Australian Table Wine - Monty Python, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin

A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines.

This is a pity, as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the

Australian palette, but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain

«Black Stump Bordeaux» is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy,

whilst a good «Sydney Syrup» can rank with any of the world’s best sugary

wines

«Chateau Bleu», too, has won many prizes;

not least for its taste,

and its lingering afterburn

«Old Smokey, 1968» has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret,

whilst the Australian wino society thouroughly recommends a 1970 «Coq du Rod Laver», which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule:

8 bottles of this, and you’re really finished -- at the opening of the Sydney

Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour

Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is «Perth Pink».

This is a bottle with

a message in, and the message is BEWARE!

This is not a wine for drinking --

this is a wine for laying down and avoiding

Another good fighting wine is «Melbourne Old-and-Yellow», which is particularly

heavy, and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat

Quite the reverse is true of «Chateau Chunder», which is an Appelachian

controle, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation -- a fine wine which

really opens up the sluices at both ends

Real emetic fans will also go for a «Hobart Muddy», and a prize winning «Cuiver Reserve Chateau Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga», which has a bouquet like

an aborigine armpit