That's Entertainment

Coming to a building site near you.

After every disaster, there's always the aftermath. Not the rising casualty list or mass scale clean-up operation, but the inevitable celebrity telethon where C-listers, has-beens and never will be's get to wipe a tear away in front of the camera while you count how many times my heart goes out is used over a 5 minute period.

If anyone is in any doubt about the existence of God, then they only need to ask if a higher being would inflict the strange and terrible Australia Unites on us. As I flicked on last Thursday night, Kate Ceberano was belting out a duet with some badly dressed bricklayer who had somehow wandered onto the stage. Kate maybe a loon, but she can at least sing, which is more than can be said for other bloke. His face tried to convey some emotion, and as he struggled for those elusive high, middle and low notes, we all felt his pain.

If this wasn't enough, someone called John Farnham talked about the good old days, whenever they were, and we laughed out loud as some other fat white man made jokes about the girls in the studio. Hilarious stuff.

Perhaps in the future, instead of having a telethon to raise money, we raise money so that they don't have a telethon. It's just an idea.

Anyway, onto the wine, and it's no surprise that they're both Victorian. I've criticised De Bortoli a couple of times about size of their portfolio and that they have a wine for every price point and demographic, but I'll forget that for now and commend them for the Sero Merlot Sangiovese 2006. I've read several good things about this wine both here and the UK, but for some reason it's been hard to source. I finally tracked some down last week and I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that it was well worth the wait. Characters of both the Merlot and Sangiovese were evident but were well merged. Dry, very savoury with bright acidity and firm, chewy tannins. Good stuff indeed.

In a similar mould is the Dal Zotto Sangiovese Cabernet 2005. The King Valley, when it too is not fighting off fires, is starting to emerge as not only a quality region, but also a region that is different, and perhaps more grounded in Europe, than some others. The Sangiovese Cabernet is similar to the Sero in that it's dry, and savoury, but it's denser, more leathery and if tasted blind, I'd be struggling to guess it's nationality. A great wine and like the Sero, would be a good partner to a pizza or something involving pasta and tomatoes.

So, forget the Telethon and their good intentions. Buy Victorian wine, give to the Red Cross appeal and hope that the affected communities stick two fingers up to bushfire and come back even stronger.

I'll be back very soon to talk about my very good friend Danny Nalliah. Bet you can't wait. Until then, be seeing you.