Howard left wine to rot, PM's cellar 'boring as hell'

KEVIN Rudd's wine cellar is as "boring as hell" and groaning with some

sneaky Kiwi white wines and pinot grigio, a drop that like the PM is

"bland, boring but inexplicably popular".

But the Howard years saw scores of wines that would have tasted beautiful

in their youth left to rot on the shelf by the beer-loving former PM -

just a little bit like Peter Costello.

Australia's leading wine experts and writers have cast a critical eye

over taxpayer-funded plonk at the Prime Minister's official residences at

The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli in Sydney and declared the Rudd

family could do better.

The Prime Minister's booze cupboard has been laid bare by Senate

estimates, revealing the $14,000 collection's cheapest drop is 10 bottles

of Elderton Sauvignon Blanc Semillon at $7.92.

The most expensive is a single bottle of Dom Perignon 85 which is valued

at $99.95.

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The Weekend Australian's wine columnist Max Allen said it was an

appropriately parochial selection of wines: almost all Australian,

barring the odd bottle of French champagne and - tellingly - a half dozen

bottles of Marlborough sav blanc.

"I suspect these were bought in an attempt to appeal to everyday

hardworking Australian families: after all, every fridge in the country

has got at least one bottle of Kiwi sauvignon blanc in it these days, it

seems. Fair shake of the savvy bottle, Kev,'' Allen said.

"The careful product placement of Mr Riggs shiraz on Masterchef last year

("I'm adding a splash to deglaze the pan, Gary") obviously worked in the

Rudd household: there are more bottles of this wine than almost anything

else in the Kirribilli cellar.," Mr Allen said.

However he said the Lodge cellar was superior to Kirribilli.

"The Prime Minister Rudd has lucked-in with the cellar at the Lodge,

though, which has some top-shelf wines - rieslings from Grosset and

Petaluma, Bowen Estate cabernet - that will mature gracefully for many

years to come, some great pinots from 2007 and 2008, and a couple of

deliciously mature shirazes. I know where I'd rather be invited to

dinner," he said.

"If the PM wants to make a quick buck, he should flog the 85 Dom Perignon

and the 02 Henschke Mount Edelstone: both would fetch at auction today

three or four times what was paid for them. Then again, he could always

drink them: at least, unlike his predecessor, the incumbent would

appreciate how good they are."

"However, the most bizarre bottles in the cellar at the Lodge are from

Canada: an Ontario ice wine (super-sweet nectar made from winter-

harvested grapes) and - even more obscure - an ice cider from Quebec,

neither of which are sold in Australia. How did these get here? Why are

they here? Can we expect a visit from (Canadian Prime Minister) Stephen

Harper sometime soon?''

Many of the wines were a hangover from the Howard years when the former

prime minister preferred the odd can of beer to extensive vertical

tastings of Grange.

"As a result, the current PM has been lumbered with quite a few wines

that should have been drunk long ago: five- and six-year-old sauvignon

blancs and viogniers, for example, that would have been wonderful in the

freshness of youth but obviously failed to excite the Howard palate and

would now taste tired and flabby," Mr Allen said.

Gourmet Traveller wine writer Nick Ryan said the greatest crime of all

was six bottles of Kiwi sauvignon blanc, "grounds for treason charges if

you ask me".

The wine judge said 75 per cent needed clearing out as "it reeks of

mothballs, cardigans and old men from Woolwich".

"Interesting that the wine there in greatest number (excluding bubbles)

is pinot grigio - a variety that's bland, boring but inexplicably

popular. Sound familiar?" Ryan said.

"It's boring as hell. The kind of list you'd find in a golf club full of

retired Rotarians. A lot of tired old whites. Nobody needs six-year-old

Gewurtztraminer even if it is Henscke."

Mr Ryan said the three bottles of Yalumba's Menzies sounded like another

Howard left over, "proof that Howard's taste for nostalgia is more finely

tuned than his palate - the wine is thin, green and weedy".

Penfold's chief winemaker Peter Gago was aghast at the lack of Grange,

although rumours persist the best gift bottles are surrenderd to the

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet allowing Mr Rudd to ask for some

to be sent around.

"What? No Penfolds?'' Mr Gago said. "They must know their wine - they've

obviously drunk all the good gear first."