When you're rhite, you're still right

Last year saw us raising money for cancer research and to our relief the inaugural Rhite Wine Night was a success. Normally we'd quit while we were ahead but since the cause is so important we had to do it all again. We kept the previous format. The wine tasting, sort of funny quiz and silent auction all made a reappearance. So did the generosity of a number of southern Tasmanian wineries and vineyards.

The event was held later this year due to our recent jaunt to Europe and we decided to work on behalf of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) instead of the Cancer Council of Tasmania to spread the money around a bit. 

The wine tasting line up was more extensive this year but so were the number of punters of the female persuasion that attended. A sparkling, 6 rieslings, 4 sauvignon blancs, 2 chardonnays, a pinot gris and 2 off dry rieslings had the white wine lovers all in a tizz. Following this was an impressive set of reds. 2 roses, 6 pinots, a cabernet merlot and malbec merlot.

Enjoying this very impressive line up was some 21 people who were divided into three teams. 'The Bridezillas','I shouldn't have to tell you, you should just know' and 'betcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me' went into battle again in a slightly shorter but more challenging quiz.

Excuses excuses

The first round of questions saw two teams almost neck and neck. The third team, however, was lagging by a big margin, although they had learned a valuable lesson - don't back chat or argue with PJ the master of ceremonies. His massive ego and insistence that he's always right can cause a team's score to go backward at an alarming rate.

Having established that English grammar and French wine wasn't where the girls excelled, it was on to the practical part of the quiz. The first exercise was a salute to all the men out there who have had to think extremely fast on their feet in order to avoid long sentences in the dog house. Each team was given a scenario whereby a happy night out on the turps had turned into an 'unfortunate set of circumstances'. What the girls had to do was to get in touch with their inner man and talk themselves out of trouble.

All of the scenarios were challenging and might well have actually happened to blokes. There was a car crash, missing children, phone calls from mysterious women with sexy names and messages from bikie gang members involving possible drug deals.

Frankly, it was disturbing how quickly and effectively stories, some even believable, were concocted. The punters of the female persuasion had obviously had a lot of practice at getting out of trouble. There was also an amazing level of creativity. The girls really wanted to win. One team even included lesbianism in an attempt to sway the judges. They, with some difficulty, managed to maintain their professionalism and adjudicate on the artistic merits of the stories.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that ...

By the end of the third round the race for the bottle of Spring Vale Sauvignon Blanc had tightened up considerably. It was time for the final round and anyone could win! We have long argued that winemaking is in the blood of every Tasmanian or anyone living here and we wanted to prove it. Each team now had to produce an award winning wine blend.

They all had access to the basic ingredients that make up any self respecting Aussie blend. A pinot, cabernet, shiraz and merlot. These wines were bought from a chain outlet so at best they were quaffers. However, the teams could also add anything else they wanted.

This made the judges extremely nervous so to calm them and keep some level of sanity a rule was enacted. All team members had to taste the 'wine' prior to it going to the judges. By taste this meant swallowing it.

Truth be told this exercise was devised for it's potential humour and entertainment value, not as a serious winemaking attempt. In light of this, the judges had set their expectations to a particularly low level. However none of the girls saw it that way. We doubt that even professional winemakers approach the blending process with the seriousness and focus of your average Rhite Wine Night attending punter of the female persuasion.

The results achieved by the girls was nothing short of spectacular. Particularly as the judges expected to taste concoctions that contained peanut butter and toothpaste. What were presented were three commercially ready red wine blends. There was bravery and innovation.

The 'I shouldn't have to tell you, you should just know' team had created a cabernet blend with vanilla highlight that was amazing. Young, fresh and with a surprising amount of bite. The look of pleasure, relief and stunned delight on the judges faces was a sight to behold. 

Not to be outdone the 'betcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me' had devised a shiraz and pinot blend that was velvety smooth and intensely flavoured. "Where can we buy this" was the judges' comment. Enough said.

Frankly the expectations were now at stratisphoric levels but could the final team deliver? 'Bridezillas' may be high maintenance but boy can they make a drink. The only hope for this team was to produce something very very different and that's what they did. In a fit of innovative madness their idea was to produce a mulled wine. All the flavour, spices and cuddly warm you want was there in droves. It was so good that it got 'The Bridezillas' over the line.

So there you have it. It has been scientifically proven that any Tasmanian, whether born here or not, can make beautiful, wonderful wine. Give it up rest of the world, you don't stand a chance.

All that was left was the silent auction ...

A word about bidding

Running an event like this tells you something about the people who attend. Mostly it's nice things like they are generous and enjoy a quality wine or two. But sometimes you find out other things, slightly disturbing things. No one, for example, could correctly identify the number of consonants in gewurztraminer. Worse, the finer points of bidding in a silent auction seemed to have been lost on some of our punters.

To assist them, and others here are a couple of pointers.

It is customary in auctions to bid higher than the previous person. Nominating an amount less than the last bid wastes everyone's time and doesn't get you the item. It is, however, a valuable skill to have in the gentle art of haggling.

It is not necessary for you to put in a higher bid if no one else has, this is known as bidding against yourself. It raises lots of money for the charity but is not expected. Put in a bid and then see what happens. If someone else puts in a higher bid and you still want the item then put in another bid. It's a simple process that works well except, it appears, when alcohol is involved.

So how did it go?

Better than last year. We raised nearly $1,300 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. We introduced punters to wines and labels they hadn't heard of and sold over $2,900 worth of wine for the supporting wineries/ vineyards.

All that remains is to announce the wine of the event. The off dry rieslings from Darlington vineyard and Bream Creek Wines sold well and special mentions have to go to the Kilbowie Malbec Merlot and Observatory Hill Cabernet Merlot. The punters obviously liked them since their tasting bottles emptied in record time. 

But the winner, based on sales, for the second year in a row was the 08 Sparkling Laura Rose from Milton Vineyard (hmmm a room full of women and a sparkling wins .... anyone shocked? .... thought not - Ed). 

It appears we may be in danger of knowing what we're doing. Guess we'll have to do it all again next October. If you want to come along get in touch.

What do you think?  Send us a comment

The supporting wineries and vineyards

The following vineyards and wineries supported this event. Thanks guys - we couldn't have done it without you.

	Peter and Brenda Bosworth from Morningside Vineyard provided a 06 Pinot Magnum and 03 Cabernets for our silent auction. These items raised $170.
	Fred Peacock from Bream Creek provided Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and his VGR Riesling for tasting and his 05 Sparkling and 08 Cabernet Merlot for the silent auction. His items raised a total of $81.
	Paul and Louise Stranan from Darlington Vineyard provided Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, dry Riesling and the TGR Riesling for tasting. They also provided their 04 Riesling and 04 Chardonnay for the silent auction. These items raised $80.
	The fine folk at Frogmore Creek Wines provided a Chardonnay and Pinot for tasting.
	Nick Glaetzer from Glaetzer Dickson Family Winemakers provided his 2010 Uberblanc for tasting.
	Michael Dunbabin and his family from Milton Vineyard provided their Laura Rose sparkling, Pinot Gris and Rose for tasting.
	Chris and Glenn Richardson from Observatory Hill Vineyard provided their current range for tasting and their 2010 Pinot Grigio and 07 Chardonnay for the silent auction. The items raised $62.
	Jackie and Darren Brown from Puddleduck Vineyard provided a Rose for tasting and a Bubbleduck gift pack for our silent auction. The gift pack raised $70.
	Dave Cush and Tim Lyne from Spring Vale Vineyard provided a Sauvignon Blanc and 'Melrose' Pinot Noir for tasting.
	Neil Snare from Winstead Vineyard provided his 07 Pinot for tasting.
	Peter Shields and family from Kilbowie Wines provided their Muller Thurgau and Darlington Rieslings, Heron's Rise Pinot and Malbec Merlot for tasting. He also provided two of his 01 Cabernet Malbec Merlot for our silent auction . The items raised $125.

We would also like to thank:

Michelle Hills for donating a Phoenix Cards pack which raised $42;

Helen Spaulding for donating a pack of hair products which raised $40; and

The NBCF for donating a 'pink pack', this is a bag of assorted goodies, which raised $47.

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