Recently I read that Australian wine consumption has dropped around 25% in the last couple of decades
I mention this because it is unusual that I bought half a dozen bottles recently.
For
me it's also unusual as I last bought wine for drinking,
rather than cooking, about a decade ago.
Sometimes I'm drinking wine that I bought decades earlier, since I have
been enjoying the benefits of cellaring bottles in cardboard boxes.
So, what prompted me to buy wine in 2026?
This also seems unusual because I was prompted by a Youtuber.
Bobby Fingers is a wry Irish artist who makes entertaining videos about building dioramas.
His
interests extend to dabbling in a variety of media, such as the music that's
often included in his videos, as well as a recent excursion into
writing romantic fiction.
The most recent video
shows the process of constructing a small scene discussed in the
defamation proceedings between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, which prompted Fingers to try making his own wine as part of research into
Depp's fondness for fermented grape juice.
Since
I've already shown the result of that digression from the detailed
diorama, it's no spoiler to share that Bobby Fingers ended up in South
Australia at one of the most highly-rated wineries.
One
of my top five wine experiences was a 1998 d'Arenberg Footbolt shiraz
and I still remember a eureka moment when it hit my tongue.
That
taste was when I understood some of the wine terminology about vertical
stacking of tannins, as the flavour was bold and seemed as though the
taste continued to explode in my mouth after the wine had gone down my
throat.
The wine itself shows the same clever
blending that I associated with the 1998 Footbolt in having a
long-lasting taste, although it is surprising to me the flavour does not
seem to be as decidedly fruit-focused as Australian wine is generally.
It
might be that I'm so far out of the habit of drinking wine that I
haven't noticed it before, or maybe d'Arenberg are making a conscious
decision to aim for a more European sensibility since Mr Fingers is based in that part of world.
A clever aspect of this
marketing-based product is the obvious affinity that Chester Osborn has
with Bobby Fingers' art-making and I thought the suggestion that the
Toilet Wine might actually contain fermented toilet was hilarious.
While I couldn't taste toilet in my glass, it's not something that I have much experience in discerning.
However,
while Australian wines don't usually note the blends in detail on the labels
unless it is more than a certain threshold, I thought it was also clever
of Chester to link the role of malbec in the blend in the video.
It was memorable to compare the meaty taste of that grape to seared kangaroo.
This is the kind of small, yet amusing consideration that could cultivate a broader audience for tasting the product and developing an interest that goes further.
At risk of being sentimental, it was sweet to have my appreciation for wine given another lesson from d'Arenberg.
They have produced a wine with Bobby that could have been ordinary, but instead they appear to have seized on an opportunity to reach an new audience and educate them a little in doing so -- which might be what this Australian industry needs in the longer term.
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