Listener Questions! We Answer All Of Your Burning Questions

Your DMs run the show this time, and the questions swing wildly between deeply practical wine advice and the kind of chaos you only get when you put three opinionated people in front of microphones. We start with the story so many of you asked for: Meg’s time in Chile, including what it’s like moving countries on a one-way ticket, learning Spanish in the cellar, and working outside the big-city wine scene. It turns into a bigger chat about wine careers, humility, and why “making a plan” isn’t the only way to build a life in wine. 

Then we get personal and answer how we met, why we clicked, and how Mine With Meg And Mel started during COVID as a no-BS wine education podcast for everyday drinkers. Austin jumps in with the behind-the-scenes origin story too, including how he went from listener to essential part of the team. 

After that, it’s rapid-fire wine nerd gold: does bottle size matter (half bottle vs magnum ageing), what reduction really is, and quick definitions that demystify Baumé and Brix. We also give travel wine tips for the Greek islands, Croatia and Montenegro with one simple rule that works almost everywhere: drink local and try the indigenous varieties. To finish, we get blunt about recycling, wine bottles and the container deposit scheme, then land on the crowd favourite: why sabrage looks so impressive when it’s done properly. 

Keep the questions coming! We are always checking all of our socials and we love to hear from you!

Follow us on instagram @winewithmegandmel

and TikTok! @winewithmegmel

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Hi and welcome to Mine with Meg and Mel. We're here to help them navigate the World of Line. I'm Meg Gil Cruz, joined by Master of My Meg Rotman. We have Producer Austin with us, and today we are answering your

Welcome And Listener Questions

SPEAKER_02 0:24

questions. We did have a direct message. Thank you very much, Kate, who said, Can you please do an episode just asking answering our questions? So we put up on our Instagram a little box that just said, Ask me anything, and you asked away. So maybe people ask questions? Yeah, we've got quite a few. I don't know if we're gonna get through them all. Oh, okay. Uh that's nice, thank you. Yeah, it is nice, isn't it? Look, let's start the first question. The question that triggered it all, Kate, who messaged us saying that she wanted uh ask us anything, Dave. Her first thing that she asked was she wanted

Moving To Chile With No Plan

SPEAKER_02 0:59

to know more about your time in Chile because she finds it really fascinating that you made time in Chile.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

So Meg, uh so we moved to Chile uh 2001. My husband was offered a permanent position there with a winery called Clo Clodapalta? No. Casa Apologa. So it was in a palta, which is a small sort of horseshoe-shaped valley in Chile in Colchagua, and he was making just carmonier and cabernet, and he doesn't really like making white wine, so he's very excited. We had just been pololouring, so we had went weren't really, you know, in to each other, and I said, Oh fucking, I'm just gonna go. Um, so I quit my job, which was consulting in the UK, and came home to Australia and then bought a one-way ticket to Chile. And when I did, I arrived at the airport, the woman said, Well, do you have a permanent visa in Chile? Because you've only got a one-way ticket. And I went, no, I should be alright. Uh got to Chile and I'd sent all my stuff over from the UK, and the Chilean immigration contacted me and said, Uh, you can't have this because you don't have permanent visa, so we have to release it under like it was like a warehouse in situ. And my husband's just shaking his well now, husband, boyfriend at the time, just shaking his game, what the fuck have I got myself into with this crazy ass woman? Didn't have a job, um, didn't speak Spanish. And you were a master of wine at the time, right? Like you were already a rental. My ex-boyfriend, he worked for an importer in the UK called Terris, and he contacted me and he said, Hey, we're looking for someone to work with Vinya Mirandi to anglicize their wines, not improve their quality, but make their wines more suited for the UK market because our input. So, would you have an interview? I went to an interview with Pablo Mirandi, who is like an icon of the Chilean wine industry, and he said, This is the first and last time that I will speak to you in English. So he interviewed me in English and I got the job.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

And you didn't speak Spanish at the time?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Uh, not really. I was taking lessons with

Learning Spanish The Hard Way

SPEAKER_00 3:15

darling Anna, who lived in my little town, but no, I just look, I just started, I bought this book, The 13 Verbs of Chile or something. Oh my god. Um this is yeah, and just started the Chilenos are the most generous, humble, and I'm doing working in what's called El Campo, so the country chili. I'm not dealing with wankers in Santiago or whatever, just really humble and they wanted me to be my best. So they helped me, but they taught me a lot of swear words, which I didn't realise you don't say around your boss. Oh god. So I remember saying to my boss, Pablo Mirandi, who is like the Peter Gago of Australian wine industry? He's like, you know, up there.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

And I remember saying the penfolds winemaker of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

And I remember saying, Oh, I tiro no my way on, which means at the gunshot, fucker. Like, hurry up and do it. So El Tiro is a Chilean thing at the gunshot. No mas means no more, and then way on is a very chilly mo for yeah, translates as fucker. Boss just looked at me and he said, There are some things that women shouldn't say. And I just said, Well, that's what Nelson, my cellar master,'s been saying to me. And he said, Yeah, he would be saying that to you because he's like, Yeah, I'll tell them, I'll tell them my way on. But some things that women shouldn't say.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

And if anyone knows Mac Roman that using gendered terms like that, it goes down really well.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

The thing is, when you're in these culturally different countries, you even though you may not agree, you need to respect and and Chile, I've got to say,

Women In Wine And Chilean Work Culture

SPEAKER_00 4:50

in terms of women, shits all over Australia. Have a baby, you have four hours off a day to breastfeed when you're back at work.

unknown 5:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

What legally? Yeah. But you have nanas, nannies, that bring your baby to you. But there are more female winemakers in Chile than most other countries in the world of childbearing age because they have this thing. It because having babies is just a part of it. I had my kids in Chile and something that a lot of women choose to do. That's right. And hey, you're still smart and you can still do your job and still a winemaker, and it doesn't matter, and we'll work around you. Have your babies. Wow. They are so forward thinking. My obstetrician, you know, was like, oh, you've got I think six more, he said to me, Emmy. I had two.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

He was open stay.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

I think the question comes because like you you you expect to hear an MW. If you if your most of your winemaking career was in like Bordeaux, I don't think the question would have been asked. I think chili is different and interesting. And so do you think it's like important to have these not to like pump up you too much, but like, you know, pump me up. Pump boop the jam, pump. The most highest educated kind of as you can be in wine is do you think it's important that they are aren't just going working places that are already renowned for premium wine, but helping boost other areas around the world.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I remember my sister saying to me years ago that I was like the common man in the Man for All Seasons, the book. So I can talk to the person in the vineyard and the cellar and the boardroom.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

And I do think that's really, really important in the wine industry that you don't think that you're extra special. I was I had a journalist, Cesar Fredes, write an article about me saying, if she is an MW. Right? And he was also on radio, he did a wine show, and I was just like, I had no recourse. I know I remember ringing him and I said, Cesar, you know that I'm an MW, like why the fuck would you say that? And he was just like, Oh, well, you know, we haven't proven. I said, Well, you can just ring the institute, like it's not hard. But I think for me, for Chile, I'm not, I just I have never made a plan for my career. I have just gone where I think has been fun to go. And fortunately, I've hooked up with a dude that wants to do the same. And our accountant now saying, You've never really planned for your super, have you? No, no, but God, we've had such a great time.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

And we look, we have. That's how you should live. Well, yeah. And it it it flows really nicely into the next question, which was asked twice. Two different people wanted to know how we ever met.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

We met at

Why Career Plans Aren’t Everything

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Rob Dolan Wines. Mel was there before me, and I was looking for, I was moving out of a winery that I'd been working at, and I

How We Met And Why We Clicked

SPEAKER_00 7:59

wanted to move into a sort of different role. And so I spoke to Rob, who was a mentor of mine, and he fortunately employed me on a very part-time basis during COVID. And I met this crazy ass woman. I'm very neat. So everything in my life, like my desk is packed up at the end of the day. And I walked into Mel, she's got like 500 things open up on her website browser, so much so that they're like one millimeter wide, you can't even read them. Her desk, if she didn't have Zoe sitting on top of her desk, would just be littered with makeup. She had a dog. She had a I wasn't like a colleague, but she had a whole makeup thing and blah blah. But this woman's mind worked the complete opposite to me, but she was so creative and so smart and also really strategy, even though she just looked like the biggest fucking hot mess that have walked this planet. She came in one day teary, because she just got Zoe her puppy. She said, I didn't sleep last year. We're like, it's a fucking dog.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Oh my god, that dog. Get over it.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

But so that's how that's my interpretation of how we met.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Yeah, mine is that I heard that we had an MW coming in, and I was like, of course, I was intimidated, and I was like, Oh my god, this is so cool. But I was also like, they're gonna be the biggest fucking wanker I've ever met. But at the same time, you think they're gonna be a wanker, but I'm also like, I need this person to love me. But then I met Megan, and it was like, I don't know. We were talking today about how like I do have a little bit of a complex that I really want people to like me.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

This is not a self-help podcast.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

This is not, but there is something with Megan that you are the most like objectively you've achieved a really high positioning in the industry that you're in. And of people that I know that are like that, I just would never give the amount of shit that I do to any of them that I do to you. I think we just clicked. There was something about it.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I respect most, like my husband. Um the men that I respect most, or the men that I've gone out with are those that give it back.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Because if I'm gonna give shit, you need to, you know, you need to be able to stand in the the ring with me, basically. And it's not about fighting, but it's just I love people who've got shit at the start.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

I don't know where it came from.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

I don't know where I just I love people who are sassy. I don't like obsequious people who are like, oh, you know, up your ass. I love people who just like fuck you, bitch. They're the best and they're the most entertaining. Oh that's definitely and also I I was impressed by your I was not impressed by the messy way that you worked, but I was impressed by the what you achieved, not how you got through.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Yeah. And we started a podcast because it was COVID. It was your idea, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Because

Why The Podcast Started In COVID

SPEAKER_00 10:56

we were talking about YouTube and you said no, we can't do YouTube because people will be driving.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

No, so what happened was Rob went into Dan Murphy's and he tried to get a cabinet and asked them a question, and they knew nothing about wine. And he came back like it was a national crisis. It was really cute. He was like, Do you know that no one at Dan Murphy's knows anything about wine? I was like, Yeah, yeah. Like the wines, they have a wine specialist in the need store. That's the person you go to. You don't they're normal people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, at the time. And and he was like, We need to change this. It's also adorable that he thought we could change it. This little winery in the Yarrow Valley. And he's like, We're gonna make videos, we're gonna make educational videos. And I was like, No one will watch that unless you're incentivized. I was like, if you let me send a case of wine. If you give me some money, yeah. If if I can send a case of wine to everyone who's watched these videos and proves that they've watched it and is educated and they've filled in a quiz saying that that they've done the study or whatever, I'll send them a case of wine. And he was like, No, I don't want to do that. And I was like, Well, then we're not gonna educate no one will watch the videos. I was like, the only chance you've got is these people do still need to drive to work and they might use that time to listen to a podcast. So the only chance we have is to do a podcast. So we just tried it.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Twenty yeah, what's that? Where they sit now, and we we're recording it in a glass room, the worst thing that you could possibly do.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Max Allen, who writes for the five-handed review, writes a white column, literally emailed me one day saying, I really like what you're doing, but like a little tip, maybe you could choose a space that's less echo-y.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

And I was like, oh god. My favorite episode is the one where we did the dim sims and everything though.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Oh, my favorite episode is the one that we did on the sugar-free wines. Oh, the Karen Deer shit. No, zero wines. Remember the wine said they had no sugar, and so we got we got we bought them in and we got our winemaker, Adrian, to literally we put them in the lab, we analyzed them and we found sugar in the wine, and then we just went to town on them. We should link the episode in this QA. It's really I thought that was really fun. Anyway, that's how we met. We clicked really well. We since both have moved on from that business, but we love doing the podcast, it's really fun. So we just like keep talking about it. Well, we are nice friends outside of that, like we hang out and chat and she's fine to hang out with. That's better. I think you're marvelous. So be kind. Yeah, shut up. Next question. We're not used to being nice to each other, it's weird. You need to unlock your phone. Although the best thing about you was the other night when we hung out with our old colleagues, it was like 10 p.m. and you were like, I'm going home now. You said it's okay, bitch, order an Uber, I've got to go home.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

And I was like, This is this is good. It was 45 minutes, and the Uber driver said, I've never driven so far in my life. We felt like we were living in 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Okay, Meg. Does size matter?

SPEAKER_00 14:01

There's more to the question, but I I actually I want you okay.

Does Bottle Size Change Ageing?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

As my mother said to me, it's not the size of your flag, but the way you wave it. Okay, I'll tell you what. Knowing my father and my mother's quotes, Austin, do you wonder why how I've ended up the way I have?

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Absolutely not.

unknown 14:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

The full question is Does size matter? As in half-bottle magnum, is it going to taste exactly the same? No. Explain.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

So the smaller the volume, the more advanced, the more rapid the aging. So that's why we bottle in Magnum because we know that it slows everything down. That's why we keep wine in tank until we're ready to bottle it because it ages less slowly than if we bottled it and held it. Also costs, but so the larger the volume, the fresher the wine. I I've just bought a new wine fridge because it's the same wine that goes in. Yes, it is the same wine. Wine with Megam Bell has taken over my wine fridge. And I have all these magnums. So we've made a special shelf down the bottom for the magnums because they're too big to lay down. So we actually have to stand them up. So if you're planning on something, so for a 21st birthday for a child that's been born on X year, I'd buy Magnum. Okay. And they're cheaper.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

The next question isn't a question as much as it is a dick at Austin, I think. Don't pick on Austin. We love him, he's so nice. Someone legally wrote, haha. Can I join the team too? I'm a good ass kisser.

How Austin Joined The Team

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Austin's so it's funny. Austin appeared out of nowhere, offered his services, no money, put up with crazy ass your house. I can't believe it. We wanted to come to my house. Where you couldn't even find the floor. With my child. And the dog. Yeah. And he just took it in his stride and would squat down in the like beach chair on the side. Drink his fucking coffee.

SPEAKER_04 16:01

I had that dog jumping all over me in a couple of records. Two things to answer that. One, who wrote that? And two, no one kisses ass better than me. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Is uh is it twice? Are you familiar with him? It's the the name is Zim underscore Zang.

SPEAKER_04 16:17

I don't know this person.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Well, just to answer your question. We love Austin and we're so glad that he appeared in our life as random as it was. But the fact that he went managed to survive through Mel's craziness, and now we have a studio.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

It's actually really unlikely that Austin is here. Like no one else on every level. But also like he messaged us being like it wasn't these words, but it was basically like, you guys are great, love listening to you, but your social media sucks. Like you need someone to do videos for you. And I was like, I felt so uncomfortable being like we can't pay you.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Because you're shit at socials.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Yeah, well, no, I'm I'm you said it was sad. I'm I'm I'm inconsistent. You did.

SPEAKER_04 17:04

No, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't say that it sucked. It was, yes, it was inconsistent, and I just wanted to be an extra set of hands, and I had the added benefit, and the real reason I wanted to join you is because. So just so everyone knows, Austin is an is an equal partner now in partnership, which is very nice of them, but it did start as I was that we spoke about that was equal partner of zero, zero. That that was listening because I wanted to learn more about wine, and I was someone who was driving to work and was I was working in a warehouse at the time.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

And I think that that episode that you've just done where you've answered the WC quick to SCT questions clearly, bro, that may come out after this episode.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

See, I could just take off for three weeks in September and Austin could do the show. Well, no, we were just talking about that actually. But um uh Meg's like, wow, already replaced. Uh also, oh yeah, no, but Austin, when Austin was like, you don't even need to pay me or whatever, I was so uncomfortable at the thought of him coming on board and us not paying him. I I I was really uncomfortable of him doing WordPress and not paying. You don't pay yourselves. That's true, but yeah, but what do you get out of it? Like, I didn't know, and so I literally just didn't write back. But then Austin would he just kept messaging and being like, Still here if you want me. And eventually I was like, Okay, I'll test this guy. Show up at my house, you won't be able to see the floor, a dog will jump on you. There's gonna be a baby crying somewhere at the house. Yeah, and he did. He shows up in my freaking house one day. Meg, I don't think you I thought you would show up to the point that I didn't even tell Meg you were coming.

unknown 18:40

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

You were just talking about I walked in with Meg open the door. I'm like, I don't know whose house this is. Hello, I'm Austin.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

I can't believe you're still here. And now look where we are. You're an integral part of this. Okay, okay, okay. What do we got here? Oh, this is a good question. What wine would Meg pair with Pauline Hansel's Pauline Hansen's national press club

A Wine For A Toxic Speech

SPEAKER_02 19:01

address?

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Something bitter. Ah, Jesus. Is it for the benefit of the poor journalists that are in the room? Isn't that the one where the poster came down behind her?

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

That was fucking fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

That she hadn't supported I thought that was the best thing ever.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

And didn't it lead to her eventual decline in popularity? No, it's just started to happen that she hadn't supported um aged or easily workers.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yes, and she's now in wherever, Sicily or whatever, at two and a half thousand dollars a night with Gina Reinhardt. Mmm. What wine? I I don't I don't know who the wine's benefiting. If it was to remind me of that toxic, awful speech that that filthy woman gave, it would be something bitter that turns to deliciousness at the end. So you have to sit through the bitterness so that it's lovely at the end. And maybe Aglianico would be one of the things that I would I would go for. All right. If it was God, I just need some help during this, it'd be champagne.

unknown 20:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

All right, guys, quick flap. Someone's off to Montenegro, Croatia, and the Greek islands shortly. What wines should they try

Travel Wines For The Balkans

SPEAKER_02 20:21

while they're there? Montenegro? Where else? Croatia? And Greek Islands.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Greek Islands, well, Acertico.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Best place to start.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

If you're going, I will drink white. It's going to be bloody hot, particularly at the moment. Croatia's awesome. They actually produce their own wine. I was just reading a thing about Armenian wine today. So just drink whatever's indigenous and local, but I'd stick to whites. You're probably going to have some high acid, maybe some Welsh reasoning through there. Go local. It's like, you know, we're going to Spain, we're just going to drink a shitload of Chicoli.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

Okay, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Not great wine, but.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Okay. What is reduction?

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Oh my god. Quick, quick, quick. Reduction is H2S, hydrogen sulfide.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

This doesn't

What Reduction Really Means

SPEAKER_02 21:05

feel quick.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

It's it's produced by yeast as a result of alcoholic fermentation when they get stressed and they don't have enough nutrition. When yeast yeast sticks extrude alcohol, they have a little bubble in their yeast in their lipid bilayer that does it. And if they if that gets stressed, they get stressed and they produce hydrogen sulfide.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

Okay, I'll take it.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Just get buy buy the copper coins from Mine with Megan Merl and put it in your wine.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Oh, yeah, we're gonna do it. Speaking of our side hustles, here's a question. When are you doing a live show? Uh Mel mentioned this, and I was like, Wow! People really want

Planning A Live Show With Tastings

SPEAKER_02 21:42

it. People keep messaging us wanting it. And Meg is like, I don't think people will come, but I think you will.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

I look if we could do it in a venue where someone supplied the wine and we could do like a call my bluffy kind of competitive thing, I reckon. We'll make it fun.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

We'll get sponsored.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

It's always fun because we we're there.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

I'm planning a venue that isn't just like we go and do a get on stage and do a show and we leave. Like I'm planning. We do things in front of everyone in mics and then we hang out and drink wine with everyone afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Welling that we do some tastings. You know, I see that Merrick Watts does his things with the wine, and hats off to Merrick who's learning, says Meg who found out we're doing this 10 minutes ago. But sure. Merrick has his WCT level three in wine. That's not quite where we are. So I think I think it'd be fun to sit down and do what we did with the German Reasoning a few weeks ago. Yeah, yeah. And do that analysis and have people sit in front of us and technically and how but how you do it. I think that's people how people want to see.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Taste along with us. We'll do something cool. We'll do the reduction thing. I'll probably teach you how to subrage because that's really good.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Because Mel has a totally different approach to the way I approach things. And I think it's really important, both on a yeah just a personal journey, but also if you're studying wine to have different approaches.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Um, but I think that it should be technical, but also it's fun. Like at the end, we're gonna finish. We're not just gonna piss off.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Jeez, when I work with you, you would never put those two things together.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

You're gonna drink wine at the end. What do you mean? Don't be saying technical, mate. Yeah, I know. That's what she used to say to me. No, no, no. We'll be yeah, yeah, I know. But no, no, we'll no, because the people who come to this thing, they'll be fun and cool, but they'll be like low-key notes. They'll be they're they're gonna be into wine. We'll do it, we'll make it worth it. But I just mean like it's also just gonna be fun. It's not gonna be a show and a leave, it's gonna be like a low-key party. I don't know. It's gonna it's gonna be great. Anyway, the next question is teach us how you blend champagne sash sparkling, especially when tasting

Sparkling Blends We Should Teach

SPEAKER_02 23:51

the NV blends.

unknown 23:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

How you blend sparkling.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

That is no, that's something we actually need to do. Should we just do a different episode? That's that could be an episode. But we we have to get the sparkling base wines. We'll get Loic. You can get them.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Yeah, we'll get Loic. We'll bring in Loick, we'll talk about sparkling. Okay. Uh quick quick fire explanation of the Bome scale. Explain what Bome

Baumé And Brix Without The Fuss

SPEAKER_02 24:20

is first.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

So Bome is a scale that was originally introduced to measure salt in water. So I didn't know that. But what it does is it actually equates approximately to sugar conversion to alcohol. So say you've got 12 Bome, that's twelve equates to about 12% alcohol. Now back in the day, that was very, very, very true. So 18 grams per liter of sugar equates to 1% alcohol. And that's what the Bome scale works on. 18 grams per liter of sugar is one Bome. Austin's yawning already. Okay. But we know that yeasts are more efficient. And in France, one Bome, 1% alcohol was 16.74 grams.

SPEAKER_03 25:21

So I'm laughing at Austin nodding along like he cares.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Bome scale basically equates to percent alcohol. So if we have 12 Bome, we have 12% alcohol. It's a rule of thumb. There we go. That's a good quickfire explanation. But we work on bricks. Oh gosh. No. Which is a better scale. It's 10 grams per bricks. Why?

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Okay, quickly, quickly, why is in less than 30 seconds, why is bricks better?

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Uh, because it's actually based on sugar and it's 10 grams per litre, but it doesn't equate to percent alcohol, so you have to multiply it by a factor of one but two. Okay. 22 bricks is like 12 by me.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

And and it's the amount of sugar at picking?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yes. Yes, okay. We use it as a measure of sugar and which then translates to potential alcohol.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

It's it's it's it's super technical. I don't think if you're in general. It's the amount of sugar, it's 18 grams per litre. Does a normal consumer need to know it? If you don't work in the wine industry, if you are not actively making wider in viticulture, is it relevant?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

It does. Is it helpful if you're looking at a spatlasier wine that you know is being picked with 12.5% alcohol, but it's only got nine and a half percent alcohol in it, but it's potential of 12.5%, so it's potentially got three by me in it, so 36 grams. Oh three, three grams. You've justified the question.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Very fair.

SPEAKER_03 26:42

So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Here's the last one. Oh no, second last one. I want to hear Meg's opinion about wine bottles being included in the CDs.

Container Deposit Scheme And Wine Bottles

SPEAKER_00 26:53

I do understand deposit scheme. Oh fucking bullshit. So the container deposit scheme was introduced nationally, and it's been in South Australia for many, many years, even when I was studying winemaking over there back in the 90s, 80s, whenever, long time ago, because to reduce litter. Now we know that wine bottles account for less than 1% of litter on the side of the roads or at the creeks or whatever. So it doesn't apply to glass to wine bottles. Glass is like aluminium, aluminium is infinitely recyclable. So CDS is great, it gives people an incentive to separate it out, take it down, which I make my family do, and then get you $20 and 10 cents worth because you can keep recycling it. Yeah, glass in some parts of Victoria and Melbourne, they've introduced the purple bin, so it's a glass recycle bin because we can recycle glass, not to wine bottles, but we can recycle it to jam jars and pickles jars and whatever. Takes a lot of energy, but we can do it, and we just need to keep the glass separate from everything else. So I do not believe that the CDS as it is being applied in Queensland, and it's vintage specific, so it reads the barcode on the bottom back of the label. And if you're 2021 and 2022, you have to go online and register that. No, bullshit purple bins.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Wow. There you go, friend. Who asked that question? Okay, last question is for specifically Meg. Why do you think Sabrage is so cool and why is it so impressive that Mal is so good at it?

SPEAKER_00 28:40

I think Mel

Why Sabrage Still Rules

SPEAKER_00 28:41

wrote this question. I think it is cool. My husband used to! I don't think she's ever said that before. My husband used to do it, then he used to make key rings out of it, which you couldn't when you're dating, you can't say no. And back in the day when you had your keys actually in your car, it'd cut like these scars on my lips. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

What Subrage?

SPEAKER_00 29:05

Oh god.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Have you never seen me Subrage? I don't know why. She's a master of Subrage. Thank you. It's like a sword, but it's blunt, and you use it to pop open a bottle of yeah. I'm like really I am the master of I'm literally I am the master of Subrage. Okay, he hasn't listened to our back catalogue. It was a big running joke in season one. Because yeah, no, listen to the back catalogue. Season one was a running joke that I was obsessed. I'm less obsessed now, but I used to be really obsessed with doing Sabrage because it was like a hand. I have I have a real saber, it's like that big. I've seen it. And yeah, I used to do it all the same. Okay, wow. Okay, you two. It's Austin, you need to gang up with me on something. Okay, no, you seem to think Sabrage is pretty cool, so we'll take it. Okay, I'll teach you for your birthday. We're going out for your birthday. I'll bring my saber.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Yes. Uh don't think you'll get past security with that.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

I brought it home in an aeroplane. A carry on. Nah, it might be. Oh, okay. But still, I packed it up with every piece of wine paraphernalia I had. So it was like, I tried to make it really clear it was a wine thing and not just like a sword.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

So yeah, Sabrage is pretty cool. Not as cool as Mel thinks. It is so cool.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Actually, we do need to do a piece of content that was sent to me that it's like there's a guy who was like, he walks out and there's someone sitting there with his like breakfast coffee, just like holding a glass, and the guy comes out and like does this super casual saber and then like pours it in, and it's like first thing in the morning, and it was like there's no such thing as like too early for wine. And I was like, yeah, it's a really fucking cool. We should do that. I've also sabred a bottle with a wine glass.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

With a what?

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Wine glass. Like I can go. Yeah, I've done it. It's on my Instagram. I've run. Oh, it's on my highlights. There's a highlight called Sabre. Oh my god, if you're on my Instagram, look at the highlight called Cute Little Town because it's really funny. Trust me, you won't regret it. It's on my personal Instagram, Shroud's and Shroud again.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Are we done? Any more questions? No, it's just Wellfair Club now.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Yeah, it's just Wellfair Club. Now, Austin, have you got any questions? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

All right.

Final Wrap And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 31:20

We're done. Austin needs to go home. Austin does need to leave. Okay, join the couple. Bye. Uh