Perfect Pair: Rieslingfreak’s No.12 x ‘Freak’ by Silverchair.
Tumblers and turntables at the ready! Grape of Mirth’s Head Clown and self-confessed ‘wine knob’ (with a level three WSET award!) Merrick Watts pairs Rieslingfreak’s No.12 with ‘Freak’ by Silverchair.
TASTING NOTES
Rieslingfreak No.12: I’m a qualified wine knob, but I’m also a Barossa Master, which qualifies me to tell you that Flaxman Valley is in the Barossa Valley! Job done. You’re welcome. South Australia is known for world-class Riesling the same way Germany is known for having underground sex clubs… and also world-class Riesling. This label just makes Riesling, and, even in the poor years of harvest, they always seem to pull a freakish vintage out of nowhere, like a ‘classic catch’ in the slips. The Rieslingfreak No.12 is a 98-point Halliday-rated wine for a reason. It’s pure genius. It has that zippy, zesty lime with a spine of minerality and a gentle sherbert-like acid finish that I love. Chill a bottle on a hot day, chuck in an ice cube (optional) and savour the flavour.
SLEEVE NOTES
‘Freak’ by Silverchair: This song plays in my head whenever I grab a bottle of Rieslingfreak. Silverchair saw massive success with their debut album and there was a lot of pressure on them to follow it up. ‘Freak’, the first single from their sophomore LP Freak Show, lived up to the hype, hitting No.1 on the Australian charts (as did the whole album) and it delivered n a freakish way. The artwork is kind of odd – it has that freakshow circus look to it, featuring an illustration of Grady Stiles Jr, a murderous sideshow performer with Ectrodactyly famously dubbed ‘Lobster Boy’. Very apt…
THEY’RE PERFECTLY PAIRED BECAUSE...
We’re all freaks. I’m a freak, you’re a freak and if you think you’re not a freak, you’re such a deep freak that you can’t even see it! I think the winemaker and band have something in common – an uncompromising attitude to the purity of their art. Enjoy these freaks together.
