A month ago young Ike Zerk collapsed at footy training in Williamstown. He died that night. A beautiful kid, dead at 14. The son of a fifth-generation Lyndoch grapegrower. A shrine appeared at the farm gate: footy jumper, messages, flags, motorbike, helmet. He was a popular lad. Hit the community hard. The valley grieved. Last Friday, the Barossa wine fraternity downed tools and came together to break … Continue reading Barossa digs deep for a beautiful boy
Dad lived in Peterborough for a while as a little boy. His father worked in a betting shop opposite the Federal Hotel and joined the AIF when France fell. The family moved back to Port Pirie and Dad became a carpenter and married Margaret. Before long, with six little mouths to feed, Dad opened Ken Madigan Sports Store in Ellen Street. He sold hockey sticks, … Continue reading Bullets over Broadway, pellets over Pirie
WBM – Australia’s Wine Business Magazine was Peter Fuller’s idea. The former Stock Journal editor had a beer with Cindie Smart and I at the Rob Roy Hotel in 2004. We quit our jobs and joined Free Run Press, working in the musty basement of an old two-storey building in Kent Town with salt-damp and bad carpet. We had a hair salon as a co-tenant and … Continue reading So, you want to launch a wine magazine?
Stephen Henschke is the Grand Master of the Barons of the Barossa. A bit like being the Grand Poobah of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble’s Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. Each year the Grand Council inducts worthy citizens into the Fraternity and they drink Shiraz from goblets and sing Glory to the Barossa. It’s like the Queen’s Coronation but with more pomp and ceremony and … Continue reading When the dealing’s done
Sticky post
At a roadhouse in Port Wakefield near Wild Horse Plains, a truck-driver steps down from his rig and scratches his guts and keeps the engine running. Beryl barges through the swinging doors of the kitchen, puffing. “Yes love, wadda ya’ want?” A fisherman with cockle on his fingers fumbles through the drink-straw dispenser. An old bloke wipes his bum and goes next door for an … Continue reading No Guts no glory
Country Wine 