Player of the Year 2009

In Sydney now for the 2009 Australian Open. Today was taken up with shooting 'The Pro Shop' for tomorrow night and grabbing as many interviews as possible with the array of stars on show. We managed to grab Steve Bowditch, Michael Campbell, Stephen Leaney, Greg Chalmers and a bunch of others which will be shown in weeks to come.

Tonight, a quick trip into the city to Ottoman Cuisine for the Golf Digest Player of the Year dinner. Geoff Ogilvy was a deserved winner, and being the classy guy that he is, turned up on the night to receive his award. He gave a great interview as well, a credit to himself and the game of golf.

The food at Ottoman was very nice. Mod Oz with a Turkish twist. Aside from this positive impression, the other thought I left with was that the phenomenon of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is showing some cracks around the edges. Another faceless, characterless, under-ripe and overly acidic Marlborough savvy as the wine of the night, and the default position of simply accepting these features as a part of quality wine will not go on forever. A good night however, with the company and professionalism of the production top notch, along with an excellent MC role performed by Luke Elvy of FOX.

Australian Open Preview

Well, it's a golf preview with a wine out the front. They are kind of related. I flew to the Hunter Valley to do a couple of interviews for The Pro Shop and stopped in at Shakey Tables for dinner, saw this on the list for a remarkably low price given the vintage and status of the wine and just had to try it.

It was a super wine. Still young and quite rich, but undeniably world class and drinking half a bottle really made the evening. Sadly, I wasted the other half on some old pro golf colleagues of mine the next night and was horrified by their indifference to its charms!

Anyway, there are couple of big weeks in the pipeline, starting with the Australian Open next week at NSWGC in Sydney. Then we fly up to Coolum for the PGA Championship to finish out the year. Shooting The Pro Shop in and around both events as well so we should be able to put together some good content over the next fortnight.

I'll update when I can during the events and will take a few pics around the place as well.

The Next Level

Well, the Masters is gone, and it must be said that regardless of what you thought about Tiger's 3 million buck appearance fee it would be hard to argue that he didn't bring value for money.

Record crowds, great TV ratings, a boon for Victorian tourism and a lot of people talking about golf once again. What the lasting effect of it is we will have to wait and see, but he has given things a shot in the arm and one badly needed.

This months article is a story about the fine line that separates success from failure in professional golf, and the tightrope that many people walk in trying to cement a future in an extremely competitive field of endeavour.

It is mainly about a talented guy named Stuart Bouvier, but in reality I could have substituted any number of outstanding players who are out there grinding away trying to take their game to the next level in the face of insurmountable odds.

On the Bench #7

Domaine Chandon Shiraz (Barrel Selection) 2006 $49

Bringing the funk back. Found this in the bottom of a pile and glad to have done so. Stemmy, cool climate nose-aniseed, ash, green peppercorns, cherries and plums. Spicy, pepper/cherry flavours, mid weight (for Shiraz) still juvenile and punchy fresh. Wild, interesting and attention grabbing. Winery Sample, 93 points, 2011+

On the Bench #6

Moss Wood Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2007 $55

It seems that the intoxicating allure of Pinot Noir knows no boundaries. Here we have Margaret River powerhouse, Moss Wood, journeying roughly 4000 kms to the other side of the country (Mornington Peninsula) to source fruit in order to sate their craving.

It is a big play, in a number of ways. First, Moss Wood have made a Pinot from estate plantings for many years. It's always a nice wine, but limited in ambition by the unsuitability of the variety to their region. Whether they are saying in making this move that they have stopped fighting the good fight for Margaret River Pinot isn't clear, but people will draw their own conclusions nonetheless.

Second, and perhaps more notable is the statement this makes about where Moss Wood are heading with their brand strategy. For an iconic brand that is so closely defined with a specific region, this is a big play. Does this dilute, or confuse the message that they present in the marketplace? Time will tell.

But this is a particularly nice wine. Very pure, very pinot. Elegant red cherries and strawberries, but not in such a simplistic form- there's some crunchy tannin and an edge of spice underneath it all, lending good persistence and authority. Under screw cap too this appears very youthful, and will certainly benefit from a year or two in bottle. It's the real deal. Winery Sample, 92 points, 2010+

Nothing to see here

I have received the Crikey newsletter on and off for a few years. For those unfamiliar with the on-line publication, it is an independent news service that takes a slightly tangential look at current events. Most would label the perspective expressed as veering to the left, but I'd prefer to depict it as taking umbrage with everyone and everything.

It is a good read nonetheless. The debate on climate change gets an airing like nowhere else in the media- even the denialists and conspiracy theorists get their moment in the sun.

I'm particularly taken though with the material dealing with what isn't being said about the GFC and its aftermath. I'm quite deeply suspicious of the 'nothing more to see here' approach that world governments have now adopted, and of being told that it is all over and we are now on the path to prosperity and untold riches once more.

With reference to this I found an essay in Crikey today from Richard Nasht excellent reading. Nasht is the producer of Addicted to Money, a new TV series that starts on the ABC tonight at 8-30pm, dealing with the fallout from the GFC. A couple of things that he wrote in the Crikey piece resonated with me,

"We’re kidding ourselves if we believe that somehow the scars of this collapse won’t be with us for decades. For now the panicked response has been to buy our way out of trouble, dealing with a debt crisis by piling on more debt. "

This has always been the great contradiction for me- a crisis caused by debt has been miraculously solved by going into more debt? I don't think so. He continues,

"There has been precious little done to address the systemic problems revealed by the crisis, and as Professor Elizabeth Warren, chair of the oversight committee investigating what happened to America’s bail-out money, told us, "we’re now in a permanent hostage situation". The surviving global financial institutions are in control and out of control at the same time, too big to fail and too powerful to be restrained."

Or expressed in another way, the lunatics are now running the asylum. This too makes a pertinent point,

"We’ve hit our ecological limits and the old growth-economy mantra will no longer work. Yet I think we are also missing another, even more important message from the GFC -- it reveals a shortage of ideas. Government's around the world spend a tiny proportion of their time or money planning, yet this is where the majority of us will be living most of our lives."

It sounds like a show worth watching. Addicted to Money, Thursday, 8-30pm