A young lawyer drinks a whole-bunch Pinot at a hipster wine bar in Adelaide while an old grapegrower getting by on an oily rag can only glance at the wine list in the window and keep walking.
Dairy-farmers are doing it tough but grapegrowers have had 10 years of it.
Twenty-five years ago my sister Elizabeth married Michael in the backyard of our cream-brick home in Port Pirie.
Dad hired a marquee and a Vietnam veteran played the guitar with his young daughter on the drums.
Uncle Bill and Uncle Denis drank Southwark, teenagers snuck a Coolabah and a border collie tied to the lemon tree for the day snapped at a blowfly and wolfed down party-pies tossed by little girls and boys dressed in their Sunday best.
It was one of the best days of my life.
I went to bed knowing good things happen in marquees.
Some country wine shows have black-tie dinners with carpet and everything; Langhorne Creek has a long lunch in a marquee on a Friday.
Oak expert Mark Roberts gave me a lift to The Creek and we picked up his mate, Tom Keelan, who was done up like a ghost-train spruiker in pin-stripe suit.
Tom owns a wine company called The Pawn.
His wife is Bremerton winemaker Rebecca Willson.
The MC was Tom’s dad, Michael.
Rebecca’s sister is Lucy Willson, who is married to Ben Potts, whose forebears lobbed 166 years ago.
Ben sipped water at the welcome drinks in the garden while others downed red bubbles.
“It’s the worst day of the year for me,” Ben said.
“They say public speaking gets easier, but not for me.”
He spoke well, urging on The Horne in his laconic way.
Tom loosened his tie and rolled up a bit of marquee to let some air in and his dad called for some shoosh.
Polite applause met the trophy-winning winemakers, but the crowd went wild and made the light-balls suspended from the ceiling sway when Ben’s father Bill Potts was named Viticulturist of the Year.
When the humble grower spoke, the big top fell silent and there were tears.
“I feel overwhelmed,” he whispered. “Growing grapes is in my genes.”
Michael got a “hip-hip-hooray” going.
After a standing ovation, Ben got to have his first red – with his dad.
Drink Bremerton Special Release Malbec 2014.
It’s warm and tight-knit like the town.
It’s made by Bec whose husband is Tom whose sister-in-law Lucy is married to Ben whose father Bill stole the show.
On the way home I dozed off somewhere near the Woodchester cemetery knowing good things still happen in marquees.
Bill Potts with his son, Ben.
PS: We finished with Meechi beer made by Ben Potts and wife Lucy, whose father Craig Willson was my first boss at The Recorder newspaper back when my sister got married.
Country Wine 