A friend of mine asked me for some help choosing the wine for his daughter’s wedding celebration. Now, this is both an honour and a responsibility – as any decision around a wedding always is. I can well remember the politics surrounding ours. Both of them. Yes, we had two, one in Australia and one in France where my parents lived. Both had the same pressure point – who was in charge of the flowers? I’m not sure anyone in France reads this blog so I’ll stick to that side of the story. The small town, it had a butcher, a baker and a mattress maker, but little else, was still divided, as some families had been collaborators during WW2 (almost 50 years before). Tradition suggested it was the mayor’s mother’s role to faire les fleurs for all the weddings in the town, and she was insisting on following tradition. But my mother’s good friend Madame Tenneau was very keen to do it. Eventually she won out and did a very good job finding Gladioli of all things. She also gave us a deep fryer as a wedding present!

Anyway, enough of our wedding(s), back to the present, and a slightly delicate moment: a wine list had been written up, but not everyone agreed with it. So, rather than risk a dispute, the matter went to arbitration – or rather me, for a third opinion. And here it is.

Bubbly

The temptation here is to go for Prosecco, and if that’s what you want to do, we all love an Aperol Spritz, fine, but to my mind Prosecco is never great, it’s more about avoiding bad ones than choosing good ones. I suggested Risky Business, an excellent local fizz available from Qantas for $25 and rated 95 by Mr Halliday.

But I recommended something else, Pirie NV from Tasmania, which is about the same price from DM and VC, and probably lots of other places. It’s not Champagne, but it’s a lot more interesting than Prosecco. Halliday gave it 92 points and put it in his Top 100 for 2021: 

“Granny Smith apple and brioche/toast, the long palate driven by vibrant, minerally acidity complexed by nuances of spice and nougat. The base wine ex ’18, 10% of museum material, and spent 2 years on lees pre-disgorgement..” 

White

White wine is becoming a challenge. I find people have tired of both SB and Chardonnay (the fools) so I was looking for something both interesting and accessible. I landed on two suggestions, both of which I discovered through a Qantas mixed dozen offer, but I should have restricted it to this one: 2018 Cullen SBS, $28.50 from DM. When I tried this it struck me as an apprentice Mount Mary Triolet – layers, balance and poise. The Semillon brings some maturity to the SB. I wrote about it in my Hannibal blog.

Rosé

The brief was to keep it as local as possible so no Provence Rose here, but it’s an Aussie one made my a Frenchman, one Dominique Portet. Fontaine is from the Yarra Valley and about $24 from DM. Gary Walsh of The Wine Front gave it a score of 92.

Red

I don’t think I’ve ever drunk red wine at a wedding. If there’s Champagne I’d rather stick to that and then switch to wine or beer if I have to (and the occasional water!) but a red was required and being a summer wedding the brief was Pinot Noir. I went for Fulcrum, a light one from the Mornington Peninsula at a very reasonable $21, again, from DM. I think I saw a 92 next to it somewhere. It’s less frivolous than a Beaujolais, but still very drinkable. I may also have mentioned this in the past.

I’m not sure where they ended up, but I do hope some of my selections feature, partly because I’ll be there. If you happen to be planning a wedding in the near future – or any event, do let me know. I’ve always liked the idea of being a sommelier. Email me on fbwelsh@fbwelsh

Oh, and one last thing about weddings. Some friends of mine were given a Breville Sommelier which must be the perfect gift for the couple who has everything. One minute of airing in this device is worth one hour in the real world. I’m sure there’s a parallel with marriage in there somewhere.