Off The Record October 22: At home on the Grange – inside every wine lover’s fantasy
TODAY Off The Record looks at Penfold’s at Magill where the latest Grange was welcomed into the world and Crows great Tony Modra’s decision to move back to Adelaide to help the Little Heroes Foundation.
IT HAS fair claim to being the most privileged wine club in the world. In a cellar 20m undergound, a secret society of wine lovers gathered this week at Penfold’s at Magill to welcome the latest Grange into the world. The opulence was extraordinary, the guest list beyond exclusive.
The Penfolds team jetted in the most extraordinary collection of French crystal from prestigious house Saint-Louis to style the 50m-long-table extravaganza into a Versailles-meets-Buckingham Palace atmosphere deep in the old cellar tunnels under the Magill Estate winery and cellar door complex. The extravagant guest list was headed by Kiwi international film star Sam Neill, who began his celebrity Adelaide stint to launch the much-celebrated Penfolds 2012 Grange and associated wines on Tuesday in a well-worn, town-and-country tweed-ish jacket with camel-toned trousers.
The evening, though, called for something a little more formal and the Jurassic Park star slipped into some black-tie elegance for one of the most glittering gala dinners seen in Adelaide for years.
More than 1600 of the finest wine glasses were imported, prompting – several guests to Google for a price check on the largest, which were more than $1000 apiece. There were 21 candelabras and two jaw-dropping chandeliers worth $95,000 each, all the way up to glittering star of the evening, one of only five $185,000 Imperial bottle (six litres) of Grange and diamond-cut crystal pourer combos in the world, it was an exceptionally shiny display of uber-marketing by Penfolds.
There was, however, work done. Chief winemaker Peter Gago conducted a swag of Asian trade, buyers and media through the new releases before the start of the eight-course dinner cooked by in-house chefs Scott Huggins and Emma McCaskill.
Australian guests included GT Wine mag editor Judy Sarris, major hotel and casino group bosses, including Peter Hurley, wine industry peak body chief execs Andreas Clark and Brian Walsh, plus a decent number of Treasury Wine Estate management, including chief marketing officer Simon Marton. All tucked eagerly into lobster, caviar and foie gras – in just the first three courses.
Every guest received a token of the night, their own Saint-Louis cut-glass paperweight encasing a vine cutting from the Magill Estate vineyard just outside. After much debate at one table, one guest later weighed the gift and emailed fellow diners that it clocked a mere 1.35kg, scaring the daylights out of many FIFO guests measuring their inflated baggage tolls.
SET FOR HIGH OFFICE
IT’S one of the bigger property deals around Adelaide and there are many interested observers waiting to see if it will be completed by the due date.
Property outfit Commercial & General is scheduled to settle its $391 million deal to buy a bunch of high-profile government properties by Tuesday. They include the State Administration Centre on Victoria Square where Premier Jay Weatherill has his office and SAPOL’s Angas St HQ.
Off the Record made numerous efforts to contact C&G yesterday to ask if it would settle on Tuesday, with no luck. A deal fell over last year when talks with preferred bidder Jason Di Iulio broke down.
Last month managing director Trevor Cooke said finding investors to fund such a large purchase was always a “challenge”. At the time he said institutional investors had committed 75 per cent of the funds.
A spokesman for Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said the Government was “still expecting a settlement date of October 25”. C&G is also in the running to redevelop the old Royal Adelaide site.
TODAY? TONIGHT?
SHE may be one of Adelaide’s most recognisable faces, but it seems not everyone knows high-profile TV affairs presenter Rosanna Mangiarelli.
The popular Today Tonight host has become embroiled in the lawsuit brought by former colleague Amy Taeuber, a subject Off the Record’s readers are well across.
Taeuber claims in court documents that Mangiarelli was among colleagues who overheard senior reporter Rodney Lohse make sexually inappropriate remarks.
In a Federal Circuit Court filing, she says Melbourne and Adelaide HR manager Cherilynne Kemp interviewed Mangiarelli in an internal investigation only after repeated requests. Taeuber alleges: “Ms Kemp indicated to (her) that she did not know who Ms Mangiarelli was despite extensive references to her in the formal complaint.” Ouch.
MUTE POINT
IT’S a fair bet Premier Jay Weatherill’s predecessor Mike Rann wasn’t among those wishing him well yesterday on his fifth anniversary in the top job.
In fact, the last time the pair spoke was on December 21 last year, at the funeral of South Australia’s longest-serving Labor premier, John Bannon. It was the only time the pair has, since Weatherill ousted Rann in 2011. That one chat must have been brief. Rann did not join Weatherill and all other surviving premiers for a photograph afterwards.
SKYWALKER
NOBODY could accuse Adelaide Casino of rolling the dice with undue haste in appointing a new general manager.
Almost exactly a year to the day after former boss Aaron Morrison revealed his resignation, casino operator SkyCity announced Crown Melbourne executive Luke Walker as the new GM. Of course, Luke Walker at SkyCity will trigger Star Wars puns, in which we are only too pleased to revel. But we’ll have to wait – Luke “SkyCity” Walker does not start until May 1 next year.
May the Force be with him in his new role.
GAYTIME
STAUNCH Catholic and father of six Jack Snelling is clearly doing his bit for gay pride.
As the Arts Minister trumpeted in Parliament tonight’s Feast Festival grand opening, he faced a withering interjection from Liberal Unley MP David Pisoni demanding to know if Snelling was attending. “My office is a Feast Festival 365 days of the year, as everyone knows,” Snelling shot back, referring to gay ministerial office staff.
Apparently the number of gay people in Snelling’s office makes this a regular office joke.
HOMETOWN ‘HERO’ MAKES COMEBACK
CROWS legend Tony Modra is moving back to the town he dominated during the ’90s.
The retired footy superstar is relocating to Adelaide to take a major ambassadorial role with the Little Heroes Foundation, after more than a decade working as a farmer on his property at Waitpinga on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
Tony, 47, has been appointed the charity’s new
corporate relations manager, a role previously filled by Port Adelaide champ Tim Ginever and most recently by former Aussie netball captain Natalie Bode.
“Little Heroes is a perfect fit for me, as I love the work they do for sick kids in need, so to contribute to that is really rewarding,” says Tony, who in his heyday kicked 440 goals in 118 games for the Crows.
A regular player in the foundation’s annual West End Slowdown, Tony will help with upcoming events including a “yet-to-be-launched PGA golf tournament and the second season of the Australian Champions League”, Little Heroes Foundation chairman Chris McDermott says.