BIG SEXY AUSSIE BISHOP AND THE CHEAP NZ TART

Our best wine discovery of our Adelaide Holiday was undoubtedly our introduction to the Bishop. This is not a rough red - instead it lives up to its elegant moniker. Its a mouthful and in a good way -its  like sipping  liquid velvet. This shiraz  has quite a bit going on, leather and chocolate dominated our inexperienced  snozzer and on the tongue we took to dreaming of black doris plums.

Bloody delicious it was.

We also dined a the superb Jacobs Creek Wine Centre in the Barossa. Their top end wines, especially their racy rieslings are well worth a try but its the restaurant that provided the best memories. Aussies are not afraid to eat their national icon and Kangaroo was a popular dish. We opted to start with prawns with an avocado mousse and then for the main event  -  a huge piece of Angus steak and we were not  disappointed.

Normally we don't opt for this type of  tourist restaurant  but the food was some of the best we have had for a while.  We highly recommend a visit.

The saddest thing we saw, was in a cheap but cheerful and very good brunch joint on the beach. It served Secret Stone. Its the mass produced  sweet, boring as batshit-  no class wine- sold as  NZ sauvignon blanc. Sauvignon plonk more like. Why in the hell are NZ wine makers not learning from the terrible mistakes that the Aussies made by selling cheap rough reds to the UK?

Coincidently Jancis Robinson was interviewed on ABC about just this topic while we were in Adelaide - how Aussies were going to re-establish their wine as a premium brand in the UK after a decade of marketing it on price point.

Some of the Aussies  who were with us asked us about Secret Stone. They didnt think it was up to much and were wondering where it had  come from. Everywhere - we told them. They agreed it was purely a glugable wine - not one to savour.

So to all the wine makers out there  - we know its tough but you are producing some of the finest Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Keep the quality up and the prices up. We don't want to see cheap tart NZ  wine  sold as the elegant lady that we know the NZ Sauvignon wine to be.

Think Bishops  - not tarts.