacity of mal .
She always goes up against this master of wine she's got balls , she has got balls .
But , um , I almost looked at cask wine , but then I thought , oh yeah , that would look a bit , it would just look office .
Yeah , it would , even though we know that , like from a perspective of the actual packaging , it's really good , it has integrity , it's quality , but yeah .
Wow , that Grenache . They're all good and seriously , I would happily if I was having a Christmas party this year . I would happily serve any of those . Me too , you know quite proudly . And everyone would think what would you drink , though ? Well , the Riesling and the Sparkles . But I'd put something in the Sparkles . Yeah , would you . What do you mean ?
You'd put something in it . Aperol yeah , I might make an Aperol out of it but , I could drink it on its own as well .
I hope that helps and please get back to us .
We want to know if you know if Meg's actually the other thing people when you are having office drinks , let us know what people think Are drinking . Yeah , like I know , tess Dolan , Rob Dolan's daughter , at Woods Bagot , where she works , which is an architectural firm , they drink Rob Dolan wine , clearly because she gets very good rates on it .
But yeah , I mean , what are people drinking ?
I think that is our challenge to you out there . If you are organising stuff like this , especially if a business is paying for it , try and go through privately owned wineries . Make sure that the wine that you were buying is a privately owned winery I just think , particularly now , nothing .
The pinnacle wines are all really , really good , don't get me wrong but I just think at the moment , with you know we just saw the fox creek has gone into receivership . Yeah , I just think it's important to try and support these , even established brands like Jim Barry and possibly Red Hill Estate . Everyone's doing it .
They are really doing it tough at the moment .
Yeah , absolutely All right , but they're still making great wine . Yeah , yeah , it's crazy . Look to finish it off . We just have some stuff that have been written in that I thought I'd just bring up . So one is thank you , deb has sent in . I sent in one of the episodes I said let us know what wine bars you're loving and we'll do shout outs .
So we have a shout out . So Deb has sent us a wine bar in Sydney that said they have amazing wine by the glass suggestions . They showcase a different winery each month with wine flights . That's cool . They do mystery flights . Love that . And it's Levantine Hill at the moment . So it is called Flight Path Wine Bar in Sydney . So that definitely sounds .
Is it in the ?
flight path . Is it very noisy ? Are you sitting under all the planes going in and out of Mascot ?
I don't know , but no , that sounds worth trying . If you're in Sydney , that is a great recommendation . Thank you , deb , kate . Kate has sent us a message . Oh , long-time listeners , first-time commenters Isn't that nice , oh sweet . So they were thinking about our GSM episode and they love Australian blends .
It's wild to us , to them , that Mount Mary is a top three wine in Australia with its quintet , but still everyone turns their noses up at Australian blends . They want to hear more about us , about Australian blends , and they have been embracing the motto of if you don't know it , try it .
Awesome , um , thank you kate , that's nice for the message . That's a good episode to do , maybe do some more on blends .
We did specifically jsm , but we can do more on blends . We have . We have the white blends we're gonna do this on my fridge , oh okay , cool , all right , okay , we'll do that . And Max Max has a question . So thank you , first-time messenger as well . Thanks for joining us . Max on the pod , he listened to the Cab Franc episode . He's keen to try some more .
Found one it was really good , but it was high alcohol . Cool , but it wasn't actually . It tasted like it was high alcohol , however , it wasn't actually . It tasted like it was high alcohol . However , it wasn't actually percentage wise , high abv . So he was saying overwhelming alcohol burn .
We are curious about what causes wine to taste like alcohol , even if it's lower in alcohol . Is it a fault or something to do with flavors and balance ?
it's balance and lack of fruit supporting the flavours . So sometimes what happens ? When grapes accumulate sugar so they might get to 13.5% , they're doing it quickly and they aren't accumulating the right number of flavours . So when they ferment that out you've got maybe a 14 , 12 , 13% alcohol wine , which is pretty , pretty standard .
But it just there's not enough fruit to support the alcohol , so it sits on top of it and usually my first indicator for that is you can smell the alcohol . So I often write down in tasting notes hot nose , which means to me that high alcohol , it smells hot . You can smell the alcohol coming off the wine .
Yeah .
And it is just about balance . It's not getting enough fruit flavour and aroma compounds to support the amount of alcohol In those instances . If it were me , I would start off doing a wild ferment , because they produce less alcohol for more sugar Really Okay .
And then possibly leave it with a tiny amount of residual sugar in there but add a little bit more acid to balance out the sugar , just so you're not getting the alcohol .
But it really comes down to picking yeah , picking time and not having optimally ripe fruit , which we know everyone puts on the back of their labels Optimally ripe fruit they do they love it ?
the back of their labels Optimally ripe fruit . They do they love it . We pick it at the perfect time .
Yes , we pick this at the not perfect time , like no one's ever going to say that Optimal , optimal , all right .
Well , that's a good response . Hope that helps and that's all we have for this week . Next week , what are we doing ? Meg , celebrity wines , and I've got one I'm so excited about . It's so true , I think . Actually , I think we might have done some before , but we probably have new ones this time .
Well , no , we did . Who was your footy dude From the horse ?
Oh no , Rich Evanderbeck .
Yeah , with the , he does the pills and bottles and everything out . So we've done his wine , and I think , have we done ?
Oh no , Do you know what ? Maybe we've just done Riccardo and we've done Brad Pitt's wine in a different episode .
We've got Brad Pitt's wine again , because you know we did it for .
But it wasn't Celebrity Wines , it was for a different episode .
Possibly Rose , yeah , and rosé yeah , and we've also done . We've done daniel
¶ Celebrity Wine Recommendations
ricardo , um , as a last drop , and we've also done . Did we do ricky pontings ? Oh , because someone , everyone , when I said celebrity wines , everyone at work who is really into footy and sport said um , or particularly ben dolan , oh , you could do ricky ponting wines . And then there's bustusty Malone , some rapper . I don't know .
And then they were talking about some other football player and I was just like , no , no , I have got like one of the greatest celebrities to ever walk this path .
All right , all right . Well , we'll leave it there . We'll tease that and we will be back with you with those celebrity wines next week . And until then , enjoy your next glass of wine and drink well .