![]() ![]() I discovered Father’s Day is unlike other days brought to us by consumerism, such as Boss’ Day, Administrative Professional’s Day and National Mustard Day. Where did Father’s Day come from? Why do we have it? If I muck it up, Brian tells me the local monastery is hiring a new music director. It’s Rosie Rabbits at the helm of our Father’s Day column. The next day I did come across a seal lying on the road in Pilot Bay. It might go to his head and then where would we be? Secretly though I thought this was a rather brilliant reference to last week’s Roger Rabbits column where he was ‘rabbiting’ on about roading, rail, and money, ending with ‘Show us the tarseal!’ But we don’t want to give the boss too much adulation. Clearly we need more coffee in the newsroom. It took a moment for the ole brain cells to click. He replied with "That’s not news unless the seal was on the road. I replied "Well, did you hear I was nearly tripping over seals on the beach today? That’s news right there." At least I thought that was a good enough reason after he walked past my desk in the newsroom one afternoon asking what the latest news was. He’s no doubt told some lame dad jokes in his time, so that’s a start. We don’t know why he specifically deserves it, but there’s probably a few good reasons. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.For Father’s Day this week we have decided to give Brian Rogers the day off. “ Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. It is sharing of these moments of good food, good wine but above all good friends that marks the best in life… even sharing those groan-filled dad jokes. I had to admit to never having tasted either corvina or rondinella so a trip to Murrumbateman is on the cards. So dear reader, get some in quick before Bryan sells out this vintage.īryan tells me that he now makes 18 different wines but the majority are Italian-based grape varieties including some wines that are not within the popular lexicon: corvina, montepulciano, fiano, primitivo (zinfandel) and rondinella. We have released the 2018 now, from March.” We make close to 1500 cases and they sell out within months. Doing Malaysian food, he doesn’t need to do wine, so it’s good that he’s chosen this one. “Abel has had it on the wine list for a long time as he thinks it goes well with the style of cooking he adopts. This wine doesn’t need a big block of meat to go with it, it can take Asian vegetables. “Abel’s food is sort of left field for sangiovese but I made it to go well with savoury food, particularly because of the acidity and fine tannins. ![]() “My background in cooking, I used to be a chef, meaning that this was the first variety I planted,” he said. I asked him if he had made the sangiovese as a food wine rather than a quaffer. I called Bryan feeling guilty about disturbing him during harvest, but he told me he was already at the bottling stage. My friends murmured praise for the balance in the wine, a good mixture of fruit and savoury with a very clean, lightly tannic finish. ![]() And that I knew Bryan from when I worked with him as a writer for another journal. I mentioned to my friends that Bryan Martin, the owner and winemaker at Ravensworth, is also the winemaker at Clonakilla, the vineyard that carries the Canberra district’s shiraz viognier as a flagship wine. It complemented the chilli lamb and the duck dish. I saw a website where it was retailing at $28 but with the clear indication it had sold out at that price. At $49.90 a bottle in the restaurant, it is not cheap. I suggested that we order this wine not only because of its extraordinary compatibility with Asian food, but to show off some of the best wine from the region. The Ravensworth 2017 sangiovese was the local wine of choice. We decided to have dinner where spicy food prevailed given the autumnal night temperatures and we went to Abel’s Kopi Tiam at Manuka. Wow says the barman, I have never in my life before served a weasel, what can I get you? Elevated by this reaction he says: “Oh, what about this one, it’s better:Ī weasel walks into a bar. Okay, so my mate doesn’t get it until, excruciatingly, I explain it by reference to what termites eat… wood, the bar. So, see how cryptic you think it is: Richard Calver.Ī termite walks into a bar and says: Where’s the bartender? They are amongst a number who haven’t connected with my latest “walk-into-a-bar joke”. TWO Sydney friends arrived for a sojourn. ![]()
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