The Pro Shop

Up at 4am yesterday for a flight down to Melbourne to start shooting the first material for the new ONE HD program, The Pro Shop.

It's a new golf show that will air on Tuesday nights on ONE, hosted by Andrew Maher with a bit of help from moi.

There will be a range of different stuff going on, some tournament reviews, instruction, interviews and new segments that will be introduced as the show evolves.

We had a blast yesterday taking a good look around one of Melbourne's most venerable layouts. Can you pick which course it is?

Long Haul Lit- Breath

Funny, you never think much about breathing, until it's all you think about

I can't remember the last time I bought a paperback and sat down for a good, solid read. For the last couple of years, it just seems to be an indulgence that I simply struggled to find time for.

But with the contemplation of a full day of travel to get from the Gold Coast to Cape Town, I grabbed a copy of Tim Winton's 'Breath' and set about knocking it over during the flight.

First, I must say that it is good for the soul and mind to lose yourself in a great book every now and again. I had forgotten about the sense of freedom and possibility that evolves when you transport yourself mentally into the virtual world of a skilled writer.

After finishing the book, my mind slipped back to a conversation I once had with a late writer of note. He bought up A.B. Facey's classic novel, 'A Fortunate Life', as an example of how greatness can be found in brevity of expression.

Facey was self educated. His auto-biographical novel is a timeless example of how honesty, and simplicity of language, can translate into something greater than the sum of their parts. It is a wonderful piece of writing in all respects, and there is something in this work that makes me think of Winton.

Winton's great weapon is honesty. His writing speaks of ordinary people living ordinary lives. He doesn't regress into fairy tale endings or feel compelled to find resolution in every conflict. Winton's words express the mundanity of the everyday but contrast it with the universality of spirit and hope, usually repressed by circumstance.

There seems a simplicity to Winton's prose too, but such an impression is ultimately superficial. He ignores the self indulgence prone of writers looking to legitimise themselves to the cognoscenti, and appears to be at a stage of his career where he writes for himself rather than the plaudits of critics and fans.

In this way, the reflections of Pikelet, the 14 year old protagonist of 'Breath' stay true to character and possibility. Somehow though, Pikelets narrative is anything but childish, and despite his age he's not spared from the responsibility of recognising the relationship between action and consequence, a key theme throughout the text.

'Breath' is a wonderful piece of writing, a great read on a number of levels and a seminal piece of Australian fiction that will be talked about for decades to come.

The Exchange

Each month, Golf Digest poses a challenge for two of its writers to debate, dubbed "The Exchange". This month, I had the task of going up against senior writer Rohan Clarke (senior in experience, not years) defending the Ryder Cup as a spectacle against the Presidents Cup. We got stuck in.

Long Haul Cinema- Take Two

With 14 hours to kill on the flight from Sydney to J'burg, there is more than enough time to check out a few new movies,

Adventureland

This was a cracking film with surprising level of emotional depth and feeling, very much at odds with its suggested 'teen movie' leanings. In fact, I'd say that it was the best of its type that I have seen since 'Almost Famous', which was for me a real benchmark for the coming-of-age genre.

Without giving too much away, the gross-out components of it are handled well enough to not leave you cringing, and the acting of the characters portraying marginalised and identity seeking teenagers is spot on. Really good stuff.

Disgrace

I thought, you know, maybe I was too expectant/tired/distracted to do this movie justice the last time I flew. So, I watched it again from the point where I turned it off in August. Unfortunately, the second half is even more laboured. You almost feel obligated to say nice things about a movie that has John Malkovich in it, but ultimately this is a real dog that bobs up and down on the spot and leaves you wondering how the screenwriters managed to so successfully butcher JM Coetzee's epic book.

Enron- The Smartest Guys in the Room

Brilliant doco. Compulsory viewing for every rampaging capitalist spruiking the beauty of the free market economy and de-regulation. A tale of total greed and disgusting manipulation of the stock and electricity markets in the U.S. by Enron, of lies and deceit and fraud on a scale almost too huge to imagine. And, when you look at the ease with which this all came together and the complicity of banks, business and regulatory authorities who allowed it to continue, you are all too aware that it can and probably will happen again.

Haskell Vineyards scoops the pool at Tri-Nations

Well, this was bloody exciting. Made it to the Tri-Nations Wine Challenge presentations last night in Sydney at the Four Seasons Hotel. We had a horse in the race, the as yet unreleased Haskell Pillars Syrah 2007, which had struck a couple of judges in South Africa as a pretty good wine and had been chosen for the South African team.

To cut a long story short, the Pillars 07 won Best Shiraz, Best Red Wine, and Wine of Show. It was the first time that South Africa had won best red wine in the history of the competition, and also the Champion Wine.

Rianie Strydom (winemaker) was pumped, I'll admit to letting out a few hollers and hoots and celebrating in a renowned fashion into the early hours. A great achievement for us, we couldn't be more pumped.

A Postcard from Stellenbosch

And just to catch up the last couple of months, here's a little reminiscence from a round at the Heineken in Perth back in the late 1990's and a third round, two ball match up with Ernie Els.

Living with the (Sporting) Enemy

Just catching up on posting a few articles here now that the old site is done and dusted (as of today). This is my September article from Australian Golf Digest, and no, it doesn't have anything to do with Tiger but I dig this picture with the Turnbery lighthouse in the background. Thats the best excuse I can think of!

Coche Dury, Chevalier Montrachet and more

More firsts from a couple of weeks back. My first taste of Coche Dury, one of the most vaunted and revered white burgundy producers. Coche Dury wines sell for astonishing sums of money and getting your hands on them is quite a challenge. The wine tasted here was the Meursault Perrieres 1er 2002, and it was brilliant. Sleek, shiny and crammed full of power. The Bouchard Chevalier Montrachet 2005 was also impressive, but needs many years of cellaring to show its full potential, especially in a large format bottle. Can't recall if I tasted the Clos de Mouches...it was all getting a bit silly at this point.

Three Years Hence

It has been a couple of weeks since the third anniversary of the death of Len Evans. How quickly that time has passed. I was reflecting on that today as I cleaned up my computer desktop and found this article.

It reminded me of a few things, but mostly of how much I miss the excitement and sense of anticipation that he bought to my life. Wine became somehow magical when Len was around. Every visit to the Hunter Valley to see him was potentially a journey of discovery, and some of my most cherished memories are of times spent dining and enjoying wine at Loggerheads, his Pokolbin home.

Anyway, we shouldn't forget the great, and I won't. You're still missed, Chairman.

Lanson NV

Lanson NV $70

I noted that Campbell Mattinson at Winefront gave this a good wrap recently. I reckon he's spot on the money too. It's a really fresh, complex NV Champagne. Plenty of biscuity/citrus flavour, a healthy dose of sugar to fatten it up a little as well, it must be said, but that just makes it all the more attractive and approachable. Head and shoulders above the current Moet & Chandon NV, and at pretty much the same price.

La Chapelle

The Jaboulet table at the Ficofi/Kaesler tasting. The late 1990's vintages of La Chappelle ( at least the ones that I have tried, 98 in particular) have been fairly forgettable. I quite liked the 1991, drinking well, not an acclaimed vintage but sometimes drinkability is an under-rated quality. No notes on this table, the speed tasting had started to slip into overdrive.

Leroy Gevrey Chambertin 1967

It was a village wine, but a 42 year old one at that which was drinking pretty nicely. Tasted like an old, gentle, leathery Burgundy, and anytime someone serves you Leroy it is a good day. Also a bottle of 92 Leroy Musigny opened which was impressive.

Montrachet

Well, I've never even seen a bottle of Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet before, let alone a 3 litre bottle of one, but here it was, at the Ficofi tasting.

Without going into a fit of hyperbolic ranting, the one thing that drinking a glass of this wine tells you is that great wine is about balance. It was one of the most 'seamless' wines I have tasted, and only when you have tasted a wine like this do you understand how overused and abused the 'seamless' descriptor is. Long, svelte and delightful. That just about covers it.

Tour Tales and True- September

My monthly golf related articles in Golf Digest always had a lot of readers on the old site, so I'll post them here as well for those who are interested. This month, a tale about the sabbatical in South Africa this year and the rise and rise of South Africa as a force in mens professional golf.

La,La,La-La...Laaaa

Another touch of wine voyeurism from the Ficofi tasting. This time, a swathe of Guigal single vineyard wines, often referred to by those who have an intimate relationship with them as 'La-La's' ( the three wines being La Landonne, La Mouline, and La Turque). Not being on a first name basis, I'll just call them 'sir'.

These were from 1996 and 2005 and were stunning wines. It was the first time I had ever tried a La Mouline or La Turque and I wasn't disappointed. Strong, authoritative wines with deliciously savoury fruit flavours. Great wines.

A Swill Fest for Oligarch's

This tasting will go down in the memory as one of the most remarkable I have ever been to. In this day and age, when the great wines of the world are so prohibitably expensive, to see such a line up is something that I doubt I will ever experience again.

The event was put on by Ficofi, a wine investment/prestige corporate tasting company based in France, presumably sponsored by Ed Peter, the owner of Kaesler Wines in the Barossa who is also a big player in the world of finance. The rumour was that it was put on for some heavy hitting Asian investors who flew down especially for the occasion, and who would blame them.

The scary thing was that it was almost impossible to get around to all the wines. Absurdly, you found yourself spitting out mouthfuls of wine from $5000, large format bottles. All the great names of wine were there...Montrachet, La Tache, Leroy, Petrus, Guigal, Margaux, Musigny, and the list goes on. It was a wonderful experience, but something of a guilty pleasure. I doubt that I'll ever get to do something like this again.

Unfortunately I had to run for the airport, and didn't get to try everything. I also didn't really do a lot of the wines justice, rushing through many and unable to really take in everything that I would have liked to. Still, I'll remember it for a long time to come. It was a great privilege to be invited and I thank Kaesler very much for the opportunity.

More notes and pics to follow.

(Disclaimer- I'm a director of D&H Fine Wine which has a commercial relationship with Kaesler)