“That’s one way to make an impression…”
James Halliday - the titan of Australian wine writing - looked down at his suit and tie.
Both were now splattered with green truffle and avocado mousse.
The room went silent.
And somewhere nearby, my seven-year-old sister Elena was probably wondering what all the fuss was about.
It was 2004.
My family had spent years planning what we thought would be the wine dinner of a lifetime.
We were celebrating two Australian firsts:
South Australia’s first Nebbiolo vineyard (ours, planted in 1998), and the first crop of Western Australian truffles.
We decided this called for something extravagant.
Guillaume Brahimi was cooking at his celebrated Bennelong restaurant, inside the Sydney Opera House. So we booked it out.
The who’s who of Australian wine came along. We even flew a few VIPs over business class.
And among them sat the greatest VIP of all:
James Halliday - the undisputed kingmaker of Australian wine.
The first course arrived.
Green truffle and avocado mousse, served in giant martini glasses, with JOSEPH Nebbiolo alongside. The whole room leaned in.
There was just one flaw in our grand plan.
My parents had brought a seven-year-old to a long red wine dinner. My sister Elena had been getting ever more restless.
Who could have predicted that?
And by a cruel twist of seating fate, she’d ended up directly within firing range of James Halliday.
Sure enough… somehow, Elena launched her mousse across the table.
Straight into James. Suit. Tie. The lot.
For one horrible second, nobody moved.
Then James smiled.
“That’s one way to make an impression.”
The whole table cracked up. Our glamorous wine dinner had been brought crashing back to earth by a bored seven-year-old.
I made sure Elena heard the story again at her 18th birthday (and her 21st).
More than 20 years later, those two little Australian experiments have grown up.
Western Australian truffles have become world famous.
And we’re now pouring the 2024 JOSEPH Nebbiolo - fragrant with rose petals, sweet spice and violets, with cherry, Turkish delight and fine tannins.
You can discover the infamous red here:
https://primoestate.com.au/products/nebbiolo
Matteo Grilli
Owner & Winemaker
P.S. Elena has thankfully become much better behaved at wine dinners.
